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There are often a number of function namespaces that a stylesheet will use with frequency. All but one of these namespaces currently need qualifying when used, since there is only one default function namespace. In other languages like Java, importing a namespace will bring the names from that namespace into the current scope. This allows them to be used without qualifying them with the namespace. I propose that we add a new attribute (maybe "using", or "using-function-namespaces"), which lists a set of namespaces, NS. When referencing a function with a QName L that doesn't have a prefix, the namespaces in NS are tried in turn looking for a function with a localname of L. If two or more such functions exist, an error is raised. To avoid the error the user should qualify the function reference with a prefix.
Noted: as an extension of this idea: (a) similarly, any prefix could be bound to a set or list of namespaces (b) the same mechanism could be used for names other than function names. For example if two variants/versions of an XML vocabulary have been defined in different namespaces, a QName could effectively refer to the union of the two namespaces, allowing the same query/stylesheet to work with both.
I like Mike's extension. It should be also possible to include names which are not in any namespace into "search path". For example to handle DocBook 4.5 (not in namespace) and 5 (has namespace) at the same time.
The minutes of the Prague F2F (March 2011) record: DECIDED at 7 Oct. 2010 telcon: to close bug 10175 (for now) with status LATER. Which I am now belatedly doing.