diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/JNANatives.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/JNANatives.java
index a5a5371bc2d..7a76d37bf12 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/JNANatives.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/JNANatives.java
@@ -75,16 +75,18 @@ class JNANatives {
         }
 
         // mlockall failed for some reason
-        logger.warn("Unable to lock JVM Memory: error=" + errno + ",reason=" + errMsg + ". This can result in part of the JVM being swapped out.");
+        logger.warn("Unable to lock JVM Memory: error=" + errno + ",reason=" + errMsg);
+        logger.warn("This can result in part of the JVM being swapped out.");
         if (errno == JNACLibrary.ENOMEM) {
             if (rlimitSuccess) {
                 logger.warn("Increase RLIMIT_MEMLOCK, soft limit: " + rlimitToString(softLimit) + ", hard limit: " + rlimitToString(hardLimit));
                 if (Constants.LINUX) {
                     // give specific instructions for the linux case to make it easy
+                    String user = System.getProperty("user.name");
                     logger.warn("These can be adjusted by modifying /etc/security/limits.conf, for example: \n" +
-                                "\t# allow user 'esuser' mlockall\n" +
-                                "\tesuser soft memlock unlimited\n" +
-                                "\tesuser hard memlock unlimited"
+                                "\t# allow user '" + user + "' mlockall\n" +
+                                "\t" + user + " soft memlock unlimited\n" +
+                                "\t" + user + " hard memlock unlimited"
                                );
                     logger.warn("If you are logged in interactively, you will have to re-login for the new limits to take effect.");
                 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/JavaVersion.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/JavaVersion.java
index f88469702a5..bf8e9961113 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/JavaVersion.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/JavaVersion.java
@@ -54,10 +54,7 @@ class JavaVersion implements Comparable<JavaVersion> {
     }
 
     public static boolean isValid(String value) {
-        if (!value.matches("^0*[0-9]+(\\.[0-9]+)*$")) {
-            return false;
-        }
-        return true;
+        return value.matches("^0*[0-9]+(\\.[0-9]+)*$");
     }
 
     private final static JavaVersion CURRENT = parse(System.getProperty("java.specification.version"));
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/transport/TransportClient.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/transport/TransportClient.java
index 08157fe20ff..9d35fabc645 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/transport/TransportClient.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/transport/TransportClient.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNode;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.Tuple;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.component.LifecycleComponent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Injector;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Module;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.ModulesBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.network.NetworkModule;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
@@ -143,7 +144,11 @@ public class TransportClient extends AbstractClient {
             try {
                 ModulesBuilder modules = new ModulesBuilder();
                 modules.add(new Version.Module(version));
-                modules.add(new PluginsModule(this.settings, pluginsService));
+                // plugin modules must be added here, before others or we can get crazy injection errors...
+                for (Module pluginModule : pluginsService.nodeModules()) {
+                    modules.add(pluginModule);
+                }
+                modules.add(new PluginsModule(pluginsService));
                 modules.add(new EnvironmentModule(environment));
                 modules.add(new SettingsModule(this.settings));
                 modules.add(new NetworkModule());
@@ -160,6 +165,8 @@ public class TransportClient extends AbstractClient {
                 modules.add(new ClientTransportModule());
                 modules.add(new CircuitBreakerModule(this.settings));
 
