diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 19763e9602..07bde9af8a 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -268,7 +268,6 @@ under the License.
       <classpath refid="maven.classpath"/>
       <arg value="-e"/>
       <arg value="-B"/>
-      <arg value="-P compat,standard"/>
       <arg value="clean"/>
       <arg value="install"/>
     </java>
diff --git a/maven-core/pom.xml b/maven-core/pom.xml
index 799037fa05..c3ff488a7b 100644
--- a/maven-core/pom.xml
+++ b/maven-core/pom.xml
@@ -120,6 +120,13 @@ under the License.
       <version>1.2_Java1.3</version>
       <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
+    
+    <!-- Needed for backward compat aspect. -->
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>aspectj</groupId>
+      <artifactId>aspectjrt</artifactId>
+      <version>1.5.3</version>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
   <build>
     <plugins>
@@ -139,23 +146,6 @@ under the License.
           </excludes>
         </configuration>
       </plugin>
-    </plugins>
-  </build>
-  
-  <profiles>
-    <profile>
-      <id>compat</id>
-      
-      <dependencies>
-        <dependency>
-          <groupId>aspectj</groupId>
-          <artifactId>aspectjrt</artifactId>
-          <version>1.5.3</version>
-        </dependency>
-      </dependencies>
-      
-      <build>
-        <plugins>
           <plugin>
             <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
             <artifactId>aspectj-maven-plugin</artifactId>
@@ -169,8 +159,6 @@ under the License.
               </execution>
             </executions>
           </plugin>
-        </plugins>
-      </build>
-    </profile>
-  </profiles>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
 </project>
diff --git a/maven-core/src/main/aspect/org/apache/maven/compat/plugin/Maven20xCompatAspect.aj b/maven-core/src/main/aspect/org/apache/maven/compat/plugin/Maven20xCompatAspect.aj
index 5609e3f09e..226392e678 100644
--- a/maven-core/src/main/aspect/org/apache/maven/compat/plugin/Maven20xCompatAspect.aj
+++ b/maven-core/src/main/aspect/org/apache/maven/compat/plugin/Maven20xCompatAspect.aj
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ public privileged aspect Maven20xCompatAspect
         && this( session )
         && notHere();
 
+    // capture the session instance in play.
     after( MavenSession session ): sessionCreation( session )
     {
         this.session = session;
@@ -76,6 +77,7 @@ public privileged aspect Maven20xCompatAspect
         && args( request )
         && notHere();
 
+    // capture the request instance in play.
     before( MavenExecutionRequest request ): methodsTakingRequest( request )
     {
         this.request = request;
@@ -88,6 +90,7 @@ public privileged aspect Maven20xCompatAspect
         && target( manager )
         && notHere();
 
+    // redirect the old verifyPlugin(..) call to the new one, using the captured session instance above.
     PluginDescriptor around( Plugin plugin,
                              MavenProject project,
                              PluginManager manager )
@@ -147,6 +150,7 @@ public privileged aspect Maven20xCompatAspect
         && target( builder )
         && notHere();
 
+    // redirect old buildSettings() call to the new one, using the request captured above.
     Settings around( MavenSettingsBuilder builder )
         throws IOException, XmlPullParserException:
             buildSettings( builder )
diff --git a/maven-embedder/pom.xml b/maven-embedder/pom.xml
index 5db6d2da03..7ba616df2c 100644
--- a/maven-embedder/pom.xml
+++ b/maven-embedder/pom.xml
@@ -68,6 +68,13 @@ under the License.
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.wagon</groupId>
       <artifactId>wagon-file</artifactId>
     </dependency>
+    
+    <!-- Needed for backward compat aspect. -->
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>aspectj</groupId>
+      <artifactId>aspectjrt</artifactId>
+      <version>1.5.3</version>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
   <distributionManagement>
     <site>
@@ -77,16 +84,14 @@ under the License.
   </distributionManagement>
   <profiles>
     <profile>
-      <id>compat</id>
-      
-      <dependencies>
-        <dependency>
-          <groupId>aspectj</groupId>
-          <artifactId>aspectjrt</artifactId>
-          <version>1.5.3</version>
-        </dependency>
-      </dependencies>
-      
+      <!--
+       |
+       | This profile is specifically for creating an embedder that can be used for IntelliJ integration. We need to
+       | remove the JDOM JAR because IntelliJ include its own version, and the JTidy JAR includes org.xml.* classes
+       | which causes a loader constraint issues while loading the embedder.
+       |
+       -->
+      <id>idea</id>
       <build>
         <plugins>
           <plugin>
@@ -110,21 +115,6 @@ under the License.
               </execution>
             </executions>
           </plugin>
-        </plugins>
-      </build>
-    </profile>
-    
-    <profile>
-      <!--
-       |
-       | This profile is specifically for creating an embedder that can be used for IntelliJ integration. We need to
-       | remove the JDOM JAR because IntelliJ include its own version, and the JTidy JAR includes org.xml.* classes
-       | which causes a loader constraint issues while loading the embedder.
-       |
-       -->
-      <id>idea</id>
-      <build>
-        <plugins>
           <plugin>
             <artifactId>shade-maven-plugin</artifactId>
             <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>