Rationale for keeping default.svg transparent:
- Our background color is non-compliant SVG, until we implement background color attr newly added to SVG 1.2. With it being transparent, at least a _majority_ of docs will be compliant, because SVG 1.1 says the renderer must make background transparent. So, currently you have to do something for it to become different-rendered-in-batik. With this change you will get that by default.
- When a newbie gets unwanted transparent bg on export, s/he will likely realize it can be turned off somewhere, or at least s/he can add a opaque bg rect to work around this. When, vice versa, s/he gets opaque export whereas transparency was desired, s/he has no easy workarounds, and no easy way to guess that that this is fixable at all.
-- bulia byak Inkscape. Draw Freely. http://www.inkscape.org