diff --git a/maven-core/src/assemble/bin.xml b/maven-core/src/assemble/bin.xml
index 34294e3fba..528015d548 100644
--- a/maven-core/src/assemble/bin.xml
+++ b/maven-core/src/assemble/bin.xml
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@
       <directory>src/bin</directory>
       <outputDirectory>bin</outputDirectory>
     </fileSet>
+    <fileSet>
+      <directory>src/conf</directory>
+      <outputDirectory>conf</outputDirectory>
+    </fileSet>
     <fileSet>
       <!-- TODO: use expressions instead: ${project.build.directory}, ${project.build.finalName}, or have a <build /> tag to include the built artifact -->
       <directory>target</directory>
diff --git a/maven-core/src/conf/settings.xml b/maven-core/src/conf/settings.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d82d11114f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-core/src/conf/settings.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,222 @@
+<!--
+ | This is the configuration file for Maven. It can be specified at two levels:
+ |
+ |  1. User Level. This settings.xml file provides configuration for a single user, 
+ |                 and is normally provided in $HOME/.m2/settings.xml.
+ |
+ |                 NOTE: This location can be overridden with the system property:
+ |
+ |                 -Dorg.apache.maven.user-settings=/path/to/user/settings.xml
+ |
+ |  2. Global Level. This settings.xml file provides configuration for all maven
+ |                 users on a machine (assuming they're all using the same maven
+ |                 installation). It's normally provided in 
+ |                 ${maven.home}/conf/settings.xml.
+ |
+ |                 NOTE: This location can be overridden with the system property:
+ |
+ |                 -Dorg.apache.maven.global-settings=/path/to/global/settings.xml
+ |
+ | The sections in this sample file are intended to give you a running start at
+ | getting the most out of your Maven installation. Where appropriate, the default
+ | values (values used when the setting is not specified) are provided.
+ |
+ |-->
+<settings>
+  <!-- localRepository
+   | The path to the local repository maven will use to store artifacts.
+   |
+   | Default: ~/.m2/repository
+  <localRepository>/path/to/local/repo</localRepository>
+  -->
+
+  <!-- interactiveMode
+   | This will determine whether maven prompts you when it needs input. If set to false,
+   | maven will use a sensible default value, perhaps based on some other setting, for
+   | the parameter in question.
+   |
+   | Default: true
+  <interactiveMode>true</interactiveMode>
+  -->
+
+  <!-- offline
+   | Determines whether maven should attempt to connect to the network when executing a build.
+   | This will have an effect on artifact downloads, artifact deployment, and others.
+   |
+   | Default: false
+  <offline>false</offline>
+  -->
+
+  <!-- proxies
+   | This is a list of proxies which can be used on this machine to connect to the network.
+   | Unless otherwise specified (by system property or command-line switch), the first proxy
+   | specification in this list marked as active will be used.
+   |-->
+  <proxies>
+    <!-- proxy
+     | Specification for one proxy, to be used in connecting to the network.
+     |
+    <proxy>
+      <id>optional</id>
+      <active>true</active>
+      <protocol>http</protocol>
+      <username>proxyuser</username>
+      <password>proxypass</password>
+      <host>proxy.host.net</host>
+      <port>80</port>
+      <nonProxyHosts>local.net,some.host.com</nonProxyHosts>
+    </proxy>
+    -->
+  </proxies>
+
+  <!-- servers
+   | This is a list of authentication profiles, keyed by the server-id used within the system.
+   | Authentication profiles can be used whenever maven must make a connection to a remote server.
+   |-->
+  <servers>
+    <!-- server
+     | Specifies the authentication information to use when connecting to a particular server, identified by
+     | a unique name within the system (referred to by the 'id' attribute below).
+     | 
+     | NOTE: You should either specify username/password OR privateKey/passphrase, since these pairings are 
+     |       used together.
+     |
+    <server>
+      <id>deploymentRepo</id>
+      <username>repouser</username>
+      <password>repopwd</password>
+    </server>
+    -->
+    
+    <!-- Another sample, using keys to authenticate.
+    <server>
+      <id>siteServer</id>
+      <privateKey>/path/to/private/key</privateKey>
+      <passphrase>optional; leave empty if not used.</passphrase>
+    </server>
+    -->
+  </servers>
+
+  <!-- mirrors
+   | This is a list of mirrors to be used in downloading artifacts from remote repositories.
+   | 
+   | It works like this: a POM may declare a repository to use in resolving certain artifacts.
