TDS 5.6 WMS GetMap error: Cannot read field "allowFeatureInfo" because "newSettings" is null

[pragmaeuge]

Hi,
i am a FEWS user. My currently installed Deltares Open Archive bundles THREDDS version 5.6. I cannot upgrade to 5.8 immediately because of it.
In an effort to provide data to third-parties, i have identified TDS WMS 1.3.0 as a suitable service.
Unfortunately, when i try to test WMS GetMap service using default wmsConfig.xml (generated by TDS itself), an error is thrown:

http://10.64.25.27:8080/thredds/wms/data/2025/10/Italia/08/observed/Radar_Observed.nc?SERVICE=WMS&VERSION=1.3.0&REQUEST=GetMap&BBOX=41.02388039738485048,4.523391511849696123,47.84898921631926783,20.47660848815030477&CRS=EPSG:4326&WIDTH=687&HEIGHT=294&LAYERS=vertical_maximum_intensity&STYLES=&FORMAT=image/png

java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot read field "allowFeatureInfo" because "newSettings" is null
thredds.server.wms.config.LayerSettings.replaceNullValues(LayerSettings.java:215)
thredds.server.wms.config.WmsDetailedConfig.getSettings(WmsDetailedConfig.java:200)
thredds.server.wms.TdsEnhancedVariableMetadata.(TdsEnhancedVariableMetadata.java:45)
thredds.server.wms.ThreddsWmsCatalogue.getLayerMetadata(ThreddsWmsCatalogue.java:423)
uk.ac.rdg.resc.edal.wms.util.WmsUtils.getLayerMetadata(WmsUtils.java:285)
uk.ac.rdg.resc.edal.wms.GetMapStyleParams.(GetMapStyleParams.java:182)
uk.ac.rdg.resc.edal.wms.GetMapParameters.(GetMapParameters.java:97)
uk.ac.rdg.resc.edal.wms.WmsServlet.getMap(WmsServlet.java:410)
[...]

I have tried with many other NetCDF, all CF-1.6 compliant, with no success. All others TDS services are working fine. WMS GetCapabilities works as well.

I have read some threads where it was pointed that missing default configuration parameters could be the cause of it, but as said, wmsConfig.xml was generated by TDS itself on first initialization.

Can you help me?

Thanks,
Eugenio

UPDATE: i have tried using manually installing upgrading to TDS 5.8, same error

TDS is provided using:

• java-17-openjdk-17.0.16.0.8-2.el8.x86_64
• Apache Tomcat/10.1.48
• RHEL 8

This is my current wmsConfig.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE wmsConfig SYSTEM "https://schemas.unidata.ucar.edu/thredds/dtd/ncwms/wmsConfig_2_0.dtd">
<!--
Detailed configuration of the WMS service.  This config file can be used to
set default styling parameters for each dataset/variable, and to enable or disable
the GetFeatureInfo operation.
-->
<wmsConfig>
    <global>
        <!-- These settings apply to all datasets unless overridden below -->
        <defaults>
            <!-- The global defaults. All elements are mandatory -->
            <allowFeatureInfo>true</allowFeatureInfo>
            <defaultColorScaleRange>-50 50</defaultColorScaleRange>
            <defaultAboveMaxColor>#000000</defaultAboveMaxColor>
            <defaultBelowMinColor>#000000</defaultBelowMinColor>
            <defaultNoDataColor>extend</defaultNoDataColor>
            <defaultOpacity>100</defaultOpacity>
            <defaultPaletteName>psu-viridis</defaultPaletteName>
            <defaultNumColorBands>20</defaultNumColorBands>
            <logScaling>false</logScaling>
            <!--Deprecated: intervalTime (does not work, to be removed in v6)-->
            <intervalTime>false</intervalTime>
        </defaults>
        <standardNames>
            <!-- Use this section to set defaults per standard name -->
            <!-- Units must come from the UDUNITS vocabulary -->
            <standardName name="sea_water_potential_temperature" units="K">
                <defaultColorScaleRange>268 308</defaultColorScaleRange>
            </standardName>
            <standardName name="sea_water_temperature" units="K">
                <defaultColorScaleRange>268 308</defaultColorScaleRange>
            </standardName>
            <standardName name="mass_concentration_of_chlorophyll_in_sea_water" units="kg m-3">
                <logScaling>true</logScaling>
            </standardName>
        </standardNames>
    </global>
    <overrides>
        <datasetPath pathSpec="testAll/20040503*_eta_211.nc">
            <!-- Will apply to all paths that match the path spec above -->
            <pathDefaults>
                <!-- These will apply to all variables in this path unless overridden below -->
                <allowFeatureInfo>false</allowFeatureInfo>
                <defaultPaletteName>x-Occam</defaultPaletteName>
            </pathDefaults>

