Why does SBML Level 2 require an XML declaration?
Readers familiar with XML may note that XML version 1.0 does not require an XML declaration; the requirement was introduced in XML 1.1. Nonetheless, SBML Level 2 requires the declaration. The motivation comes from the practical experiences of SBML software developers, who have found that different XML parsers on different operating systems make different default assumptions if the XML declaration is omitted. Requiring the declaration of the XML version and encoding is an aid to greater compatibility between different systems exchanging SBML.
