diff --git a/Changes b/Changes
index 25766f1..f94d096 100644
--- a/Changes
+++ b/Changes
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 - Remove corpusQuery param in the statistics web-service (close #758).
 - Moved NamedVCLoader to the init package.
+- Clean up Spring XML configs.
 
 # version 0.73.2
 
diff --git a/src/main/resources/basic-config.xml b/src/main/resources/basic-config.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index d882532..0000000
--- a/src/main/resources/basic-config.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,397 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<beans xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
-	xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p"
-	xmlns:util="http://www.springframework.org/schema/util"
-	xmlns:aop="http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop"
-	xmlns:tx="http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx"
-	xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
-	xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
-	xmlns:cache="http://www.springframework.org/schema/cache"
-	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
-           http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-4.0.xsd
-           http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx
-           http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx/spring-tx-4.0.xsd
-           http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop
-           http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-4.0.xsd
-           http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
-           http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-4.0.xsd
-           http://www.springframework.org/schema/util
-           http://www.springframework.org/schema/util/spring-util-4.0.xsd">
-
-	<context:component-scan
-		base-package="de.ids_mannheim.korap" />
-	<context:annotation-config />
-
-	<bean id="props"
-		class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertiesFactoryBean">
-		<property name="ignoreResourceNotFound" value="true" />
-		<property name="locations">
-			<array>
-				<value>classpath:kustvakt.conf</value>
-				<value>file:./kustvakt.conf</value>
-			</array>
-		</property>
-	</bean>
-
-	<bean id="placeholders"
-		class="org.springframework.context.support.PropertySourcesPlaceholderConfigurer">
-		<property name="ignoreResourceNotFound" value="true" />
-		<property name="locations">
-			<array>
-				<value>classpath:properties/basic-jdbc.properties</value>
-				<value>file:./basic-jdbc.properties</value>
-				<value>classpath:properties/mail.properties</value>
-				<value>file:./mail.properties</value>
-				<value>classpath:properties/hibernate.properties</value>
-
-				<value>classpath:kustvakt.conf</value>
-				<value>file:./kustvakt.conf</value>
-			</array>
-		</property>
-	</bean>
-
-	<bean id='cacheManager'
-		class='org.springframework.cache.ehcache.EhCacheCacheManager'
-		p:cacheManager-ref='ehcache' />
-
-	<bean id='ehcache'
-		class='org.springframework.cache.ehcache.EhCacheManagerFactoryBean'
-		p:configLocation='classpath:ehcache.xml' p:shared='true' />
-
-	<!--class="org.apache.commons.dbcp2.BasicDataSource" -->
-	<!-- org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.SingleConnectionDataSource -->
-	<bean id="dataSource"
-		class="org.apache.commons.dbcp2.BasicDataSource" lazy-init="true">
-		<property name="driverClassName"
-			value="${jdbc.driverClassName}" />
-		<property name="url" value="${jdbc.url}" />
-		<property name="username" value="${jdbc.username}" />
-		<property name="password" value="${jdbc.password}" />
-		<!-- relevant for single connection datasource and sqlite -->
-		<!-- <property name="suppressClose"> <value>true</value> </property> -->
-		<!--<property name="initialSize" value="2"/> -->
-		<property name="maxTotal" value="4" />
-		<property name="maxIdle" value="2" />
-		<property name="minIdle" value="1" />
-		<property name="maxWaitMillis" value="15000" />
-		<!--<property name="poolPreparedStatements" value="true"/> -->
-	</bean>
-
-	<bean id="sqliteDataSource"
-		class="org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.SingleConnectionDataSource"
-		lazy-init="true">
-		<property name="driverClassName"
-			value="${jdbc.driverClassName}" />
-		<property name="url" value="${jdbc.url}" />
-		<property name="username" value="${jdbc.username}" />
