diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/http/client/HttpRequestRetryHandler.java b/src/java/org/apache/http/client/HttpRequestRetryHandler.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..61dc2cfdb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/http/client/HttpRequestRetryHandler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+/*
+ * $HeadURL$
+ * $Revision$
+ * $Date$
+ *
+ * ====================================================================
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ * ====================================================================
+ *
+ * This software consists of voluntary contributions made by many
+ * individuals on behalf of the Apache Software Foundation.  For more
+ * information on the Apache Software Foundation, please see
+ * <http://www.apache.org/>.
+ *
+ */
+
+package org.apache.http.client;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import org.apache.http.protocol.HttpContext;
+
+/**
+ * A handler for determining if an HttpRequest should be retried after a 
+ * recoverable exception during execution.
+ * 
+ * <p>
+ * Classes implementing this interface must synchronize access to shared
+ * data as methods of this interfrace may be executed from multiple threads 
+ * </p>
+ * 
+ * @author Michael Becke
+ * @author <a href="mailto:oleg at ural.ru">Oleg Kalnichevski</a>
+ */
+public interface HttpRequestRetryHandler {
+
+    /**
+     * Determines if a method should be retried after an IOException
+     * occurs during execution.
+     * 
+     * @param exception the exception that occurred
+     * @param executionCount the number of times this method has been 
+     * unsuccessfully executed
+     * @param context the context for the request execution
+     * 
+     * @return <code>true</code> if the method should be retried, <code>false</code>
+     * otherwise
+     */
+    boolean retryRequest(IOException exception, int executionCount, HttpContext context);
+
+}
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/http/impl/client/DefaultHttpRequestRetryHandler.java b/src/java/org/apache/http/impl/client/DefaultHttpRequestRetryHandler.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..014dcf179
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/http/impl/client/DefaultHttpRequestRetryHandler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+/*
+ * $HeadURL$
+ * $Revision$
+ * $Date$
+ *
+ * ====================================================================
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ * ====================================================================
+ *
+ * This software consists of voluntary contributions made by many
+ * individuals on behalf of the Apache Software Foundation.  For more
+ * information on the Apache Software Foundation, please see
+ * <http://www.apache.org/>.
+ *
+ */
+
+package org.apache.http.impl.client;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InterruptedIOException;
+import java.net.UnknownHostException;
+
+import javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException;
+
+import org.apache.http.NoHttpResponseException;
+import org.apache.http.protocol.HttpContext;
+import org.apache.http.protocol.HttpExecutionContext;
+import org.apache.http.protocol.HttpRequestRetryHandler;
+
+/**
+ * The default {@link HttpRequestRetryHandler} used by request executors.
+ * 
+ * @author Michael Becke
+ * @author <a href="mailto:oleg at ural.ru">Oleg Kalnichevski</a>
+ */
+public class DefaultHttpRequestRetryHandler implements HttpRequestRetryHandler {
+
+	/** the number of times a method will be retried */
+    private int retryCount;
+    
+    /** Whether or not methods that have successfully sent their request will be retried */
+    private boolean requestSentRetryEnabled;
+    
+    /**
+     * Default constructor
+     */
+    public DefaultHttpRequestRetryHandler(int retryCount, boolean requestSentRetryEnabled) {
+        super();
+        this.retryCount = retryCount;
+        this.requestSentRetryEnabled = requestSentRetryEnabled;
+    }
+    
+    /**
+     * Default constructor
+     */
+    public DefaultHttpRequestRetryHandler() {
+        this(3, false);
+    }
+    /** 
+     * Used <code>retryCount</code> and <code>requestSentRetryEnabled</code> to determine
+     * if the given method should be retried.
+     */
+    public boolean retryRequest(
+            final IOException exception, 
+            int executionCount,
+            final HttpContext context) {
+        if (exception == null) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Exception parameter may not be null");
+        }
+        if (context == null) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("HTTP context may not be null");
+        }
+        if (executionCount > this.retryCount) {
+            // Do not retry if over max retry count
+            return false;
+        }
+        if (exception instanceof NoHttpResponseException) {
+            // Retry if the server dropped connection on us
+            return true;
+        }
+        if (exception instanceof InterruptedIOException) {
+            // Timeout
+            return false;
+        }
+        if (exception instanceof UnknownHostException) {
+            // Unknown host
+            return false;
+        }
+        if (exception instanceof SSLHandshakeException) {
+            // SSL handshake exception
+            return false;
+        }
+        Boolean b = (Boolean) context.getAttribute(HttpExecutionContext.HTTP_REQ_SENT);
+        boolean sent = (b != null && b.booleanValue());
+        if (!sent || this.requestSentRetryEnabled) {
+            // Retry if the request has not been sent fully or
+            // if it's OK to retry methods that have been sent
+            return true;
+        }
+        // otherwise do not retry
+        return false;
+    }
+    
+    /**
+     * @return <code>true</code> if this handler will retry methods that have 
+     * successfully sent their request, <code>false</code> otherwise
+     */
+    public boolean isRequestSentRetryEnabled() {
+        return requestSentRetryEnabled;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return the maximum number of times a method will be retried
+     */
+    public int getRetryCount() {
+        return retryCount;
+    }
+}