+   | However, this repository may have problems with heavy traffic at times, so people have mirrored
+   | it to several places.
+   |
+   | That repository definition will have a unique id, so we can create a mirror reference for that
+   | repository, to be used as an alternate download site. The mirror site will be the preferred 
+   | server for that repository.
+   |-->
+  <mirrors>
+    <!-- mirror
+     | Specifies a repository mirror site to use instead of a given repository. The repository that
+     | this mirror serves has an ID that matches the mirrorOf element of this mirror. IDs are used
+     | for inheritance and direct lookup purposes, and must be unique across the set of mirrors.
+     |
+    <mirror>
+      <id>mirrorId</id>
+      <mirrorOf>repositoryId</mirrorOf>
+      <name>Human Readable Name for this Mirror.</name>
+      <url>http://my.repository.com/repo/path</url>
+    </mirror>
+     -->
+  </mirrors>
+  
+  <!-- profiles
+   | This is a list of profiles which can be activated in a variety of ways, and which can modify
+   | the build process. Profiles provided in the settings.xml are intended to provide local machine-
+   | specific paths and repository locations which allow the build to work in the local environment.
+   |
+   | For example, if you have an integration testing plugin - like cactus - that needs to know where
+   | your Tomcat instance is installed, you can provide a variable here such that the variable is 
+   | dereferenced during the build process to configure the cactus plugin.
+   |
+   | As noted above, profiles can be activated in a variety of ways. One way - the activeProfiles
+   | section of this document (settings.xml) - will be discussed later. Another way essentially
+   | relies on the detection of a system property, either matching a particular value for the property,
+   | or merely testing its existence. Profiles can also be activated by JDK version prefix, where a 
+   | value of '1.4' might activate a profile when the build is executed on a JDK version of '1.4.2_07'.
+   | Finally, the list of active profiles can be specified directly from the command line.
+   |
+   | NOTE: For profiles defined in the settings.xml, you are restricted to specifying only artifact
+   |       repositories, plugin repositories, and free-form properties to be used as configuration
+   |       variables for plugins in the POM.
+   |
+   |-->
+  <profiles>
+    <!-- profile
+     | Specifies a set of introductions to the build process, to be activated using one or more of the
+     | mechanisms described above. For inheritance purposes, and to activate profiles via <activatedProfiles/>
+     | or the command line, profiles have to have an ID that is unique.
+     |
+     | An encouraged best practice for profile identification is to use a consistent naming convention
+     | for profiles, such as 'env-dev', 'env-test', 'env-production', 'user-jdcasey', 'user-brett', etc.
+     | This will make it more intuitive to understand what the set of introduced profiles is attempting
+     | to accomplish, particularly when you only have a list of profile id's for debug.
+     |
+     | This profile example uses the JDK version to trigger activation, and provides a JDK-specific repo.
+    <profile>
+      <id>jdk-1.4</id>
+
+      <activation>
+        <jdk>1.4</jdk>
+      </activation>
+
+      <repositories>
+        <repository>
+	  <id>jdk14</id>
+	  <name>Repository for JDK 1.4 builds</name>
+	  <url>http://www.myhost.com/maven/jdk14</url>
+	  <layout>default</layout>
+	  <snapshotPolicy>always</snapshotPolicy>
+	</repository>
+      </repositories>
+    </profile>
+    -->
+
+    <!--
+     | Here is another profile, activated by the system property 'target-env' with a value of 'dev',
+     | which provides a specific path to the Tomcat instance. To use this, your plugin configuration
+     | might hypothetically look like:
+     |
+     | ...
+     | <plugin>
+     |   <groupId>org.myco.myplugins</groupId>
+     |   <artifactId>myplugin</artifactId>
+     |   
+     |   <configuration>
+     |     <tomcatLocation>${tomcatPath}</tomcatLocation>
+     |   </configuration>
+     | </plugin>
+     | ...
+     |
+     | NOTE: If you just wanted to inject this configuration whenever someone set 'target-env' to
+     |       anything, you could just leave off the <value/> inside the activation-property.
+     |
+    <profile>
+      <id>env-dev</id>
+
+      <activation>
+        <property>
+	  <name>target-env</name>
+	  <value>dev</value>
+	</property>
+      </activation>
+
+      <properties>
+        <tomcatPath>/path/to/tomcat/instance</tomcatPath>
+      </properties>
+    </profile>
+    -->
+  </profiles>
+
+  <!-- activeProfiles
+   | List of profiles that are active for all builds.