+                pluginsService.processModules(modules);
+
                 Injector injector = modules.createInjector();
                 injector.getInstance(TransportService.class).start();
                 TransportClient transportClient = new TransportClient(injector);
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/inject/Modules.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/inject/Modules.java
deleted file mode 100644
index edb08dd183a..00000000000
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/inject/Modules.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,65 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
- * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
- * this work for additional information regarding copyright
- * ownership. Elasticsearch 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.
- */
-
-package org.elasticsearch.common.inject;
-
-import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchException;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
-
-import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
-
-/**
- *
- */
-public class Modules {
-
-    public static Module createModule(Class<? extends Module> moduleClass, @Nullable Settings settings) {
-        Constructor<? extends Module> constructor;
-        try {
-            constructor = moduleClass.getConstructor(Settings.class);
-            try {
-                return constructor.newInstance(settings);
-            } catch (Exception e) {
-                throw new ElasticsearchException("Failed to create module [" + moduleClass + "]", e);
-            }
-        } catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
-            try {
-                constructor = moduleClass.getConstructor();
-                try {
-                    return constructor.newInstance();
-                } catch (Exception e1) {
-                    throw new ElasticsearchException("Failed to create module [" + moduleClass + "]", e);
-                }
-            } catch (NoSuchMethodException e1) {
-                throw new ElasticsearchException("No constructor for [" + moduleClass + "]");
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
-    public static void processModules(Iterable<Module> modules) {
-        for (Module module : modules) {
-            if (module instanceof PreProcessModule) {
-                for (Module module1 : modules) {
-                    ((PreProcessModule) module).processModule(module1);
-                }
-            }
-        }
-    }
-}
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/inject/ModulesBuilder.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/inject/ModulesBuilder.java
index 3443312e80d..c65a07dcfbc 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/inject/ModulesBuilder.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/inject/ModulesBuilder.java
@@ -31,20 +31,9 @@ public class ModulesBuilder implements Iterable<Module> {
 
     private final List<Module> modules = Lists.newArrayList();
 
-    public ModulesBuilder add(Module... modules) {
-        for (Module module : modules) {
-            add(module);
-        }
-        return this;
-    }
-
-    public ModulesBuilder add(Module module) {
-        modules.add(module);
-        if (module instanceof SpawnModules) {
-            Iterable<? extends Module> spawned = ((SpawnModules) module).spawnModules();
-            for (Module spawn : spawned) {
-                add(spawn);
-            }
+    public ModulesBuilder add(Module... newModules) {
+        for (Module module : newModules) {
+            modules.add(module);
         }
         return this;
     }
@@ -55,7 +44,6 @@ public class ModulesBuilder implements Iterable<Module> {
     }
 
     public Injector createInjector() {
-        Modules.processModules(modules);
         Injector injector = Guice.createInjector(modules);
         Injectors.cleanCaches(injector);
         // in ES, we always create all instances as if they are eager singletons
@@ -65,7 +53,6 @@ public class ModulesBuilder implements Iterable<Module> {
     }
 
     public Injector createChildInjector(Injector injector) {
-        Modules.processModules(modules);
         Injector childInjector = injector.createChildInjector(modules);
         Injectors.cleanCaches(childInjector);
         // in ES, we always create all instances as if they are eager singletons
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/inject/SpawnModules.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/inject/SpawnModules.java
deleted file mode 100644
index e5005353590..00000000000
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/inject/SpawnModules.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,36 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
- * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
- * this work for additional information regarding copyright
- * ownership. Elasticsearch 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.
- */
-
-package org.elasticsearch.common.inject;
-
-/**
- * This interface can be added to a Module to spawn sub modules. DO NOT USE.
- *
- * This is fundamentally broken.
- * <ul>
- * <li>If you have a plugin with multiple modules, return all the modules at once.</li>
- * <li>If you are trying to make the implementation of a module "pluggable", don't do it.
- * This is not extendable because custom implementations (using onModule) cannot be
- * registered before spawnModules() is called.</li>
- * </ul>
- */
-public interface SpawnModules {
-
-    Iterable<? extends Module> spawnModules();
-}
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/unicast/UnicastZenPing.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/unicast/UnicastZenPing.java
index 2a29ca5748c..06820a9f066 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/unicast/UnicastZenPing.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/ping/unicast/UnicastZenPing.java
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ import static org.elasticsearch.discovery.zen.ping.ZenPing.PingResponse.readPing
 public class UnicastZenPing extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<ZenPing> implements ZenPing {
 
     public static final String ACTION_NAME = "internal:discovery/zen/unicast";
+    public static final String DISCOVERY_ZEN_PING_UNICAST_HOSTS = "discovery.zen.ping.unicast.hosts";
 
