In some cases, mixed elements are necessary: for instance when a XHTML document is included inside a structured XML message. But often, mixed elements are abused when the schema author wanted "free format XML" because it was too hard to specify or laziness.

So, the mixed_elements option can be used in what way XML::Compile will help you deal with these tricks. More like XML::Simple style parsing of the mixed element. That usually works out.

The effect of your modification is probably the same as specifing mixed_elements => 'STRUCTURAL' when compiling a reader.

minOccur errors are common. Sometimes, I see confusion between nillable and optional... there is a flag for that as well: interpret_nillable_as_optional