+   |
+  <activeProfiles>
+    <activeProfile>alwaysActiveProfile</activeProfile>
+    <activeProfile>anotherAlwaysActiveProfile</activeProfile>
+  </activeProfiles>
+  -->
+</settings>
diff --git a/maven-settings/settings.sample.xml b/maven-settings/settings.sample.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d82d11114f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/maven-settings/settings.sample.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,222 @@
+<!--
+ | This is the configuration file for Maven. It can be specified at two levels:
+ |
+ |  1. User Level. This settings.xml file provides configuration for a single user, 
+ |                 and is normally provided in $HOME/.m2/settings.xml.
+ |
+ |                 NOTE: This location can be overridden with the system property:
+ |
+ |                 -Dorg.apache.maven.user-settings=/path/to/user/settings.xml
+ |
+ |  2. Global Level. This settings.xml file provides configuration for all maven
+ |                 users on a machine (assuming they're all using the same maven
+ |                 installation). It's normally provided in 
+ |                 ${maven.home}/conf/settings.xml.
+ |
+ |                 NOTE: This location can be overridden with the system property:
+ |
+ |                 -Dorg.apache.maven.global-settings=/path/to/global/settings.xml
+ |
+ | The sections in this sample file are intended to give you a running start at
+ | getting the most out of your Maven installation. Where appropriate, the default
+ | values (values used when the setting is not specified) are provided.
+ |
+ |-->
+<settings>
+  <!-- localRepository
+   | The path to the local repository maven will use to store artifacts.
+   |
+   | Default: ~/.m2/repository
+  <localRepository>/path/to/local/repo</localRepository>
+  -->
+
+  <!-- interactiveMode
+   | This will determine whether maven prompts you when it needs input. If set to false,
+   | maven will use a sensible default value, perhaps based on some other setting, for
+   | the parameter in question.
+   |
+   | Default: true
+  <interactiveMode>true</interactiveMode>
+  -->
+
+  <!-- offline
+   | Determines whether maven should attempt to connect to the network when executing a build.
+   | This will have an effect on artifact downloads, artifact deployment, and others.
+   |
+   | Default: false
+  <offline>false</offline>
+  -->
+
+  <!-- proxies
+   | This is a list of proxies which can be used on this machine to connect to the network.
+   | Unless otherwise specified (by system property or command-line switch), the first proxy
+   | specification in this list marked as active will be used.
+   |-->
+  <proxies>
+    <!-- proxy
+     | Specification for one proxy, to be used in connecting to the network.
+     |
+    <proxy>
+      <id>optional</id>
+      <active>true</active>
+      <protocol>http</protocol>
+      <username>proxyuser</username>
+      <password>proxypass</password>
+      <host>proxy.host.net</host>
+      <port>80</port>
+      <nonProxyHosts>local.net,some.host.com</nonProxyHosts>
+    </proxy>
+    -->
+  </proxies>
+
+  <!-- servers
+   | This is a list of authentication profiles, keyed by the server-id used within the system.
+   | Authentication profiles can be used whenever maven must make a connection to a remote server.
+   |-->
+  <servers>
+    <!-- server
+     | Specifies the authentication information to use when connecting to a particular server, identified by
+     | a unique name within the system (referred to by the 'id' attribute below).
+     | 
+     | NOTE: You should either specify username/password OR privateKey/passphrase, since these pairings are 
+     |       used together.
+     |
+    <server>
+      <id>deploymentRepo</id>
+      <username>repouser</username>
+      <password>repopwd</password>
+    </server>
+    -->
+    
+    <!-- Another sample, using keys to authenticate.
+    <server>
+      <id>siteServer</id>
+      <privateKey>/path/to/private/key</privateKey>
+      <passphrase>optional; leave empty if not used.</passphrase>
+    </server>
+    -->
+  </servers>
+
+  <!-- mirrors
+   | This is a list of mirrors to be used in downloading artifacts from remote repositories.
+   | 
+   | It works like this: a POM may declare a repository to use in resolving certain artifacts.
+   | However, this repository may have problems with heavy traffic at times, so people have mirrored
+   | it to several places.
+   |
+   | That repository definition will have a unique id, so we can create a mirror reference for that
+   | repository, to be used as an alternate download site. The mirror site will be the preferred 
+   | server for that repository.
