diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 5b908cad..77e33b46 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+Fri Sep 12 11:43:12 CEST 2003 Daniel Veillard <daniel@veillard.com>
+
+	* tree.c: applied speedup to xmlSearchNs() as suggested by
+	  Luca Padovani. Cleaned up xmlSearchNsByHref() in the process
+	  applying the same trick.
+
 Fri Sep 12 01:36:20 CEST 2003 Daniel Veillard <daniel@veillard.com>
 
 	* parser.c parserInternals.c tree.c include/libxml/parser.h
diff --git a/tree.c b/tree.c
index ba3cbf2c..b3eea54e 100644
--- a/tree.c
+++ b/tree.c
@@ -5274,12 +5274,66 @@ xmlSearchNs(xmlDocPtr doc, xmlNodePtr node, const xmlChar *nameSpace) {
 		    return(cur);
 		cur = cur->next;
 	    }
+	    cur = node->ns;
+	    if (cur != NULL) {
+		if ((cur->prefix == NULL) && (nameSpace == NULL) &&
+		    (cur->href != NULL))
+		    return(cur);
+		if ((cur->prefix != NULL) && (nameSpace != NULL) &&
+		    (cur->href != NULL) &&
+		    (xmlStrEqual(cur->prefix, nameSpace)))
+		    return(cur);
+	    }
 	}
 	node = node->parent;
     }
     return(NULL);
 }
 
+/**
+ * xmlNsInScope:
+ * @doc:  the document
+ * @node:  the current node
+ * @ancestor:  the ancestor carrying the namespace
+ * @prefix:  the namespace prefix
+ *
+ * Verify that the given namespace held on @ancestor is still in scope
+ * on node.
+ * 
+ * Returns 1 if true, 0 if false and -1 in case of error.
+ */
+static int
+xmlNsInScope(xmlDocPtr doc, xmlNodePtr node, xmlNodePtr ancestor,
+             const xmlChar * prefix)
+{
+    xmlNsPtr tst;
+
+    while ((node != NULL) && (node != ancestor)) {
+        if ((node->type == XML_ENTITY_REF_NODE) ||
+            (node->type == XML_ENTITY_NODE) ||
+            (node->type == XML_ENTITY_DECL))
+            return (-1);
+        if (node->type == XML_ELEMENT_NODE) {
+            tst = node->nsDef;
+            while (tst != NULL) {
+                if ((tst->prefix == NULL)
+                    && (prefix == NULL))
+                    return (0);
+                if ((tst->prefix != NULL)
+                    && (prefix != NULL)
+                    && (xmlStrEqual(tst->prefix, prefix)))
+                    return (0);
+                tst = tst->next;
+            }
+        }
+        node = node->parent;
+    }
+    if (node != ancestor)
+        return (-1);
+    return (1);
+}
+                  
+                  
 /**
  * xmlSearchNsByHref:
  * @doc:  the document
@@ -5291,84 +5345,82 @@ xmlSearchNs(xmlDocPtr doc, xmlNodePtr node, const xmlChar *nameSpace) {
  * Returns the namespace pointer or NULL.
  */
 xmlNsPtr
-xmlSearchNsByHref(xmlDocPtr doc, xmlNodePtr node, const xmlChar *href) {
+xmlSearchNsByHref(xmlDocPtr doc, xmlNodePtr node, const xmlChar * href)
+{
     xmlNsPtr cur;
     xmlNodePtr orig = node;
 