     // these limits are per-address
     public static final int LIMIT_FOREIGN_PORTS_COUNT = 1;
@@ -116,7 +117,7 @@ public class UnicastZenPing extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<ZenPing> implemen
         }
 
         this.concurrentConnects = this.settings.getAsInt("discovery.zen.ping.unicast.concurrent_connects", 10);
-        String[] hostArr = this.settings.getAsArray("discovery.zen.ping.unicast.hosts");
+        String[] hostArr = this.settings.getAsArray(DISCOVERY_ZEN_PING_UNICAST_HOSTS);
         // trim the hosts
         for (int i = 0; i < hostArr.length; i++) {
             hostArr[i] = hostArr[i].trim();
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/MetaDataStateFormat.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/MetaDataStateFormat.java
index 523e9bc5414..23546f123ec 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/MetaDataStateFormat.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/MetaDataStateFormat.java
@@ -43,12 +43,10 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentHelper;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParser;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
 
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
-import java.nio.file.DirectoryStream;
-import java.nio.file.Files;
-import java.nio.file.Path;
-import java.nio.file.StandardCopyOption;
+import java.nio.file.*;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
@@ -253,10 +251,9 @@ public abstract class MetaDataStateFormat<T> {
         if (dataLocations != null) { // select all eligable files first
             for (Path dataLocation : dataLocations) {
                 final Path stateDir = dataLocation.resolve(STATE_DIR_NAME);
-                if (!Files.isDirectory(stateDir)) {
-                    continue;
-                }
                 // now, iterate over the current versions, and find latest one
+                // we don't check if the stateDir is present since it could be deleted
+                // after the check. Also if there is a _state file and it's not a dir something is really wrong
                 try (DirectoryStream<Path> paths = Files.newDirectoryStream(stateDir)) { // we don't pass a glob since we need the group part for parsing
                     for (Path stateFile : paths) {
                         final Matcher matcher = stateFilePattern.matcher(stateFile.getFileName().toString());
@@ -270,6 +267,8 @@ public abstract class MetaDataStateFormat<T> {
                             files.add(pav);
                         }
                     }
+                } catch (NoSuchFileException | FileNotFoundException ex) {
+                    // no _state directory -- move on
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpServer.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpServer.java
index 40067e2bff3..0fab142ac18 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpServer.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/http/HttpServer.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.http;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
+import com.google.common.io.ByteStreams;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.common.component.AbstractLifecycleComponent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.node.service.NodeService;
 import org.elasticsearch.rest.*;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.nio.file.*;
 import java.nio.file.attribute.BasicFileAttributes;
 import java.util.HashMap;
@@ -114,10 +116,14 @@ public class HttpServer extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<HttpServer> {
     }
 
     public void internalDispatchRequest(final HttpRequest request, final HttpChannel channel) {
-        if (request.rawPath().startsWith("/_plugin/")) {
+        String rawPath = request.rawPath();
+        if (rawPath.startsWith("/_plugin/")) {
             RestFilterChain filterChain = restController.filterChain(pluginSiteFilter);
             filterChain.continueProcessing(request, channel);
             return;
+        } else if (rawPath.equals("/favicon.ico")) {
+            handleFavicon(request, channel);
+            return;
         }
         restController.dispatchRequest(request, channel);
     }
@@ -131,6 +137,22 @@ public class HttpServer extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<HttpServer> {
         }
     }
 
