Internal refs cannot begin with < but external ones can

[nigelmegitt]

Description of problem

If a term definition begins with < then Respec generates an error

Example:

<p>Some random <dfn><code>&lt;ltterm</code></dfn>. Ref the <a><code>&lt;ltterm</code></a>.</p>

generates an error:

ReSpec doesn't support expanding this kind of reference.

and in the "Terms defined by this specification" section, a term called #dfn-ltterm is generated, which does correctly link back to the definition.

However, an external reference like:

<dfn data-cite="TTML2#profile-vocabulary-extension"><code>&lt;ttp:extension&gt;</code></dfn>

gets correctly expanded in the "Terms defined by reference" section to:

[TTML2] defines the following:

• <ttp:extension>

What happened:

Instead of listing the defined term an error message was generated, and unexpected text appeared where the defined term should be in the "Terms defined by this specification" section.

Expected behavior:

The defined term should appear, with the < at the beginning, and no error should be generated.

It is the same without the <code> element

Just in case, I tried removing the <code> element around the term, and the behaviour was exactly the same.

[nigelmegitt]

Example spec processing failure at https://github.com/w3c/dapt/actions/runs/11023589971/job/30615154823?pr=241 includes in the log:

  Error: ROR] ReSpec doesn't support expanding this kind of reference.
         Count: 1
        Plugin: core/anchor-expander
      [INFO] [Timeout: 17098ms] Done.
      [FATAL] Error: Errors found during processing.
          at run (file:///home/runner/work/_actions/w3c/spec-prod/v2/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected][email protected]/node_modules/respec/tools/respec2html.js:268:11)
          at async file:///home/runner/work/_actions/w3c/spec-prod/v2/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected][email protected]/node_modules/respec/tools/respec2html.js:215:5
    Command `respec -s "http://localhost:3000/index.html?gitRevision=362102d68d401b3285b916bc6c1ec2f55738aba6" -o "index.html.built.html" --verbose -t 20 -e` failed with exit code: 1.