Description

serhiy-storchaka

opened on Aug 30, 2026

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Node.insertBefore(), Node.removeChild() and Node.replaceChild() are documented as raising ValueError if the node is not a child of this node, but they raise NotFoundErr, which is not a ValueError.

>>> import xml.dom.minidom
>>> doc = xml.dom.minidom.parseString('<r><c/></r>')
>>> doc.documentElement.removeChild(doc.createElement('x'))
xml.dom.NotFoundErr

Element.removeAttribute() is documented as raising NotFoundErr if there is no matching attribute, and Element.removeAttributeNS() is documented as raising nothing. Both raise NotFoundErr, so the two descriptions contradict each other. The DOM specifies that removing an absent attribute has no effect, so this is a deviation of xml.dom.minidom and should be documented in its documentation.

Affects all maintained versions.

Linked PRs

• gh-156635: Fix the exceptions in the xml.dom documentation #156636
• [3.15] gh-156635: Fix the exceptions in the xml.dom documentation (GH-156636) #156637
• [3.14] gh-156635: Fix the exceptions in the xml.dom documentation (GH-156636) #156638
• [3.13] gh-156635: Fix the exceptions in the xml.dom documentation (GH-156636) #156639

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1. serhiy-storchaka

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   docsDocumentation in the Doc dirDocumentation in the Doc dir

   on Aug 30, 2026
2. github-project-automation

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3. serhiy-storchaka

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   topic-XML

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4. github-project-automation

   moved this to Todo in docs issueson Aug 30, 2026
5. serhiy-storchaka

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   3.13only security fixesonly security fixes

   3.14bugs and security fixesbugs and security fixes

   3.15bugs and security fixesbugs and security fixes

   3.16new features, bugs and security fixesnew features, bugs and security fixes

   on Aug 30, 2026
6. serhiy-storchaka

   added 2 commits that reference this issue on Aug 30, 2026

   gh-156635: Fix the exceptions in the xml.dom documentation (GH-156636)

   74b944a

   [3.14] gh-156635: Fix the exceptions in the xml.dom documentation (GH…

   0ee064f
7. serhiy-storchaka

   closed this as completedon Aug 30, 2026
8. serhiy-storchaka

   added a commit that references this issue on Aug 30, 2026

   [3.13] gh-156635: Fix the exceptions in the xml.dom documentation (GH…

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9. hugovk

   added a commit that references this issue on Aug 31, 2026

   [3.15] gh-156635: Fix the exceptions in the xml.dom documentation (GH…

   00347e2
10. clin1234

    added a commit that references this issue on Sep 12, 2026

    pythongh-156635: Fix the exceptions in the xml.dom documentation (pyt…

    6e0aba1

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