diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 14583991..ed6391b6 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+Thu Jan 17 09:44:44 CET 2002 Daniel Veillard <daniel@veillard.com>
+
+	* tree.c: fixed the funxtion to set the xml: attributes
+	* debugXML.c: added "setbase" to test it.
+
 Wed Jan 16 16:36:08 CET 2002 Daniel Veillard <daniel@veillard.com>
 
 	* tree.c: update xmlNodeSetContent() and xmlNodeSetContentLen()
diff --git a/debugXML.c b/debugXML.c
index fa25c917..ed340d4c 100644
--- a/debugXML.c
+++ b/debugXML.c
@@ -1423,6 +1423,27 @@ xmlShellBase(xmlShellCtxtPtr ctxt ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
     return (0);
 }
 
+/**
+ * xmlShellSetBase:
+ * @ctxt:  the shell context
+ * @arg:  the new base
+ * @node:  a node
+ * @node2:  unused
+ *
+ * Implements the XML shell function "setbase"
+ * change the current XML base of the node
+ *
+ * Returns 0
+ */
+static int
+xmlShellSetBase(xmlShellCtxtPtr ctxt ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
+             char *arg ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED, xmlNodePtr node,
+             xmlNodePtr node2 ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
+{
+    xmlNodeSetBase(node, (xmlChar*) arg);
+    return (0);
+}
+
 /**
  * xmlShellDir:
  * @ctxt:  the shell context
@@ -1940,6 +1961,7 @@ xmlShell(xmlDocPtr doc, char *filename, xmlShellReadlineFunc input,
             break;
 		if (!strcmp(command, "help")) {
 		  fprintf(stdout, "\tbase         display XML base of the node\n");
+		  fprintf(stdout, "\tsetbase URI  change the XML base of the node\n");
 		  fprintf(stdout, "\tbye          leave shell\n");
 		  fprintf(stdout, "\tcat [node]   display node or current node\n");
 		  fprintf(stdout, "\tcd [path]    change directory to path or to root\n");
@@ -1981,6 +2003,8 @@ xmlShell(xmlDocPtr doc, char *filename, xmlShellReadlineFunc input,
             xmlShellDu(ctxt, NULL, ctxt->node, NULL);
         } else if (!strcmp(command, "base")) {
             xmlShellBase(ctxt, NULL, ctxt->node, NULL);
+        } else if (!strcmp(command, "setbase")) {
+            xmlShellSetBase(ctxt, arg, ctxt->node, NULL);
         } else if ((!strcmp(command, "ls")) || (!strcmp(command, "dir"))) {
             int dir = (!strcmp(command, "dir"));
 
diff --git a/tree.c b/tree.c
index 2b145582..63804610 100644
--- a/tree.c
+++ b/tree.c
@@ -3249,6 +3249,8 @@ xmlDocSetRootElement(xmlDocPtr doc, xmlNodePtr root) {
  */
 void
 xmlNodeSetLang(xmlNodePtr cur, const xmlChar *lang) {
+    xmlNsPtr ns;
+
     if (cur == NULL) return;
     switch(cur->type) {
         case XML_TEXT_NODE:
@@ -3277,7 +3279,10 @@ xmlNodeSetLang(xmlNodePtr cur, const xmlChar *lang) {
         case XML_ATTRIBUTE_NODE:
 	    break;
     }
-    xmlSetProp(cur, BAD_CAST "xml:lang", lang);
+    ns = xmlSearchNsByHref(cur->doc, cur, XML_XML_NAMESPACE);
+    if (ns == NULL)
+	return;
+    xmlSetNsProp(cur, ns, BAD_CAST "lang", lang);
 }
  
 /**
@@ -3314,6 +3319,8 @@ xmlNodeGetLang(xmlNodePtr cur) {
  */
 void
 xmlNodeSetSpacePreserve(xmlNodePtr cur, int val) {
+    xmlNsPtr ns;
+
     if (cur == NULL) return;
     switch(cur->type) {
         case XML_TEXT_NODE:
@@ -3342,13 +3349,15 @@ xmlNodeSetSpacePreserve(xmlNodePtr cur, int val) {
         case XML_ATTRIBUTE_NODE:
 	    break;
     }
+    ns = xmlSearchNsByHref(cur->doc, cur, XML_XML_NAMESPACE);
+    if (ns == NULL)
+	return;
     switch (val) {
     case 0:
-	xmlSetProp(cur, BAD_CAST "xml:space", BAD_CAST "default");
+	xmlSetNsProp(cur, ns, BAD_CAST "space", BAD_CAST "default");
 	break;
     case 1:
-	xmlSetProp(cur, BAD_CAST "xml:space", 
-		       BAD_CAST "preserve");
+	xmlSetNsProp(cur, ns, BAD_CAST "space", BAD_CAST "preserve");
 	break;
     }
 }
@@ -3368,7 +3377,7 @@ xmlNodeGetSpacePreserve(xmlNodePtr cur) {
     xmlChar *space;
 
     while (cur != NULL) {
-        space = xmlGetProp(cur, BAD_CAST "xml:space");
+	space = xmlGetNsProp(cur, BAD_CAST "space", XML_XML_NAMESPACE);
 	if (space != NULL) {
 	    if (xmlStrEqual(space, BAD_CAST "preserve")) {
 		xmlFree(space);
@@ -3437,6 +3446,8 @@ xmlNodeSetName(xmlNodePtr cur, const xmlChar *name) {
  */
 void
 xmlNodeSetBase(xmlNodePtr cur, xmlChar* uri) {
+    xmlNsPtr ns;
+
     if (cur == NULL) return;
     switch(cur->type) {
         case XML_TEXT_NODE:
@@ -3465,7 +3476,11 @@ xmlNodeSetBase(xmlNodePtr cur, xmlChar* uri) {
         case XML_ATTRIBUTE_NODE:
 	    break;
     }
-    xmlSetProp(cur, BAD_CAST "xml:base", uri);
+    
+    ns = xmlSearchNsByHref(cur->doc, cur, XML_XML_NAMESPACE);
+    if (ns == NULL)
+	return;
+    xmlSetNsProp(cur, ns, BAD_CAST "base", uri);
 }
 
 /**
@@ -4113,6 +4128,11 @@ xmlSearchNsByHref(xmlDocPtr doc, xmlNodePtr node, const xmlChar *href) {
 
     if ((node == NULL) || (href == NULL)) return(NULL);
     if (xmlStrEqual(href, XML_XML_NAMESPACE)) {
+	/*
+	 * Only the document can hold the XML spec namespace.
+	 */
+	if (doc == NULL)
+	    return(NULL);
 	if (doc->oldNs == NULL) {
 	    /*
 	     * Allocate a new Namespace and fill the fields.