+   |-->
+  <mirrors>
+    <!-- mirror
+     | Specifies a repository mirror site to use instead of a given repository. The repository that
+     | this mirror serves has an ID that matches the mirrorOf element of this mirror. IDs are used
+     | for inheritance and direct lookup purposes, and must be unique across the set of mirrors.
+     |
+    <mirror>
+      <id>mirrorId</id>
+      <mirrorOf>repositoryId</mirrorOf>
+      <name>Human Readable Name for this Mirror.</name>
+      <url>http://my.repository.com/repo/path</url>
+    </mirror>
+     -->
+  </mirrors>
+  
+  <!-- profiles
+   | This is a list of profiles which can be activated in a variety of ways, and which can modify
+   | the build process. Profiles provided in the settings.xml are intended to provide local machine-
+   | specific paths and repository locations which allow the build to work in the local environment.
+   |
+   | For example, if you have an integration testing plugin - like cactus - that needs to know where
+   | your Tomcat instance is installed, you can provide a variable here such that the variable is 
+   | dereferenced during the build process to configure the cactus plugin.
+   |
+   | As noted above, profiles can be activated in a variety of ways. One way - the activeProfiles
+   | section of this document (settings.xml) - will be discussed later. Another way essentially
+   | relies on the detection of a system property, either matching a particular value for the property,
+   | or merely testing its existence. Profiles can also be activated by JDK version prefix, where a 
+   | value of '1.4' might activate a profile when the build is executed on a JDK version of '1.4.2_07'.
+   | Finally, the list of active profiles can be specified directly from the command line.
+   |
+   | NOTE: For profiles defined in the settings.xml, you are restricted to specifying only artifact
+   |       repositories, plugin repositories, and free-form properties to be used as configuration
+   |       variables for plugins in the POM.
+   |
+   |-->
+  <profiles>
+    <!-- profile
+     | Specifies a set of introductions to the build process, to be activated using one or more of the
+     | mechanisms described above. For inheritance purposes, and to activate profiles via <activatedProfiles/>
+     | or the command line, profiles have to have an ID that is unique.
+     |
+     | An encouraged best practice for profile identification is to use a consistent naming convention
+     | for profiles, such as 'env-dev', 'env-test', 'env-production', 'user-jdcasey', 'user-brett', etc.
+     | This will make it more intuitive to understand what the set of introduced profiles is attempting
+     | to accomplish, particularly when you only have a list of profile id's for debug.
+     |
+     | This profile example uses the JDK version to trigger activation, and provides a JDK-specific repo.
+    <profile>
+      <id>jdk-1.4</id>
+
+      <activation>
+        <jdk>1.4</jdk>
+      </activation>
+
+      <repositories>
+        <repository>
+	  <id>jdk14</id>
+	  <name>Repository for JDK 1.4 builds</name>
+	  <url>http://www.myhost.com/maven/jdk14</url>
+	  <layout>default</layout>
+	  <snapshotPolicy>always</snapshotPolicy>
+	</repository>
+      </repositories>
+    </profile>
+    -->
+
+    <!--
+     | Here is another profile, activated by the system property 'target-env' with a value of 'dev',
+     | which provides a specific path to the Tomcat instance. To use this, your plugin configuration
+     | might hypothetically look like:
+     |
+     | ...
+     | <plugin>
+     |   <groupId>org.myco.myplugins</groupId>
+     |   <artifactId>myplugin</artifactId>
+     |   
+     |   <configuration>
+     |     <tomcatLocation>${tomcatPath}</tomcatLocation>
+     |   </configuration>
+     | </plugin>
+     | ...
+     |
+     | NOTE: If you just wanted to inject this configuration whenever someone set 'target-env' to
+     |       anything, you could just leave off the <value/> inside the activation-property.
+     |
+    <profile>
+      <id>env-dev</id>
+
+      <activation>
+        <property>
+	  <name>target-env</name>
+	  <value>dev</value>
+	</property>
+      </activation>
+
+      <properties>
+        <tomcatPath>/path/to/tomcat/instance</tomcatPath>
+      </properties>
+    </profile>
+    -->
+  </profiles>
+
+  <!-- activeProfiles
+   | List of profiles that are active for all builds.
+   |
+  <activeProfiles>
+    <activeProfile>alwaysActiveProfile</activeProfile>
+    <activeProfile>anotherAlwaysActiveProfile</activeProfile>
+  </activeProfiles>
+  -->
+</settings>