-		<property name="password" value="${jdbc.password}" />
-		<property name="connectionProperties">
-			<props>
-				<prop key="date_string_format">yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss</prop>
-			</props>
-		</property>
-
-		<!-- relevant for single connection datasource and sqlite -->
-		<property name="suppressClose">
-			<value>true</value>
-		</property>
-		<!--<property name="initialSize" value="2"/> -->
-		<!--<property name="poolPreparedStatements" value="true"/> -->
-	</bean>
-
-	<!-- to configure database for sqlite, mysql, etc. migrations -->
-	<bean id="flywayConfig"
-		class="org.flywaydb.core.api.configuration.ClassicConfiguration">
-		<property name="baselineOnMigrate" value="true" />
-		<!-- <property name="validateOnMigrate" value="false" /> -->
-		<!-- <property name="cleanOnValidationError" value="true" /> -->
-		<property name="locations"
-			value="#{'${jdbc.schemaPath}'.split(',')}" />
-		<!-- <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource" /> -->
-		<property name="dataSource" ref="sqliteDataSource" />
-		<property name="outOfOrder" value="true" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<bean id="flyway" class="org.flywaydb.core.Flyway"
-		init-method="migrate">
-		<constructor-arg ref="flywayConfig" />
-	</bean>
-
-
-	<bean id="kustvakt_db"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.handlers.JDBCClient">
-		<constructor-arg index="0" ref="dataSource" />
-		<!-- deprecated property -->
-		<property name="database" value="${jdbc.database}" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<bean id="entityManagerFactory"
-		class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean"
-		depends-on="flyway">
-		<!-- <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource" /> -->
-		<property name="dataSource" ref="sqliteDataSource" />
-
-		<property name="packagesToScan">
-			<array>
-				<value>de.ids_mannheim.korap.entity</value>
-				<value>de.ids_mannheim.korap.oauth2.entity</value>
-			</array>
-		</property>
-		<property name="jpaVendorAdapter">
-			<bean id="jpaVendorAdapter"
-				class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.vendor.HibernateJpaVendorAdapter">
-				<property name="databasePlatform"
-					value="${hibernate.dialect}" />
-			</bean>
-		</property>
-		<property name="jpaProperties">
-			<props>
-				<prop key="hibernate.dialect">${hibernate.dialect}</prop>
-				<prop key="hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto">${hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto}</prop>
-				<prop key="hibernate.show_sql">${hibernate.show_sql}</prop>
-				<prop key="hibernate.cache.use_query_cache">${hibernate.cache.use_query_cache}</prop>
-				<prop key="hibernate.cache.use_second_level_cache">${hibernate.cache.use_second_level_cache}
-				</prop>
-				<prop key="hibernate.cache.provider_class">${hibernate.cache.provider}</prop>
-				<prop key="hibernate.cache.region.factory_class">${hibernate.cache.region.factory}</prop>
-				<prop key="hibernate.jdbc.time_zone">${hibernate.jdbc.time_zone}</prop>
-				<!-- <prop key="net.sf.ehcache.configurationResourceName">classpath:ehcache.xml</prop> -->
-			</props>
-		</property>
-	</bean>
-
-	<tx:annotation-driven proxy-target-class="true"
-		transaction-manager="transactionManager" />
-
-	<bean id="transactionManager"
-		class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.JpaTransactionManager">
-		<property name="entityManagerFactory"
-			ref="entityManagerFactory" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<bean id="transactionTemplate"
-		class="org.springframework.transaction.support.TransactionTemplate">
-		<constructor-arg ref="transactionManager" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<!-- Data access objects -->
-	<bean id="adminDao" class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.dao.AdminDaoImpl" />
-	<bean id="authorizationDao"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.oauth2.dao.CachedAuthorizationDaoImpl" />
-
-	<!-- Services -->
-	<bean id="scopeService"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.oauth2.service.OAuth2ScopeServiceImpl" />
-
-	<!-- props are injected from default-config.xml -->
-	<bean id="kustvakt_config"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.config.FullConfiguration">
-		<constructor-arg name="properties" ref="props" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<bean id="initializator"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.de.init.Initializator" init-method="init">
