I get a java.lang.VerifyError when accessing 'http://localhost/cocoon/'. What's wrong?

Cocoon requires a JAXP 1.1 compliant parser. Some servlet engines (like Tomcat 3.2.1) use older XML parsers. Replace the XML parser with a more recent one (e.g. the Xerces 1.3.0 or newer).

For Tomcat 3.2.1, remove the jaxp.jar and the parser.jar from the tomcat/lib directory. Copy the xerces.jar to this directory and rename it to parser.jar. Before you restart Tomcat, make sure to delete the tomcat/work directory.