-    if ((node == NULL) || (href == NULL)) return(NULL);
+    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) && (node->type == XML_ELEMENT_NODE)) {
-	    /*
-	     * The XML-1.0 namespace is normally held on the root
-	     * element. In this case exceptionally create it on the
-	     * node element.
-	     */
-	    cur = (xmlNsPtr) xmlMalloc(sizeof(xmlNs));
-	    if (cur == NULL) {
-		xmlGenericError(xmlGenericErrorContext,
-			"xmlSearchNs : malloc failed\n");
-		return(NULL);
-	    }
-	    memset(cur, 0, sizeof(xmlNs));
-	    cur->type = XML_LOCAL_NAMESPACE;
-	    cur->href = xmlStrdup(XML_XML_NAMESPACE); 
-	    cur->prefix = xmlStrdup((const xmlChar *)"xml"); 
-	    cur->next = node->nsDef;
-	    node->nsDef = cur;
-	    return(cur);
-	}
-	if (doc->oldNs == NULL) {
-	    /*
-	     * Allocate a new Namespace and fill the fields.
-	     */
-	    doc->oldNs = (xmlNsPtr) xmlMalloc(sizeof(xmlNs));
-	    if (doc->oldNs == NULL) {
-		xmlGenericError(xmlGenericErrorContext,
-			"xmlSearchNsByHref : malloc failed\n");
-		return(NULL);
-	    }
-	    memset(doc->oldNs, 0, sizeof(xmlNs));
-	    doc->oldNs->type = XML_LOCAL_NAMESPACE;
+        /*
+         * Only the document can hold the XML spec namespace.
+         */
+        if ((doc == NULL) && (node->type == XML_ELEMENT_NODE)) {
+            /*
+             * The XML-1.0 namespace is normally held on the root
+             * element. In this case exceptionally create it on the
+             * node element.
+             */
+            cur = (xmlNsPtr) xmlMalloc(sizeof(xmlNs));
+            if (cur == NULL) {
+                xmlGenericError(xmlGenericErrorContext,
+                                "xmlSearchNs : malloc failed\n");
+                return (NULL);
+            }
+            memset(cur, 0, sizeof(xmlNs));
+            cur->type = XML_LOCAL_NAMESPACE;
+            cur->href = xmlStrdup(XML_XML_NAMESPACE);
+            cur->prefix = xmlStrdup((const xmlChar *) "xml");
+            cur->next = node->nsDef;
+            node->nsDef = cur;
+            return (cur);
+        }
+        if (doc->oldNs == NULL) {
+            /*
+             * Allocate a new Namespace and fill the fields.
+             */
+            doc->oldNs = (xmlNsPtr) xmlMalloc(sizeof(xmlNs));
+            if (doc->oldNs == NULL) {
+                xmlGenericError(xmlGenericErrorContext,
+                                "xmlSearchNsByHref : malloc failed\n");
+                return (NULL);
+            }
+            memset(doc->oldNs, 0, sizeof(xmlNs));
+            doc->oldNs->type = XML_LOCAL_NAMESPACE;
 
-	    doc->oldNs->href = xmlStrdup(XML_XML_NAMESPACE); 
-	    doc->oldNs->prefix = xmlStrdup((const xmlChar *)"xml"); 
-	}
-	return(doc->oldNs);
+            doc->oldNs->href = xmlStrdup(XML_XML_NAMESPACE);
+            doc->oldNs->prefix = xmlStrdup((const xmlChar *) "xml");
+        }
+        return (doc->oldNs);
     }
     while (node != NULL) {
-	cur = node->nsDef;
-	while (cur != NULL) {
-	    if ((cur->href != NULL) && (href != NULL) &&
-	        (xmlStrEqual(cur->href, href))) {
-		/*
-		 * Check that the prefix is not shadowed between orig and node
-		 */
-		xmlNodePtr check = orig;
-		xmlNsPtr tst;
-
-		while (check != node) {
-		    tst = check->nsDef;
-		    while (tst != NULL) {
-			if ((tst->prefix == NULL) && (cur->prefix == NULL))
-	                    goto shadowed;
-			if ((tst->prefix != NULL) && (cur->prefix != NULL) &&
-			    (xmlStrEqual(tst->prefix, cur->prefix)))
-	                    goto shadowed;
-		        tst = tst->next;
-		    }
-		    check = check->parent;
-		}
-		return(cur);
-	    }
-shadowed:		    
-	    cur = cur->next;
-	}
-	node = node->parent;
+        if ((node->type == XML_ENTITY_REF_NODE) ||
+            (node->type == XML_ENTITY_NODE) ||
+            (node->type == XML_ENTITY_DECL))
+            return (NULL);
+        if (node->type == XML_ELEMENT_NODE) {
+            cur = node->nsDef;
+            while (cur != NULL) {
+                if ((cur->href != NULL) && (href != NULL) &&
+                    (xmlStrEqual(cur->href, href))) {
+		    if (xmlNsInScope(doc, orig, node, cur->href) == 1)
+			return (cur);
+                }
+                cur = cur->next;
+            }
+            cur = node->ns;
+            if (cur != NULL) {
+                if ((cur->href != NULL) && (href != NULL) &&
+                    (xmlStrEqual(cur->href, href))) {
+		    if (xmlNsInScope(doc, orig, node, cur->href) == 1)
+			return (cur);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        node = node->parent;
     }
-    return(NULL);
+    return (NULL);
 }
 
 /**