            <variables>
                <!-- Configure variables individually according to their internal ID.
                     This is the most specific setting and will override any others -->
                <variable id="Z_sfc">
                    <defaultColorScaleRange>0 2920</defaultColorScaleRange>
                    <defaultAboveMaxColor>extend</defaultAboveMaxColor>
                    <defaultBelowMinColor>#0000ff</defaultBelowMinColor>
                    <defaultNoDataColor>transparent</defaultNoDataColor>
                    <defaultOpacity>95</defaultOpacity>
                </variable>
            </variables>
        </datasetPath>
        <datasetPath pathSpec="testAll/20040504*_eta_211.nc">
            <!-- Will apply to all paths that match the path spec above -->
            <pathDefaults>
                <!-- These will apply to all variables in this path unless overridden below -->
                <allowFeatureInfo>true</allowFeatureInfo>
                <defaultPaletteName>seq-Reds</defaultPaletteName>
            </pathDefaults>
            <variables>
                <!-- Configure variables individually according to their internal ID.
                     This is the most specific setting and will override any others -->
                <variable id="Z_sfc">
                    <defaultColorScaleRange>0 3170</defaultColorScaleRange>
                </variable>
            </variables>
        </datasetPath>
    </overrides>
</wmsConfig>

[pragmaeuge]

Hi,
i have solved the issue myself.
After switching to 5.8 version, nothing changed. So, i have searched in all logs inside TDS folder.
serverStartup.log contained a WARN related to an issue in XML parsing of wmsConfig.xml due to re access DTD restrictions (https://schemas.unidata.ucar.edu/thredds/dtd/ncwms/wmsConfig_2_0.dtd)
I have tried to both:

• bundling the https://schemas.unidata.ucar.edu/thredds/dtd/ncwms/wmsConfig_2_0.dtd (locally downloading), with no success
• adding additional JAVE_OPTS for tomcat execution, like JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Djavax.xml.accessExternalDTD=file,https -Djavax.xml.accessExternalSchema=file,https", with no success

Then, i tried to remove the row:
<!DOCTYPE wmsConfig SYSTEM "https://schemas.unidata.ucar.edu/thredds/dtd/ncwms/wmsConfig_2_0.dtd">
from the wmsConfig.xml and it worked.

I don't know if that is a my enviroment related issue or not.

Thanks!
Eugenio

The following is my currently working wmsConfig.xml configuration:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--
Detailed configuration of the WMS service.  This config file can be used to
set default styling parameters for each dataset/variable, and to enable or disable
the GetFeatureInfo operation.
-->
<wmsConfig>
    <global>
        <!-- These settings apply to all datasets unless overridden below -->
        <defaults>
            <!-- The global defaults. All elements are mandatory -->
            <allowFeatureInfo>true</allowFeatureInfo>
            <defaultColorScaleRange>-50 50</defaultColorScaleRange>
            <defaultAboveMaxColor>#000000</defaultAboveMaxColor>
            <defaultBelowMinColor>#000000</defaultBelowMinColor>
            <defaultNoDataColor>extend</defaultNoDataColor>
            <defaultOpacity>100</defaultOpacity>
            <defaultPaletteName>psu-viridis</defaultPaletteName>
            <defaultNumColorBands>20</defaultNumColorBands>
            <logScaling>false</logScaling>
            <!--Deprecated: intervalTime (does not work, to be removed in v6)-->
            <intervalTime>false</intervalTime>
        </defaults>
        <standardNames>
            <!-- Use this section to set defaults per standard name -->
            <!-- Units must come from the UDUNITS vocabulary -->
            <standardName name="sea_water_potential_temperature" units="K">
                <defaultColorScaleRange>268 308</defaultColorScaleRange>
            </standardName>
            <standardName name="sea_water_temperature" units="K">
                <defaultColorScaleRange>268 308</defaultColorScaleRange>
            </standardName>
            <standardName name="mass_concentration_of_chlorophyll_in_sea_water" units="kg m-3">
                <logScaling>true</logScaling>
            </standardName>
        </standardNames>
    </global>
    <overrides>
        <datasetPath pathSpec="testAll/20040503*_eta_211.nc">
            <!-- Will apply to all paths that match the path spec above -->
            <pathDefaults>
                <!-- These will apply to all variables in this path unless overridden below -->
                <allowFeatureInfo>false</allowFeatureInfo>
                <defaultPaletteName>x-Occam</defaultPaletteName>
            </pathDefaults>