-	</bean>
-
-	<!-- Krill -->
-	<bean id="search_krill"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.web.SearchKrill">
-		<constructor-arg value="${krill.indexDir}" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<!-- Validator -->
-	<bean id="validator"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.validator.ApacheValidator" />
-
-	<!-- URLValidator -->
-	<bean id="redirectURIValidator"
-		class="org.apache.commons.validator.routines.UrlValidator">
-		<constructor-arg value="http,https" index="0" />
-		<constructor-arg index="1" type="long">
-			<util:constant
-				static-field="org.apache.commons.validator.routines.UrlValidator.NO_FRAGMENTS" />
-		</constructor-arg>
-	</bean>
-	<bean id="urlValidator"
-		class="org.apache.commons.validator.routines.UrlValidator">
-		<constructor-arg value="http,https" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<!-- Rewrite -->
-	<bean id="foundryRewrite"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.rewrite.FoundryRewrite" />
-	<bean id="collectionRewrite"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.rewrite.CollectionRewrite" />
-	<bean id="virtualCorpusRewrite"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.rewrite.VirtualCorpusRewrite" />
-	<bean id="queryReferenceRewrite"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.rewrite.QueryReferenceRewrite" />
-
-	<util:list id="rewriteTasks"
-		value-type="de.ids_mannheim.korap.rewrite.RewriteTask">
-		<ref bean="foundryRewrite" />
-		<ref bean="collectionRewrite" />
-		<ref bean="virtualCorpusRewrite" />
-		<ref bean="queryReferenceRewrite" />
-	</util:list>
-
-	<bean id="rewriteHandler"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.rewrite.RewriteHandler">
-		<constructor-arg ref="rewriteTasks" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<bean id="kustvaktResponseHandler"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.web.KustvaktResponseHandler">
-	</bean>
-
-	<!-- OAuth -->
-	<bean id="oauth2ResponseHandler"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.web.OAuth2ResponseHandler">
-	</bean>
-
-	<bean id="kustvakt_userdb"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.handlers.EntityDao">
-		<constructor-arg ref="kustvakt_db" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<bean name="kustvakt_encryption"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.encryption.KustvaktEncryption">
-		<constructor-arg ref="kustvakt_config" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<!-- authentication providers to use -->
-	<!-- <bean id="api_auth" class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.authentication.APIAuthentication"> 
-		<constructor-arg type="de.ids_mannheim.korap.config.KustvaktConfiguration" 
-		ref="kustvakt_config" /> </bean> -->
-
-	<bean id="ldap_auth"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.authentication.LdapAuth3">
-		<constructor-arg
-			type="de.ids_mannheim.korap.config.KustvaktConfiguration"
-			ref="kustvakt_config" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<bean id="basic_auth"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.authentication.BasicAuthentication" />
-
-
-	<bean id="session_auth"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.authentication.SessionAuthentication">
-		<constructor-arg
-			type="de.ids_mannheim.korap.config.KustvaktConfiguration"
-			ref="kustvakt_config" />
-		<constructor-arg
-			type="de.ids_mannheim.korap.interfaces.EncryptionIface"
-			ref="kustvakt_encryption" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<bean id="oauth2_auth"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.authentication.OAuth2Authentication" />
-
-	<util:list id="kustvakt_authproviders"
-		value-type="de.ids_mannheim.korap.interfaces.AuthenticationIface">
-		<ref bean="basic_auth" />
-		<ref bean="ldap_auth" />
-		<!-- <ref bean="session_auth" /> <ref bean="api_auth" /> -->
-		<ref bean="oauth2_auth" />
-	</util:list>
-
-
-	<bean id="userdata_details"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.handlers.UserDetailsDao">
-		<constructor-arg ref="kustvakt_db" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<bean id="userdata_settings"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.handlers.UserSettingsDao">
-		<constructor-arg ref="kustvakt_db" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<util:list id="kustvakt_userdata"