+    void handleFavicon(HttpRequest request, HttpChannel channel) {
+        if (request.method() == RestRequest.Method.GET) {
+            try {
+                try (InputStream stream = getClass().getResourceAsStream("/config/favicon.ico")) {
+                    byte[] content = ByteStreams.toByteArray(stream);
+                    BytesRestResponse restResponse = new BytesRestResponse(RestStatus.OK, "image/x-icon", content);
+                    channel.sendResponse(restResponse);
+                }
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                channel.sendResponse(new BytesRestResponse(INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR));
+            }
+        } else {
+            channel.sendResponse(new BytesRestResponse(FORBIDDEN));
+        }
+    }
+
     void handlePluginSite(HttpRequest request, HttpChannel channel) throws IOException {
         if (disableSites) {
             channel.sendResponse(new BytesRestResponse(FORBIDDEN));
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexService.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexService.java
index 83ad78fc32b..7be71c89ece 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexService.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexService.java
@@ -56,7 +56,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.indices.IndicesService;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.InternalIndicesLifecycle;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.cache.query.IndicesQueryCache;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.PluginsService;
-import org.elasticsearch.plugins.ShardsPluginsModule;
 
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -317,7 +316,10 @@ public class IndexService extends AbstractIndexComponent implements IndexCompone
             final boolean canDeleteShardContent = IndexMetaData.isOnSharedFilesystem(indexSettings) == false ||
                     (primary && IndexMetaData.isOnSharedFilesystem(indexSettings));
             ModulesBuilder modules = new ModulesBuilder();
-            modules.add(new ShardsPluginsModule(indexSettings, pluginsService));
+            // plugin modules must be added here, before others or we can get crazy injection errors...
+            for (Module pluginModule : pluginsService.shardModules(indexSettings)) {
+                modules.add(pluginModule);
+            }
             modules.add(new IndexShardModule(shardId, primary, indexSettings));
             modules.add(new StoreModule(injector.getInstance(IndexStore.class).shardDirectory(), lock,
                     new StoreCloseListener(shardId, canDeleteShardContent,  new Closeable() {
@@ -327,6 +329,9 @@ public class IndexService extends AbstractIndexComponent implements IndexCompone
                         }
                     }), path));
             modules.add(new DeletionPolicyModule());
+
+            pluginsService.processModules(modules);
+
             try {
                 shardInjector = modules.createChildInjector(injector);
             } catch (CreationException e) {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MatchQueryBuilder.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MatchQueryBuilder.java
index e4a643f1350..6f73f08dc02 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MatchQueryBuilder.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MatchQueryBuilder.java
@@ -78,8 +78,6 @@ public class MatchQueryBuilder extends QueryBuilder implements BoostableQueryBui
 
     private String minimumShouldMatch;
 
-    private String rewrite = null;
-
     private String fuzzyRewrite = null;
 
     private Boolean lenient;
@@ -179,11 +177,6 @@ public class MatchQueryBuilder extends QueryBuilder implements BoostableQueryBui
         return this;
     }
 
-    public MatchQueryBuilder rewrite(String rewrite) {
-        this.rewrite = rewrite;
-        return this;
-    }
-
     public MatchQueryBuilder fuzzyRewrite(String fuzzyRewrite) {
         this.fuzzyRewrite = fuzzyRewrite;
         return this;
@@ -249,9 +242,6 @@ public class MatchQueryBuilder extends QueryBuilder implements BoostableQueryBui
         if (minimumShouldMatch != null) {
             builder.field("minimum_should_match", minimumShouldMatch);
         }
-        if (rewrite != null) {
-            builder.field("rewrite", rewrite);
-        }
         if (fuzzyRewrite != null) {
             builder.field("fuzzy_rewrite", fuzzyRewrite);
         }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MultiMatchQueryBuilder.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MultiMatchQueryBuilder.java
index 1f7f960c477..d9a07514356 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MultiMatchQueryBuilder.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MultiMatchQueryBuilder.java
@@ -61,8 +61,6 @@ public class MultiMatchQueryBuilder extends QueryBuilder implements BoostableQue
 
     private String minimumShouldMatch;
 