            <variables>
                <!-- Configure variables individually according to their internal ID.
                     This is the most specific setting and will override any others -->
                <variable id="Z_sfc">
                    <defaultColorScaleRange>0 2920</defaultColorScaleRange>
                    <defaultAboveMaxColor>extend</defaultAboveMaxColor>
                    <defaultBelowMinColor>#0000ff</defaultBelowMinColor>
                    <defaultNoDataColor>transparent</defaultNoDataColor>
                    <defaultOpacity>95</defaultOpacity>
                </variable>
            </variables>
        </datasetPath>
        <datasetPath pathSpec="testAll/20040504*_eta_211.nc">
            <!-- Will apply to all paths that match the path spec above -->
            <pathDefaults>
                <!-- These will apply to all variables in this path unless overridden below -->
                <allowFeatureInfo>true</allowFeatureInfo>
                <defaultPaletteName>seq-Reds</defaultPaletteName>
            </pathDefaults>
            <variables>
                <!-- Configure variables individually according to their internal ID.
                     This is the most specific setting and will override any others -->
                <variable id="Z_sfc">
                    <defaultColorScaleRange>0 3170</defaultColorScaleRange>
                </variable>
            </variables>
        </datasetPath>
    </overrides>
</wmsConfig>

[lesserwhirls]

Greetings @pragmaeuge! Thank you for following up with your workaround. I have not run into this myself, so I am not sure what could be happening. Do you happen to have a copy of the text of the exact warning messages you saw in the logs?

[pragmaeuge]

Hi @lesserwhirls ,
of course.

