xsl:sort order - works in xalanj, but in xalanc ?

[Per Jessen]

Hi,

I have some XSL code looking more or less like this:

<xsl:variable name="dir" select="'ascending'"/>
    <xsl:apply-templates select="catalogue/phrase">
       <xsl:sort
        order="{$dir}"
        select="@key"/>
    </xsl:apply-templates>

Using xalanc produces an error message: XSLT error: The variable 'dir' is not 
defined.,
Although, if I define the 'dir' variable at the top level, it works.

Using xalanj (2.4.1), there is no problem either way.

I'm using snapshot 20030128183339 - have I hit a bug or am I missing something?

thanks,
Per