-		value-type="de.ids_mannheim.korap.interfaces.db.UserdataDbIface">
-		<ref bean="userdata_details" />
-		<ref bean="userdata_settings" />
-	</util:list>
-
-	<!-- specify type for constructor argument -->
-	<bean id="authenticationManager"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.authentication.KustvaktAuthenticationManager">
-		<constructor-arg
-			type="de.ids_mannheim.korap.interfaces.EntityHandlerIface"
-			ref="kustvakt_userdb" />
-		<constructor-arg
-			type="de.ids_mannheim.korap.interfaces.EncryptionIface"
-			ref="kustvakt_encryption" />
-		<constructor-arg ref="kustvakt_config" />
-		<constructor-arg ref="kustvakt_userdata" />
-		<!-- inject authentication providers to use -->
-		<property name="providers" ref="kustvakt_authproviders" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<!-- todo: if db interfaces not loaded via spring, does transaction even 
-		work then? -->
-	<!-- the transactional advice (i.e. what 'happens'; see the <aop:advisor/> 
-		bean below) -->
-	<tx:advice id="txAdvice" transaction-manager="txManager">
-		<!-- the transactional semantics... -->
-		<tx:attributes>
-			<!-- all methods starting with 'get' are read-only -->
-			<tx:method name="get*" read-only="true"
-				rollback-for="KorAPException" />
-			<!-- other methods use the default transaction settings (see below) -->
-			<tx:method name="*" rollback-for="KorAPException" />
-		</tx:attributes>
-	</tx:advice>
-
-	<!-- ensure that the above transactional advice runs for any execution of 
-		an operation defined by the service interface -->
-	<aop:config>
-		<aop:pointcut id="service"
-			expression="execution(* de.ids_mannheim.korap.interfaces.db.*.*(..))" />
-		<aop:advisor advice-ref="txAdvice" pointcut-ref="service" />
-	</aop:config>
-
-	<!-- similarly, don't forget the PlatformTransactionManager -->
-	<bean id="txManager"
-		class="org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.DataSourceTransactionManager">
-		<!-- <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource" /> -->
-		<property name="dataSource" ref="sqliteDataSource" />
-	</bean>
-
-	<!-- mail -->
-	<bean id="authenticator"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.service.MailAuthenticator">
-		<constructor-arg index="0" value="${mail.username}" />
-		<constructor-arg index="1" value="${mail.password}" />
-	</bean>
-	<bean id="smtpSession" class="jakarta.mail.Session"
-		factory-method="getInstance">
-		<constructor-arg index="0">
-			<props>
-				<prop key="mail.smtp.submitter">${mail.username}</prop>
-				<prop key="mail.smtp.auth">${mail.auth}</prop>
-				<prop key="mail.smtp.host">${mail.host}</prop>
-				<prop key="mail.smtp.port">${mail.port}</prop>
-				<prop key="mail.smtp.starttls.enable">${mail.starttls.enable}</prop>
-				<prop key="mail.smtp.connectiontimeout">${mail.connectiontimeout}</prop>
-			</props>
-		</constructor-arg>
-		<constructor-arg index="1" ref="authenticator" />
-	</bean>
-	<bean id="mailSender"
-		class="org.springframework.mail.javamail.JavaMailSenderImpl">
-		<property name="username" value="${mail.username}" />
-		<property name="password" value="${mail.password}" />
-		<property name="session" ref="smtpSession" />
-	</bean>
-	<bean id="velocityEngine"
-		class="org.apache.velocity.app.VelocityEngine">
-		<constructor-arg index="0">
-			<props>
-				<prop key="resource.loader">class</prop>
-				<prop key="class.resource.loader.class">org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.ClasspathResourceLoader
-				</prop>
-			</props>
-		</constructor-arg>
-	</bean>
-</beans>
diff --git a/src/main/resources/default-config.xml b/src/main/resources/default-config.xml
index 57e2f8d..0e12214 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/default-config.xml
+++ b/src/main/resources/default-config.xml
@@ -53,11 +53,6 @@
 		</property>
 	</bean>
 
-	<!-- <bean id='cacheManager' class='org.springframework.cache.ehcache.EhCacheCacheManager' 
-		p:cacheManager-ref='ehcache' /> <bean id='ehcache' class='org.springframework.cache.ehcache.EhCacheManagerFactoryBean' 
-		p:configLocation='classpath:ehcache.xml' p:shared='true' /> -->
-	<!--class="org.apache.commons.dbcp2.BasicDataSource" -->
-	<!-- org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.SingleConnectionDataSource -->
 	<bean id="dataSource"
 		class="org.apache.commons.dbcp2.BasicDataSource" lazy-init="true">
