Aral on Calogero Sanfilippo

aral 1.0.0: first stable release with namespace support

Sun, 03 May 2026 10:00:00 +0200

aral 1.0.0 is out, marking the library’s first stable release.

The main addition in this version is full namespace support for both the JVM/Android (SAX) and Apple (NSXMLParser) backends. ElementStartFound and ElementEndFound events now carry two additional fields:

namespaceURI: String? — the namespace URI declared for that element, or null if absent
localName: String — the unprefixed name (e.g. creator for dc:creator)

Why this matters Link to heading

Without namespace awareness, distinguishing between two title elements from different vocabularies in the same document requires brittle prefix-matching. With 1.0.0, the parser surfaces the URI directly, so the structure of the document drives the logic — not the prefix conventions an author happened to choose.

aral (finally) indexed on Klibs.io

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 11:02:09 +0100

Starting from yesterday, aral is indexed on Klibs.io.

The project is live since October, but due to some bug in Klibs.io indexing, the library wasn’t showing up in search results.

They finally fixed the issue, and now aral is discoverable on Klibs.io.

Happy coding!

aral 0.6.0 released: support for CDATA

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 20:23:45 +0100

aral 0.6.0 is now available. It adds support for CDATA sections in XML parsing.

Changes Link to heading

CDATA sections are now recognized and emitted as parser events.
This improves compatibility with XML documents that embed raw text, code, or markup.

aral 0.5.1 released: A More Robust and Performant Parser

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 22:38:49 +0100

aral 0.5.1 is now available. It’s a small update focused on correctness and efficiency.

Changes Link to heading

Internal refactoring of the code managing the parser of an empty XML.
Character data assembly uses StringBuilder for better performance.
Documentation for parse updated to reflect the correct behavior.

Links Link to heading

Release notes
[Diff 0.5.0 → 0.5.1](https://github.com/csanfilippo/aral/compare/0.5.0...0.5.

aral 0.5.0 released

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 22:37:25 +0200

Version 0.5.0 of aral is now available.

This update does not introduce new features or breaking changes. The main focus has been a refactoring of the internal engine. The goal of this work is to make the codebase easier to maintain and extend in the future, while keeping the external API stable.

Highlights Link to heading

Internal engine refactored for clarity and maintainability
No changes required for existing users
API and behavior remain the same

Installation Link to heading

aral is published on Maven Central. To use the latest version:

aral 0.4.1 released

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 20:53:32 +0200

aral 0.4.1 is now available.

This patch release fixes a bug in the XML parser related to character handling between elements.

When processing characters inside elements like <element>characters</element>, push parsers emit multiple character events. The previous implementation did not accumulate these fragments correctly, resulting in incomplete or malformed values during resource parsing.

The fix ensures that character data is properly buffered across consecutive events, restoring expected behavior for XML resource interpretation.

aral 0.4.0 Released

Sat, 11 Oct 2025 07:59:17 +0200

Aral 0.4.0 is now available. This release introduces support for the Android Gradle Library Plugin for Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP).

Android Gradle Library Plugin for KMP Link to heading

The com.android.kotlin.multiplatform.library plugin is the officially supported way to add an Android target to a Kotlin Multiplatform library module. It replaces the previous use of com.android.library in KMP projects, which is now deprecated.

Key characteristics of the plugin include:

aral 0.3.0 released — now with JVM support

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 22:10:25 +0200

Version 0.3.0 of aral is out — and it brings JVM support.

Expanding the reach Link to heading

Until now, aral has focused on mobile and embedded platforms: Android, iOS, watchOS, tvOS, macOS. With this release, it steps confidently into the JVM world, making it usable in desktop apps, server-side Kotlin, and even scripting environments.

This means you can now use aral in:

Kotlin/JVM projects
Spring Boot services
CLI tools and desktop utilities
Anywhere the JVM runs

Announcing aral: a multiplatform XML parser with a lightweight philosophy

Sun, 05 Oct 2025 08:42:44 +0200

I’m happy to share something I’ve been working on: aral, a Kotlin Multiplatform library for parsing XML.

The motivation Link to heading

XML may not be the trendiest format, but it remains deeply embedded in the systems we rely on every day — from configuration files to data exchanges in healthcare, finance, and beyond.

When building with Kotlin Multiplatform, I found the existing XML tooling either too heavy or too tied to a single platform. What I wanted was something lightweight, predictable, and consistent across environments. That gap is what led to aral.