-    private String rewrite = null;
-
     private String fuzzyRewrite = null;
 
     private Boolean useDisMax;
@@ -255,11 +253,6 @@ public class MultiMatchQueryBuilder extends QueryBuilder implements BoostableQue
         return this;
     }
 
-    public MultiMatchQueryBuilder rewrite(String rewrite) {
-        this.rewrite = rewrite;
-        return this;
-    }
-
     public MultiMatchQueryBuilder fuzzyRewrite(String fuzzyRewrite) {
         this.fuzzyRewrite = fuzzyRewrite;
         return this;
@@ -367,9 +360,6 @@ public class MultiMatchQueryBuilder extends QueryBuilder implements BoostableQue
         if (minimumShouldMatch != null) {
             builder.field("minimum_should_match", minimumShouldMatch);
         }
-        if (rewrite != null) {
-            builder.field("rewrite", rewrite);
-        }
         if (fuzzyRewrite != null) {
             builder.field("fuzzy_rewrite", fuzzyRewrite);
         }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesService.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesService.java
index 022fbd997b6..43fdb3df675 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesService.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesService.java
@@ -20,7 +20,12 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.indices;
 
 import com.google.common.base.Function;
-import com.google.common.collect.*;
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
+import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
+import com.google.common.collect.Iterators;
+import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
+import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
 import org.apache.lucene.store.LockObtainFailedException;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.CollectionUtil;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.IOUtils;
@@ -35,7 +40,12 @@ import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.Tuple;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.component.AbstractLifecycleComponent;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.*;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.CreationException;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Injector;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Injectors;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Module;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.ModulesBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.FileSystemUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
@@ -43,7 +53,12 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.EsExecutors;
 import org.elasticsearch.env.NodeEnvironment;
 import org.elasticsearch.env.ShardLock;
 import org.elasticsearch.gateway.MetaDataStateFormat;
-import org.elasticsearch.index.*;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.Index;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexModule;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexNameModule;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexNotFoundException;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexService;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.LocalNodeIdModule;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.aliases.IndexAliasesServiceModule;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.analysis.AnalysisModule;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.analysis.AnalysisService;
@@ -71,13 +86,16 @@ import org.elasticsearch.index.store.IndexStore;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.store.IndexStoreModule;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.analysis.IndicesAnalysisService;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.recovery.RecoverySettings;
-import org.elasticsearch.plugins.IndexPluginsModule;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.PluginsService;
 
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
-import java.util.*;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
@@ -306,7 +324,10 @@ public class IndicesService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<IndicesService> i
         modules.add(new IndexNameModule(index));
         modules.add(new LocalNodeIdModule(localNodeId));
         modules.add(new IndexSettingsModule(index, indexSettings));
-        modules.add(new IndexPluginsModule(indexSettings, pluginsService));
+        // plugin modules must be added here, before others or we can get crazy injection errors...
+        for (Module pluginModule : pluginsService.indexModules(indexSettings)) {
+            modules.add(pluginModule);
+        }
         modules.add(new IndexStoreModule(indexSettings));
         modules.add(new AnalysisModule(indexSettings, indicesAnalysisService));
         modules.add(new SimilarityModule(indexSettings));
@@ -315,6 +336,8 @@ public class IndicesService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<IndicesService> i
         modules.add(new MapperServiceModule());
         modules.add(new IndexAliasesServiceModule());
         modules.add(new IndexModule(indexSettings));
+        
+        pluginsService.processModules(modules);
 