2025-10-30T16:49:13.730+0000 [     12496][        ] INFO  org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader: Root WebApplicationContext: initialization started
2025-10-30T16:49:14.609+0000 [     13375][        ] INFO  org.springframework.security.core.SpringSecurityCoreVersion: You are running with Spring Security Core 6.5.2
2025-10-30T16:49:14.611+0000 [     13377][        ] INFO  org.springframework.security.config.SecurityNamespaceHandler: Spring Security 'config' module version is 6.5.2
2025-10-30T16:49:15.664+0000 [     14430][        ] INFO  org.hibernate.validator.internal.util.Version: HV000001: Hibernate Validator 7.0.5.Final
2025-10-30T16:49:16.280+0000 [     15046][        ] INFO  serverStartup: TdsContext version= 5.8 - 2025-10-23T10:08:35-0600
2025-10-30T16:49:16.281+0000 [     15047][        ] INFO  serverStartup: TdsContext initialized logging in /opt/tomcat10/content/thredds/logs
2025-10-30T16:49:16.406+0000 [     15172][        ] INFO  serverStartup: DataRootManager:2 aliases set
2025-10-30T16:49:16.694+0000 [     15460][        ] INFO  serverStartup: TdsInit: org.springframework.context.event.ContextRefreshedEvent[source=Root WebApplicationContext, started on Thu Oct 30 16:49:13 GMT 2025]
2025-10-30T16:49:16.694+0000 [     15460][        ] INFO  serverStartup: TdsInit: getContentRootPathAbsolute= /opt/tomcat10/content/
2025-10-30T16:49:16.753+0000 [     15519][        ] INFO  serverStartup: ThreddsConfigReader reading xml file = /opt/tomcat10/content/thredds/threddsConfig.xml
2025-10-30T16:49:17.349+0000 [     16115][        ] INFO  serverStartup: Loading custom WMS palette files from /opt/tomcat10/content/thredds/wmsPalettes
2025-10-30T16:49:17.349+0000 [     16115][        ] INFO  serverStartup: Loading bundled WMS style files from /opt/tomcat10/content/thredds/wmsStyles
2025-10-30T16:49:17.360+0000 [     16126][        ] WARN  serverStartup: Cannot parse wmsConfig.xml:
2025-10-30T16:49:17.360+0000 [     16126][        ] WARN  serverStartup: Error on line 2: External DTD: Failed to read external DTD 'wmsConfig_2_0.dtd', because 'https' access is not allowed due to restriction set by the accessExternalDTD property.
2025-10-30T16:49:17.402+0000 [     16168][        ] INFO  serverStartup: TdsInit: catalogWriting.useBytesForDataSize= false
2025-10-30T16:49:17.463+0000 [     16229][        ] WARN  ucar.nc2.ffi.netcdf.NetcdfClibrary: Nc4Iosp: NetCDF-4 C library not present (jna_path='null', libname='netcdf').
2025-10-30T16:49:17.467+0000 [     16233][        ] INFO  serverStartup: TdsInit: Aggregation.setTypicalDatasetMode= penultimate
2025-10-30T16:49:17.473+0000 [     16239][        ] INFO  serverStartup: TdsInit: CdmCache= /opt/tomcat10/content/thredds/cache/cdm scour = 3600 maxSize = 1000000000
2025-10-30T16:49:17.477+0000 [     16243][        ] INFO  serverStartup: TdsInit: AggregationCache= /opt/tomcat10/content/thredds/cache/agg scour = 86400 maxAgeSecs = 7776000
2025-10-30T16:49:17.477+0000 [     16243][        ] INFO  serverStartup: TdsInit: GribIndex=DiskCache2{cachePathPolicy=NestedDirectory, alwaysUseCache=false, cachePathPolicyParam='null', root='/opt/tomcat10/content/thredds/cache/grib/', scourEveryMinutes=0, persistMinutes=129600, fail=false}
2025-10-30T16:49:17.482+0000 [     16248][        ] INFO  serverStartup: thredds.server.ncss.controller.NcssDiskCacheNcss.Cache= /opt/tomcat10/content/thredds/cache/ncss scour = 600 maxAgeSecs = 300
2025-10-30T16:49:18.593+0000 [     17359][        ] INFO  serverStartup: TdsInit: GridDatasetInv cache= /opt/tomcat10/content/thredds/cache/collection/
2025-10-30T16:49:18.646+0000 [     17412][        ] INFO  serverStartup: TdsInit: GribCdmIndex.initDefaultCollectionCache= [100,150] scour = 780
2025-10-30T16:49:19.118+0000 [     17884][        ] WARN  serverStartup: TdsContext - Could not get latest version information from Unidata.
2025-10-30T16:49:19.351+0000 [     18117][        ] INFO  serverStartup: EPSG database path: file:/opt/tomcat10/content/thredds/cache/edal-java/epsg/
2025-10-30T16:49:19.351+0000 [     18117][        ] INFO  serverStartup: TdsInit complete
2025-10-30T16:49:19.351+0000 [     18117][        ] INFO  serverStartup: Metadata ISO - initialization start
2025-10-30T16:49:19.352+0000 [     18118][        ] INFO  serverStartup: NCISO.isoAllow = true
2025-10-30T16:49:19.352+0000 [     18118][        ] INFO  serverStartup: Metadata NCML - initialization start
2025-10-30T16:49:19.352+0000 [     18118][        ] INFO  serverStartup: NCISO.ncmlAllow = true
2025-10-30T16:49:19.352+0000 [     18118][        ] INFO  serverStartup: Metadata UDDC - initialization start
2025-10-30T16:49:19.352+0000 [     18118][        ] INFO  serverStartup: NCISO.uddcAllow = true
2025-10-30T16:49:19.353+0000 [     18119][        ] INFO  serverStartup: thredds.server.opendap.OpendapServlet initialization start
2025-10-30T16:49:19.353+0000 [     18119][        ] INFO  serverStartup: thredds.server.opendap.OpendapServlet version= opendap/3.7 ascLimit = 50 binLimit = 500
2025-10-30T16:49:19.353+0000 [     18119][        ] INFO  serverStartup: thredds.server.opendap.OpendapServlet initialization done
2025-10-30T16:49:19.353+0000 [     18119][        ] INFO  serverStartup: WCS:allow= true
2025-10-30T16:49:19.356+0000 [     18122][        ] INFO  serverStartup: WCS service - init done -
2025-10-30T16:49:19.357+0000 [     18123][        ] INFO  serverStartup: WMS:allow= true
2025-10-30T16:49:19.357+0000 [     18123][        ] INFO  org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader: Root WebApplicationContext initialized in 5620 ms
2025-10-30T16:49:19.367+0000 [     18133][        ] INFO  org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet: Initializing Servlet 'spring'
2025-10-30T16:49:19.481+0000 [     18247][        ] INFO  org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet: Completed initialization in 113 ms

