Clarification of "$ref" as a root property referring to "definitions" defined in the same object

[jimmylewis]

Is the following JSON schema valid?

{
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
  "$ref": "#/definitions/myObject",
  "definitions": {
    "myObject": {
      "type": "object"
    }
  }
}

In JSON Schema Draft 4, it refers to the JSON Reference draft, which says (emphasis mine):

The "$ref" string value contains a URI [RFC3986], which identifies
the location of the JSON value being referenced. It is an error
condition if the string value does not conform to URI syntax rules.
Any members other than "$ref" in a JSON Reference object SHALL be
ignored.

Similarly, in the latest JSON Schema draft, it says:

An object schema with a "$ref" property MUST be interpreted as a "$ref" reference. The value of the "$ref" property MUST be a URI Reference. Resolved against the current URI base, it identifies the URI of a schema to use. All other properties in a "$ref" object MUST be ignored.

However, in the JSON Schema test suite there is a test validating this very scenario.

How are these definitions reconciled? Using Visual Studio's validator, the schema is considered invalid because it ignores the "definitions" property, so the "$ref" doesn't resolve. Other validators seem to accept it as a valid schema. Which is the correct behavior?

[handrews]

@jimmylewis thanks! I agree with your (and Visual Studio's) behavior, so this looks like a bug in the test suite. Could you please file it on that repository so the maintainer there sees it? This repository is for issues and enhancements of the specification itself.

[jimmylewis]

Turns out this issue was already opened on the test repo. json-schema-org/JSON-Schema-Test-Suite#113

[handrews]

@jimmylewis so it is! I've been so focused on getting draft-07 out the door that I haven't been paying much attention to the other repos. I'll try to get this fixed as soon as I have a moment. It's not good to have conforming implementations failing the suite.