         Injector indexInjector;
         try {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/Node.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/Node.java
index 2b82a58d518..437d6b5cdb1 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/Node.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/Node.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.Tuple;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.component.Lifecycle;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.component.LifecycleComponent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Injector;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Module;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.ModulesBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lease.Releasable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lease.Releasables;
@@ -165,7 +166,11 @@ public class Node implements Releasable {
             ModulesBuilder modules = new ModulesBuilder();
             modules.add(new Version.Module(version));
             modules.add(new CircuitBreakerModule(settings));
-            modules.add(new PluginsModule(settings, pluginsService));
+            // plugin modules must be added here, before others or we can get crazy injection errors...
+            for (Module pluginModule : pluginsService.nodeModules()) {
+                modules.add(pluginModule);
+            }
+            modules.add(new PluginsModule(pluginsService));
             modules.add(new SettingsModule(settings));
             modules.add(new NodeModule(this));
             modules.add(new NetworkModule());
@@ -193,6 +198,9 @@ public class Node implements Releasable {
             modules.add(new RepositoriesModule());
             modules.add(new TribeModule());
 
+
+            pluginsService.processModules(modules);
+
             injector = modules.createInjector();
 
             client = injector.getInstance(Client.class);
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/IndexPluginsModule.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/IndexPluginsModule.java
deleted file mode 100644
index a45f7d7a08e..00000000000
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/IndexPluginsModule.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,55 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
- * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
- * this work for additional information regarding copyright
- * ownership. Elasticsearch 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.
- */
-
-package org.elasticsearch.plugins;
-
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.AbstractModule;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Module;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.PreProcessModule;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.SpawnModules;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
-
-/**
- *
- */
-public class IndexPluginsModule extends AbstractModule implements SpawnModules, PreProcessModule {
-
-    private final Settings settings;
-
-    private final PluginsService pluginsService;
-
-    public IndexPluginsModule(Settings settings, PluginsService pluginsService) {
-        this.settings = settings;
-        this.pluginsService = pluginsService;
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public Iterable<? extends Module> spawnModules() {
-        return pluginsService.indexModules(settings);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void processModule(Module module) {
-        pluginsService.processModule(module);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    protected void configure() {
-    }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginsModule.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginsModule.java
index 050a90140eb..04e468cdd6c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginsModule.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginsModule.java
@@ -20,35 +20,15 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.plugins;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.AbstractModule;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Module;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.PreProcessModule;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.SpawnModules;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 
-/**
- *
- */
-public class PluginsModule extends AbstractModule implements SpawnModules, PreProcessModule {
-
-    private final Settings settings;
+public class PluginsModule extends AbstractModule {
 
     private final PluginsService pluginsService;
 
-    public PluginsModule(Settings settings, PluginsService pluginsService) {
-        this.settings = settings;
+    public PluginsModule(PluginsService pluginsService) {
         this.pluginsService = pluginsService;
     }
 
-    @Override
-    public Iterable<? extends Module> spawnModules() {
-        return pluginsService.nodeModules();
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void processModule(Module module) {
-        pluginsService.processModule(module);
-    }
-
     @Override
     protected void configure() {
         bind(PluginsService.class).toInstance(pluginsService);
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ShardsPluginsModule.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ShardsPluginsModule.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 5797b2d0575..00000000000
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/ShardsPluginsModule.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,55 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
- * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
- * this work for additional information regarding copyright
- * ownership. Elasticsearch 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.
- */
-
-package org.elasticsearch.plugins;
-
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.AbstractModule;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Module;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.PreProcessModule;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.SpawnModules;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
-
-/**
- *
- */
-public class ShardsPluginsModule extends AbstractModule implements SpawnModules, PreProcessModule {
-
-    private final Settings settings;
-
-    private final PluginsService pluginsService;
-
-    public ShardsPluginsModule(Settings settings, PluginsService pluginsService) {
-        this.settings = settings;
-        this.pluginsService = pluginsService;
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public Iterable<? extends Module> spawnModules() {
-        return pluginsService.shardModules(settings);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void processModule(Module module) {
-        pluginsService.processModule(module);
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    protected void configure() {
-    }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/RepositoryModule.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/RepositoryModule.java
index eca82cc78e8..3ed3a78c0d1 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/RepositoryModule.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/RepositoryModule.java
@@ -20,14 +20,8 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.repositories;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.AbstractModule;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Module;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Modules;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.SpawnModules;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 
-import java.util.Arrays;
-import java.util.Collections;
-
 /**
  * Binds repository classes for the specific repository type.
  */
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPool.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPool.java
index 7c01367c016..0da74bb2b03 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPool.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPool.java
@@ -727,7 +727,7 @@ public class ThreadPool extends AbstractComponent {
             if (queueSize == null) {
                 builder.field(Fields.QUEUE_SIZE, -1);
             } else {
-                builder.field(Fields.QUEUE_SIZE, queueSize.toString());
+                builder.field(Fields.QUEUE_SIZE, queueSize.singles());
             }
             builder.endObject();
             return builder;
diff --git a/core/src/main/resources/config/favicon.ico b/core/src/main/resources/config/favicon.ico
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0eabd4c1edb
Binary files /dev/null and b/core/src/main/resources/config/favicon.ico differ
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/DiscoveryWithServiceDisruptionsIT.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/DiscoveryWithServiceDisruptionsIT.java
index a884dac9854..34f4a860e39 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/DiscoveryWithServiceDisruptionsIT.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/DiscoveryWithServiceDisruptionsIT.java
@@ -1006,38 +1006,6 @@ public class DiscoveryWithServiceDisruptionsIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
         return list.get(0);
     }
 