[lesserwhirls]

Interesting. In addition to:

WARN  serverStartup: Error on line 2: External DTD: Failed to read external DTD 'wmsConfig_2_0.dtd', because 'https' access is not allowed due to restriction set by the accessExternalDTD property.

I also see:

WARN  serverStartup: TdsContext - Could not get latest version information from Unidata.

Do you see any additional information in the TDS catalogInit.log file about the failure to fetch version information? It would seem that the two outgoing requests to Unidata servers are failing.

[pragmaeuge]

Hi,
i have copied the catalogInit.log content.
In addition, i have also performed a wget request to the DTD file, i see some issues in SSL connection establishing.

wget https://schemas.unidata.ucar.edu/thredds/dtd/ncwms/wmsConfig_2_0.dtd
--2025-10-30 19:19:46--  https://schemas.unidata.ucar.edu/thredds/dtd/ncwms/wmsConfig_2_0.dtd
Resolving schemas.unidata.ucar.edu (schemas.unidata.ucar.edu)... 128.117.130.22
Connecting to schemas.unidata.ucar.edu (schemas.unidata.ucar.edu)|128.117.130.22|:443... connected.
GnuTLS: The TLS connection was non-properly terminated.
Unable to establish SSL connection.

catalogInit.log

You are currently running TDS version 5.8 - 2025-10-23T10:08:35-0600
=========================================================================================
ConfigCatalogInitialization readMode=always isStartup=true
ConfigCatalogInitializion datasetTracker database already exists - closing it before reinitialization.
ConfigCatalogInit: initializing 1 root catalogs.
Checking catalogRoot = catalog.xml
-------readCatalog(): path=catalog.xml
Added global service Service{ name=all, base=, typeS=compound
  Service{ name=odap, base=/thredds/dodsC/, typeS=OpenDAP,desc=Access dataset through OPeNDAP using the DAP2 protocol.}
  Service{ name=dap4, base=/thredds/dap4/, typeS=DAP4,desc=Access dataset using the DAP4 protocol.}
  Service{ name=http, base=/thredds/fileServer/, typeS=HTTPServer,desc=HTTP file download.}
}

Added global service Service{ name=dap, base=, typeS=compound
  Service{ name=odap, base=/thredds/dodsC/, typeS=OpenDAP,desc=Access dataset through OPeNDAP using the DAP2 protocol.}
  Service{ name=dap4, base=/thredds/dap4/, typeS=DAP4,desc=Access dataset using the DAP4 protocol.}
}

-------readCatalog(): path=enhancedCatalog.xml

ConfigCatalogInitializion stats
ConfigCatalogInitialization started 2025-10-30T16:51:52.669Z took 0.096000 secs using readMode=always
         catalogs=2
         datasets=3
  trackedDatasets=0
           restrict=0
            hasNcml=0

      dataRoot=2
    featCollect=0
    datasetScan=1
    catalogScan=0
    datasetRoot=1

DatasetExt.total_count 0
DatasetExt.total_nbytes 0
DatasetExt.avg_nbytes     0

restrict (0)

nAccess (1)
             0: count = 3

serviceType (0)

ncmlAggSize (0)

ConfigCatalogInitializion finished took=194 msecs

[lesserwhirls]

Interesting. I do not see any issues with your wmsConfig.xml file (it validates without issue). It looks like the main issue is that your instance of the TDS is failing to fetch the DTD file for validation. Removing the reference to the DTD will cause the underlying xml parser to skip validation. I'd be curious to see what the verbose output of curl looked like:

curl --head --verbose https://schemas.unidata.ucar.edu/thredds/dtd/ncwms/wmsConfig_2_0.dtd

[pragmaeuge]

Greeting @lesserwhirls
Here the command output.

