diff --git a/maven-artifact-test/pom.xml b/maven-artifact-test/pom.xml
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..9081527ad8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-artifact-test/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+<model>
+  <parent>
+    <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
+    <artifactId>maven</artifactId>
+    <version>2.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  </parent>
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+  <artifactId>maven-artifact-test</artifactId>
+  <name>Maven Artifact Test Helper Library</name>
+  <dependencies>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>plexus</groupId>
+      <artifactId>plexus-container-default</artifactId>
+      <version>1.0-alpha-2</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
+      <artifactId>maven-artifact</artifactId>
+      <version>2.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.maven</groupId>
+      <artifactId>maven-settings</artifactId>
+      <version>2.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>junit</groupId>
+      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
+      <version>3.8.1</version>
+      <scope>compile</scope>
+    </dependency>
+  </dependencies>
+</model>
diff --git a/maven-artifact-test/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/test/ArtifactTestCase.java b/maven-artifact-test/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/test/ArtifactTestCase.java
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..1c359c1aec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-artifact-test/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/artifact/test/ArtifactTestCase.java
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+package org.apache.maven.artifact.test;
+
+/*
+ * Copyright 2001-2005 The Apache Software Foundation.
+ *
+ * Licensed 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.
+ */
+
+import org.apache.maven.artifact.Artifact;
+import org.apache.maven.artifact.repository.ArtifactRepository;
+import org.apache.maven.artifact.repository.layout.ArtifactPathFormatException;
+import org.apache.maven.artifact.repository.layout.ArtifactRepositoryLayout;
+import org.apache.maven.wagon.repository.Repository;
+import org.apache.maven.settings.Settings;
+import org.apache.maven.settings.Profile;
+import org.apache.maven.settings.io.xpp3.SettingsXpp3Reader;
+import org.codehaus.plexus.PlexusTestCase;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileReader;
+
+/**
+ * Test case that builds standard artifact stuff like repositories.
+ *
+ * @author <a href="mailto:brett@apache.org">Brett Porter</a>
+ * @version $Id$
+ */
+public abstract class ArtifactTestCase
+    extends PlexusTestCase
+{
+    private ArtifactRepository localRepository;
+
+    protected File getLocalArtifactPath( Artifact artifact )
+        throws ArtifactPathFormatException
+    {
+        return new File( localRepository.getBasedir(), localRepository.pathOf( artifact ) );
+    }
+
+    protected void setUp()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        super.setUp();
+
+        File settingsFile = new File( System.getProperty( "user.home" ), ".m2/settings.xml" );
+        String localRepo = null;
+        if ( settingsFile.exists() )
+        {
+            Settings settings = new SettingsXpp3Reader().read( new FileReader( settingsFile ) );
+
+            // TODO: when settings has the code necessary, get the active profile.
+            Profile profile = (Profile) settings.getProfiles().get( 0 );
+            localRepo = profile.getLocalRepository();
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            localRepo = System.getProperty( "user.home" ) + "/.m2/repository";
+        }
+
+        ArtifactRepositoryLayout repositoryLayout = (ArtifactRepositoryLayout) container.lookup(
+            ArtifactRepositoryLayout.ROLE, "default" );
+
+        localRepository = new ArtifactRepository( "local", "file://" + localRepo, repositoryLayout );
+    }
+
+}