diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 971a65b4..affa9ba1 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+Mon Jan 05 18:28:41 CET 2009 Rob Richards <rrichards@cdatazone.org>
+
+	* include/libxml/parser.h parser.c: add XML_PARSE_OLDSAX parser 
+	  option to enable pre 2.7 SAX behavior.
+
 Wed Dec 31 23:11:37 CET 2008 Rob Richards <rrichards@cdatazone.org>
 
 	* tree.c: set doc on last child tree in xmlAddChildList for 
diff --git a/include/libxml/parser.h b/include/libxml/parser.h
index 24d5cf92..01de128e 100644
--- a/include/libxml/parser.h
+++ b/include/libxml/parser.h
@@ -1096,7 +1096,8 @@ typedef enum {
 				   crash if you try to modify the tree) */
     XML_PARSE_OLD10	= 1<<17,/* parse using XML-1.0 before update 5 */
     XML_PARSE_NOBASEFIX = 1<<18,/* do not fixup XINCLUDE xml:base uris */
-    XML_PARSE_HUGE      = 1<<19 /* relax any hardcoded limit from the parser */
+    XML_PARSE_HUGE      = 1<<19, /* relax any hardcoded limit from the parser */
+    XML_PARSE_OLDSAX    = 1<<20 /* parse using SAX2 interface from before 2.7.0 */
 } xmlParserOption;
 
 XMLPUBFUN void XMLCALL
diff --git a/parser.c b/parser.c
index c52d360b..9db664fd 100644
--- a/parser.c
+++ b/parser.c
@@ -7047,9 +7047,11 @@ xmlParseEntityRef(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt) {
     /*
      * Predefined entites override any extra definition
      */
-    ent = xmlGetPredefinedEntity(name);
-    if (ent != NULL)
-        return(ent);
+    if ((ctxt->options & XML_PARSE_OLDSAX) == 0) {
+        ent = xmlGetPredefinedEntity(name);
+        if (ent != NULL)
+            return(ent);
+    }
 
     /*
      * Increate the number of entity references parsed
@@ -7063,6 +7065,9 @@ xmlParseEntityRef(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt) {
     if (ctxt->sax != NULL) {
 	if (ctxt->sax->getEntity != NULL)
 	    ent = ctxt->sax->getEntity(ctxt->userData, name);
+	if ((ctxt->wellFormed == 1 ) && (ent == NULL) && 
+	    (ctxt->options & XML_PARSE_OLDSAX))
+	    ent = xmlGetPredefinedEntity(name);
 	if ((ctxt->wellFormed == 1 ) && (ent == NULL) &&
 	    (ctxt->userData==ctxt)) {
 	    ent = xmlSAX2GetEntity(ctxt, name);
@@ -7135,6 +7140,7 @@ xmlParseEntityRef(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt) {
      */
     else if ((ctxt->instate == XML_PARSER_ATTRIBUTE_VALUE) &&
 	     (ent != NULL) && (ent->content != NULL) &&
+	     (ent->etype != XML_INTERNAL_PREDEFINED_ENTITY) &&
 	     (xmlStrchr(ent->content, '<'))) {
 	xmlFatalErrMsgStr(ctxt, XML_ERR_LT_IN_ATTRIBUTE,
     "'<' in entity '%s' is not allowed in attributes values\n", name);
@@ -7231,11 +7237,13 @@ xmlParseStringEntityRef(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt, const xmlChar ** str) {
     /*
      * Predefined entites override any extra definition
      */
-    ent = xmlGetPredefinedEntity(name);
-    if (ent != NULL) {
-        xmlFree(name);
-        *str = ptr;
-        return(ent);
+    if ((ctxt->options & XML_PARSE_OLDSAX) == 0) {
+        ent = xmlGetPredefinedEntity(name);
+        if (ent != NULL) {
+            xmlFree(name);
+            *str = ptr;
+            return(ent);
+        }
     }
 
     /*
@@ -7250,6 +7258,8 @@ xmlParseStringEntityRef(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt, const xmlChar ** str) {
     if (ctxt->sax != NULL) {
 	if (ctxt->sax->getEntity != NULL)
 	    ent = ctxt->sax->getEntity(ctxt->userData, name);
+	if ((ent == NULL) && (ctxt->options & XML_PARSE_OLDSAX))
+	    ent = xmlGetPredefinedEntity(name);
 	if ((ent == NULL) && (ctxt->userData==ctxt)) {
 	    ent = xmlSAX2GetEntity(ctxt, name);
 	}
@@ -7318,6 +7328,7 @@ xmlParseStringEntityRef(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt, const xmlChar ** str) {
      */
     else if ((ctxt->instate == XML_PARSER_ATTRIBUTE_VALUE) &&
 	     (ent != NULL) && (ent->content != NULL) &&
+	     (ent->etype != XML_INTERNAL_PREDEFINED_ENTITY) &&
 	     (xmlStrchr(ent->content, '<'))) {
 	xmlFatalErrMsgStr(ctxt, XML_ERR_LT_IN_ATTRIBUTE,
      "'<' in entity '%s' is not allowed in attributes values\n",
@@ -14211,6 +14222,10 @@ xmlCtxtUseOptionsInternal(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt, int options, const char *encodi
 	ctxt->options |= XML_PARSE_HUGE;
         options -= XML_PARSE_HUGE;
     }
+    if (options & XML_PARSE_OLDSAX) {
+	ctxt->options |= XML_PARSE_OLDSAX;
+        options -= XML_PARSE_OLDSAX;
+    }
     ctxt->linenumbers = 1;
     return (options);
 }