diff --git a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-api/src/main/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/model/beans/RemoteRepository.java b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-api/src/main/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/model/beans/RemoteRepository.java
index 7a5cba646..60d6822f2 100644
--- a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-api/src/main/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/model/beans/RemoteRepository.java
+++ b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-api/src/main/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/model/beans/RemoteRepository.java
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import java.io.Serializable;
  * @author Olivier Lamy
  * @since 1.4-M1
  */
-@XmlRootElement( name = "remoteRepository" )
+@XmlRootElement ( name = "remoteRepository" )
 public class RemoteRepository
     extends AbstractRepository
     implements Serializable
@@ -86,6 +86,16 @@ public class RemoteRepository
         this.timeout = timeout;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @since 1.4-M3
+     */
+    public RemoteRepository( String id, String name, String url, String layout, String userName, String password,
+                             int timeout, String description )
+    {
+        this( id, name, url, layout, userName, password, timeout );
+        setDescription( description );
+    }
+
     public String getUrl()
     {
         return url;
diff --git a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/main/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/remote/DefaultRemoteRepositoryAdmin.java b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/main/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/remote/DefaultRemoteRepositoryAdmin.java
index d20c4762a..9086903da 100644
--- a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/main/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/remote/DefaultRemoteRepositoryAdmin.java
+++ b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/main/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/remote/DefaultRemoteRepositoryAdmin.java
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ public class DefaultRemoteRepositoryAdmin
             remoteRepository.setRemoteDownloadTimeout( repositoryConfiguration.getRemoteDownloadTimeout() );
             remoteRepository.setDownloadRemoteIndexOnStartup(
                 repositoryConfiguration.isDownloadRemoteIndexOnStartup() );
+            remoteRepository.setDescription( repositoryConfiguration.getDescription() );
             remoteRepositories.add( remoteRepository );
         }
         return remoteRepositories;
@@ -333,6 +334,7 @@ public class DefaultRemoteRepositoryAdmin
         remoteRepositoryConfiguration.setRemoteDownloadTimeout( remoteRepository.getRemoteDownloadTimeout() );
         remoteRepositoryConfiguration.setDownloadRemoteIndexOnStartup(
             remoteRepository.isDownloadRemoteIndexOnStartup() );
+        remoteRepositoryConfiguration.setDescription( remoteRepository.getDescription() );
         return remoteRepositoryConfiguration;
     }
 
diff --git a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/test/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/AbstractRepositoryAdminTest.java b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/test/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/AbstractRepositoryAdminTest.java
index 9218b5b7c..66ee8acf6 100644
--- a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/test/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/AbstractRepositoryAdminTest.java
+++ b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/test/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/AbstractRepositoryAdminTest.java
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractRepositoryAdminTest
         remoteRepository.setPassword( "toto" );
         remoteRepository.setId( id );
         remoteRepository.setRemoteDownloadNetworkProxyId( "foo" );
+        remoteRepository.setDescription( "cool apache repo" );
         return remoteRepository;
     }
 }
diff --git a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/test/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/remote/RemoteRepositoryAdminTest.java b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/test/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/remote/RemoteRepositoryAdminTest.java
index 0f01fdb31..ca1cafdd3 100644
--- a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/test/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/remote/RemoteRepositoryAdminTest.java
+++ b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/test/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/remote/RemoteRepositoryAdminTest.java
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ public class RemoteRepositoryAdminTest
         assertEquals( getRemoteRepository().getUserName(), repo.getUserName() );
         assertEquals( getRemoteRepository().getName(), repo.getName() );
         assertEquals( getRemoteRepository().getTimeout(), repo.getTimeout() );
+        assertEquals( getRemoteRepository().getDescription(), repo.getDescription() );
 
         remoteRepositoryAdmin.deleteRemoteRepository( "foo", getFakeAuditInformation() );
 
@@ -120,6 +121,7 @@ public class RemoteRepositoryAdminTest
         repo.setPassword( "titi" );
         repo.setUrl( "http://foo.com/maven-really-rocks" );
         repo.setRemoteDownloadNetworkProxyId( "toto" );
+        repo.setDescription( "archiva rocks!" );
 
         remoteRepositoryAdmin.updateRemoteRepository( repo, getFakeAuditInformation() );
 
@@ -129,6 +131,7 @@ public class RemoteRepositoryAdminTest
         assertEquals( "titi", repo.getPassword() );
         assertEquals( "http://foo.com/maven-really-rocks", repo.getUrl() );
         assertEquals( "toto", repo.getRemoteDownloadNetworkProxyId() );
+        assertEquals( "archiva rocks!", repo.getDescription() );
 
         remoteRepositoryAdmin.deleteRemoteRepository( "foo", getFakeAuditInformation() );
 
diff --git a/archiva-modules/archiva-web/archiva-rest/archiva-rest-services/src/test/java/org/apache/archiva/rest/services/RemoteRepositoriesServiceTest.java b/archiva-modules/archiva-web/archiva-rest/archiva-rest-services/src/test/java/org/apache/archiva/rest/services/RemoteRepositoriesServiceTest.java
index bb674f621..c2d0a0d77 100644
--- a/archiva-modules/archiva-web/archiva-rest/archiva-rest-services/src/test/java/org/apache/archiva/rest/services/RemoteRepositoriesServiceTest.java
+++ b/archiva-modules/archiva-web/archiva-rest/archiva-rest-services/src/test/java/org/apache/archiva/rest/services/RemoteRepositoriesServiceTest.java
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ public class RemoteRepositoriesServiceTest
 {
 
 
-    @Test( expected = ServerWebApplicationException.class )
+    @Test (expected = ServerWebApplicationException.class)
     public void listRemoteRepositoriesKarmaFailed()
         throws Exception
     {
@@ -85,6 +85,8 @@ public class RemoteRepositoriesServiceTest
         assertEquals( getRemoteRepository().getUserName(), service.getRemoteRepository( "id-new" ).getUserName() );
         assertEquals( getRemoteRepository().getPassword(), service.getRemoteRepository( "id-new" ).getPassword() );
         assertEquals( getRemoteRepository().getTimeout(), service.getRemoteRepository( "id-new" ).getTimeout() );
+        assertEquals( getRemoteRepository().getDescription(),
+                      service.getRemoteRepository( "id-new" ).getDescription() );
 
         assertEquals( initialSize + 1, service.getRemoteRepositories().size() );
 
@@ -124,6 +126,7 @@ public class RemoteRepositoriesServiceTest
         repo.setPassword( "new password" );
         repo.setUserName( "new username" );
         repo.setUrl( "http://foo.new.org" );
+        repo.setDescription( "foo bar" );
 
         service.updateRemoteRepository( repo );
 
@@ -133,6 +136,7 @@ public class RemoteRepositoriesServiceTest
         assertEquals( repo.getUserName(), service.getRemoteRepository( "id-new" ).getUserName() );
         assertEquals( repo.getPassword(), service.getRemoteRepository( "id-new" ).getPassword() );
         assertEquals( repo.getTimeout(), service.getRemoteRepository( "id-new" ).getTimeout() );
+        assertEquals( repo.getDescription(), service.getRemoteRepository( "id-new" ).getDescription() );
 
         service.deleteRemoteRepository( "id-new" );
 
@@ -144,7 +148,8 @@ public class RemoteRepositoriesServiceTest
 
     RemoteRepository getRemoteRepository()
     {
-        return new RemoteRepository( "id-new", "new one", "http://foo.com", "default", "foo", "foopassword", 120 );
+        return new RemoteRepository( "id-new", "new one", "http://foo.com", "default", "foo", "foopassword", 120,
+                                     "cool repo" );
     }