Embodiments of the invention provide for detecting and (in at least some cases) repairing XML configuration conflicts in a content management system (CMS). One method allows a CMS to evaluate various configuration components and determine when those components may conflict with one another. If a conflict is detected, the CMS may be configured to notify an administrator of the problem, and in some cases, correct the problem. As a result, administrators may not have to carefully evaluate each configuration file associated with a document type definition for a given document type before creating or modifying a content processing rule.