diff --git a/rpminspect.yaml b/rpminspect.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd3a5a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rpminspect.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# exclude XML template (not always valid) from XML validity check:
+xml:
+    ignore:
+        - /usr/lib/python*/site-packages/sphinx/themes/basic/opensearch.xml