curl --head --verbose https://schemas.unidata.ucar.edu/thredds/dtd/ncwms/wmsConfig_2_0.dtd
*   Trying 128.117.130.22...
* TCP_NODELAY set
* Connected to schemas.unidata.ucar.edu (128.117.130.22) port 443 (#0)
* ALPN, offering h2
* ALPN, offering http/1.1
* successfully set certificate verify locations:
*   CAfile: /etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt
  CApath: none
* TLSv1.3 (OUT), TLS handshake, Client hello (1):
* OpenSSL SSL_connect: SSL_ERROR_SYSCALL in connection to schemas.unidata.ucar.edu:443
* Closing connection 0
curl: (35) OpenSSL SSL_connect: SSL_ERROR_SYSCALL in connection to schemas.unidata.ucar.edu:443

[lesserwhirls]

Here is what my handshake looks like:

$ curl --head --verbose https://schemas.unidata.ucar.edu/thredds/dtd/ncwms/wmsConfig_2_0.dtd
* Host schemas.unidata.ucar.edu:443 was resolved.
* IPv6: (none)
* IPv4: 128.117.130.22
*   Trying 128.117.130.22:443...
* Connected to schemas.unidata.ucar.edu (128.117.130.22) port 443
* ALPN: curl offers h2,http/1.1
* (304) (OUT), TLS handshake, Client hello (1):
*  CAfile: /etc/ssl/cert.pem
*  CApath: none
* (304) (IN), TLS handshake, Server hello (2):
* (304) (IN), TLS handshake, Unknown (8):
* (304) (IN), TLS handshake, Certificate (11):
* (304) (IN), TLS handshake, CERT verify (15):
* (304) (IN), TLS handshake, Finished (20):
* (304) (OUT), TLS handshake, Finished (20):
* SSL connection using TLSv1.3 / AEAD-AES256-GCM-SHA384 / [blank] / UNDEF
* ALPN: server accepted http/1.1
* Server certificate:
*  subject: C=US; ST=Colorado; O=University Corporation for Atmospheric Research; CN=schemas.unidata.ucar.edu
*  start date: Sep  8 00:00:00 2025 GMT
*  expire date: Oct  9 23:59:59 2026 GMT
*  subjectAltName: host "schemas.unidata.ucar.edu" matched cert's "schemas.unidata.ucar.edu"
*  issuer: C=US; O=Internet2; CN=InCommon RSA Server CA 2
*  SSL certificate verify ok.

I wonder if something in RHEL 8 (selinux?) sees whatever is responsible for (304) (IN), TLS handshake, Unknown (8): and stops trying to process the request?

[pragmaeuge]

Hi,
i am not sure about it.
I think that the issue could be also related to the kind of environment... Public administrations are sometimes a bit paranoic on traffic control; i should perform other tests, but maybe not all traffic is allowed in my current environment... Or maybe RHEL8 is somehow stricter itself. I should investigate a bit more on that.

A part from this, i have also tried to upload the DTD file and place it in the same folder of wmsConfig.xml, with no success.

I modified the line in this way:
<!DOCTYPE wmsConfig SYSTEM "wmsConfig_2_0.dtd">

Generally speaking, shouldn't be better to make DTD validation less mandatory, and simply generate a WARN in the log in case of mismatch or validation errors? I don't know so much Java XML parsing libs, but maybe it is possible to do that.

Thank you very much!
Eugenio

[lesserwhirls]

Currently, we configure the parser to be non-validating:

tds/tds/src/main/java/thredds/server/wms/config/WmsDetailedConfig.java

Lines 108 to 111 in 0e5f228

	SAXBuilder builder = new SAXBuilder();
	builder.setXMLReaderFactory(XMLReaders.NONVALIDATING);
	builder.setExpandEntities(false);
	Document doc = builder.build(in);

What I didn't realize until today is that if an XML file references an external DTD, it will be fetched even if the parser is set to be non-validating (and parsing will fail if it cannot be fetched).

As a temporary fix, I will update the default wmsConfig.xml to comment out the DTD reference, and add a comment that the line referencing the DTD can be uncommented to help with validation when using an xml editing tool.

Longer-term I will need to revisit how we handle xml parsing, and likely create EntityResolver that will use a local copy of the DTDs or XSDs so that the parser does not try to fetch any external resource.