[MapServer-dev] Questions to users of XML Mapfiles

[Seth G]

Hi all,

In the MapServer 2026 User Survey, there were 9 users that reported they used XML Mapfiles [1].

As part of ongoing hardening work, we are looking at disabling XML entity expansion and external DTD loading when parsing XML Mapfiles prior to XSL transformation. Draft pull request here: [2].

This should not affect use of the default XSL file [3], but if you maintain custom XML Mapfile XSL transformations, we would appreciate feedback or testing results here, or on the pull request.

Also, note that the XSL (and XSD file [4]) often lack more recent Mapfile syntax and keywords. The last updates were ~2021, and there are no unit tests to check continued functionality. If you are heavy users of XML Mapfiles please consider offering to maintain these or sponsoring the project [5].

Thanks,

Seth

[1] https://mapserver.org/mapfile/xml_mapfile.html
[2] https://github.com/MapServer/MapServer/pull/7526
[3] https://github.com/MapServer/MapServer/blob/main/src/xmlmapfile/mapfile.xsl
[4] https://github.com/MapServer/MapServer/blob/main/src/xmlmapfile/mapfile.xsd
[5] https://github.com/MapServer/MapServer/wiki/Sponsorship

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