 		<property name="driverClassName"
@@ -65,9 +60,6 @@
 		<property name="url" value="${jdbc.url}" />
 		<property name="username" value="${jdbc.username}" />
 		<property name="password" value="${jdbc.password}" />
-		<!-- relevant for single connection datasource and sqlite -->
-		<!-- <property name="suppressClose"> <value>true</value> </property> -->
-		<!--<property name="initialSize" value="2"/> -->
 		<property name="maxTotal" value="4" />
 		<property name="maxIdle" value="2" />
 		<property name="minIdle" value="1" />
diff --git a/src/test/resources/test-config.xml b/src/test/resources/test-config.xml
index 058eb31..f79f967 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/test-config.xml
+++ b/src/test/resources/test-config.xml
@@ -49,17 +49,12 @@
 		</property>
 	</bean>
 	
-	<!-- props are injected from default-config.xml -->
 	<bean id="kustvakt_config"
 		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.config.FullConfiguration">
 		<constructor-arg name="properties" ref="props" />
 	</bean>
 	
 
-	<!-- <bean id='cacheManager' class='org.springframework.cache.ehcache.EhCacheCacheManager' 
-		p:cacheManager-ref='ehcache' /> <bean id='ehcache' class='org.springframework.cache.ehcache.EhCacheManagerFactoryBean' 
-		p:configLocation='classpath:ehcache.xml' p:shared='true' /> -->
-
 	<bean id="dataSource"
 		class="org.apache.commons.dbcp2.BasicDataSource" lazy-init="true">
 		<!-- <property name="driverClassName" value="${jdbc.driverClassName}" /> -->
@@ -73,13 +68,6 @@
 		<!--<property name="poolPreparedStatements" value="true"/> -->
 	</bean>
 
-	<!-- <bean id="sqliteDataSource" class="org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.SingleConnectionDataSource" 
-		lazy-init="true"> <property name="driverClassName" value="${jdbc.driverClassName}" 
-		/> <property name="url" value="${jdbc.url}" /> <property name="username" 
-		value="${jdbc.username}" /> <property name="password" value="${jdbc.password}" 
-		/> <property name="connectionProperties"> <props> <prop key="date_string_format">yyyy-MM-dd 
-		HH:mm:ss</prop> </props> </property> Sqlite can only have a single connection 
-		<property name="suppressClose"> <value>true</value> </property> </bean> -->
 	<bean id="c3p0DataSource"
 		class="com.mchange.v2.c3p0.ComboPooledDataSource"
 		destroy-method="close">
@@ -102,7 +90,6 @@
 		<property name="baselineOnMigrate" value="false" />
 		<property name="locations"
 			value="#{'${jdbc.schemaPath}'.split(',')}" />
-		<!-- <property name="dataSource" ref="sqliteDataSource" /> -->
 		<property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource" />
 		<property name="outOfOrder" value="true" />
 	</bean>
@@ -112,11 +99,10 @@
 		<constructor-arg ref="flywayConfig" />
 	</bean>
 
-
 	<bean id="entityManagerFactory"
 		class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean">
 		<property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource" />
-		<!-- <property name="dataSource" ref="sqliteDataSource" /> -->
+		
 		<property name="packagesToScan">
 			<array>
 				<value>de.ids_mannheim.korap.core.entity</value>
@@ -206,19 +192,13 @@
 		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.rewrite.FoundryRewrite" />
 	<bean id="collectionRewrite"
 		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.rewrite.CollectionRewrite" />
-	<bean id="collectionCleanRewrite"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.rewrite.CollectionCleanRewrite" />
 	<bean id="virtualCorpusRewrite"
 		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.rewrite.VirtualCorpusRewrite" />
-	<bean id="collectionConstraint"
-		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.rewrite.CollectionConstraint" />
 	<bean id="queryReferenceRewrite"
 		class="de.ids_mannheim.korap.rewrite.QueryReferenceRewrite" />
 
 	<util:list id="rewriteTasks"
 		value-type="de.ids_mannheim.korap.rewrite.RewriteTask">
-		<!-- <ref bean="collectionConstraint" /> <ref bean="collectionCleanRewrite" 
-			/> -->
 		<ref bean="foundryRewrite" />
 		<ref bean="collectionRewrite" />
 		<ref bean="virtualCorpusRewrite" />
@@ -332,6 +312,8 @@
 	</bean>
 	<bean id="mailSender"
 		class="org.springframework.mail.javamail.JavaMailSenderImpl">
+		<property name="username" value="${mail.username}" />
+		<property name="password" value="${mail.password}" />
 		<property name="session" ref="smtpSession" />
 	</bean>
 	<bean id="velocityEngine"