diff --git a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/pom.xml b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/pom.xml
index fa0c0a2e3..28da53f5a 100644
--- a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/pom.xml
+++ b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/pom.xml
@@ -72,4 +72,17 @@
       <artifactId>maven2-repository</artifactId>
     </dependency>
   </dependencies>
+  <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
+        <configuration>
+          <systemPropertyVariables>
+            <basedir>${basedir}</basedir>
+          </systemPropertyVariables>
+        </configuration>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
 </project>
diff --git a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/archiva/repository/content/RepositoryRequest.java b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/archiva/repository/content/RepositoryRequest.java
index f6b44c2d4..d45966a2e 100644
--- a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/archiva/repository/content/RepositoryRequest.java
+++ b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/archiva/repository/content/RepositoryRequest.java
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ import javax.inject.Named;
  * ArtifactReference.
  *
  * @version $Id$
- * @todo no need to be a component once legacy path parser is not
  * <p/>
  */
 public class RepositoryRequest
diff --git a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/archiva/repository/AbstractRepositoryLayerTestCase.java b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/archiva/repository/AbstractRepositoryLayerTestCase.java
index 7697905b7..9ed7d5e7c 100644
--- a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/archiva/repository/AbstractRepositoryLayerTestCase.java
+++ b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/archiva/repository/AbstractRepositoryLayerTestCase.java
@@ -41,6 +41,17 @@ public abstract class AbstractRepositoryLayerTestCase
     extends TestCase
 {
 
+    public static String getBasedir()
+    {
+       String basedir = System.getProperty( "basedir" );
+        if ( basedir == null )
+        {
+            basedir = new File( "" ).getAbsolutePath();
+        }
+
+        return basedir;
+    }
+
     @Inject
     protected ApplicationContext applicationContext;
 
diff --git a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/archiva/repository/content/RepositoryRequestTest.java b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/archiva/repository/content/RepositoryRequestTest.java
index f99e71830..894ec85d4 100644
--- a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/archiva/repository/content/RepositoryRequestTest.java
+++ b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/archiva/repository/content/RepositoryRequestTest.java
@@ -38,12 +38,14 @@ import java.io.File;
  *
  * @version $Id$
  */
-@ContextConfiguration( locations = { "classpath*:/META-INF/spring-context.xml", "classpath:/spring-context-repo-request-test.xml" } )
+@ContextConfiguration(
+    locations = { "classpath*:/META-INF/spring-context.xml", "classpath:/spring-context-repo-request-test.xml" } )
 public class RepositoryRequestTest
     extends AbstractRepositoryLayerTestCase
 {
 
-    @Inject @Named(value = "archivaConfiguration#repo-request-test")
+    @Inject
+    @Named( value = "archivaConfiguration#repo-request-test" )
     private ArchivaConfiguration archivaConfiguration;
 
     private RepositoryRequest repoRequest;
@@ -367,7 +369,7 @@ public class RepositoryRequestTest
     private ManagedRepositoryContent createManagedRepo( String layout )
         throws Exception
     {
-        File repoRoot = new File( "target/test-repo" );
+        File repoRoot = new File( getBasedir() + "/target/test-repo" );
         return createManagedRepositoryContent( "test-internal", "Internal Test Repo", repoRoot, layout );
     }
 
@@ -444,8 +446,8 @@ public class RepositoryRequestTest
         ManagedRepositoryContent repository = createManagedRepo( "default" );
 
         // Test (pom) legacy to default
-        assertEquals( "mygroup/myejb/1.0/myejb-1.0.jar",
-                      repoRequest.toNativePath( "mygroup/ejbs/myejb-1.0.jar", repository ) );
+        String result = repoRequest.toNativePath( "mygroup/ejbs/myejb-1.0.jar", repository );
+        assertEquals( "mygroup/myejb/1.0/myejb-1.0.jar", result );
     }
 
     @Test
diff --git a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/test/resources/spring-context-repo-request-test.xml b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/test/resources/spring-context-repo-request-test.xml
index bb7108b1c..2ea6ac817 100644
--- a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/test/resources/spring-context-repo-request-test.xml
+++ b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-layer/src/test/resources/spring-context-repo-request-test.xml
@@ -24,14 +24,15 @@
        xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
            http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd
            http://www.springframework.org/schema/context 
-           http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.0.xsd"
-       default-lazy-init="false">
+           http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.0.xsd">
 
+  <context:property-placeholder system-properties-mode="OVERRIDE"/>
   <bean name="archivaConfiguration#repo-request-test" class="org.apache.maven.archiva.configuration.DefaultArchivaConfiguration">
     <property name="registry" ref="registry#configured"/>
   </bean>
 
   <alias name="archivaConfiguration#repo-request-test" alias="archivaConfiguration#default"/>
+  <alias name="archivaConfiguration#repo-request-test" alias="archivaConfiguration"/>
 
   <bean name="registry#configured" class="org.codehaus.redback.components.registry.commons.CommonsConfigurationRegistry">
     <property name="properties">