-    private void ensureStableCluster(int nodeCount) {
-        ensureStableCluster(nodeCount, TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(30));
-    }
-
-    private void ensureStableCluster(int nodeCount, TimeValue timeValue) {
-        ensureStableCluster(nodeCount, timeValue, false, null);
-    }
-
-    private void ensureStableCluster(int nodeCount, @Nullable String viaNode) {
-        ensureStableCluster(nodeCount, TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(30), false, viaNode);
-    }
-
-    private void ensureStableCluster(int nodeCount, TimeValue timeValue, boolean local, @Nullable String viaNode) {
-        if (viaNode == null) {
-            viaNode = randomFrom(internalCluster().getNodeNames());
-        }
-        logger.debug("ensuring cluster is stable with [{}] nodes. access node: [{}]. timeout: [{}]", nodeCount, viaNode, timeValue);
-        ClusterHealthResponse clusterHealthResponse = client(viaNode).admin().cluster().prepareHealth()
-                .setWaitForEvents(Priority.LANGUID)
-                .setWaitForNodes(Integer.toString(nodeCount))
-                .setTimeout(timeValue)
-                .setLocal(local)
-                .setWaitForRelocatingShards(0)
-                .get();
-        if (clusterHealthResponse.isTimedOut()) {
-            ClusterStateResponse stateResponse = client(viaNode).admin().cluster().prepareState().get();
-            fail("failed to reach a stable cluster of [" + nodeCount + "] nodes. Tried via [" + viaNode + "]. last cluster state:\n"
-                    + stateResponse.getState().prettyPrint());
-        }
-        assertThat(clusterHealthResponse.isTimedOut(), is(false));
-    }
-
     private ClusterState getNodeClusterState(String node) {
         return client(node).admin().cluster().prepareState().setLocal(true).get().getState();
     }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/ZenUnicastDiscoveryIT.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/ZenUnicastDiscoveryIT.java
index b233d4c0c95..ec7d81b0409 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/ZenUnicastDiscoveryIT.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/ZenUnicastDiscoveryIT.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ package org.elasticsearch.discovery;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterState;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNode;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESIntegTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESIntegTestCase.ClusterScope;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESIntegTestCase.Scope;
@@ -81,12 +82,15 @@ public class ZenUnicastDiscoveryIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
         int currentNumNodes = randomIntBetween(3, 5);
         final int min_master_nodes = currentNumNodes / 2 + 1;
         int currentNumOfUnicastHosts = randomIntBetween(min_master_nodes, currentNumNodes);
-        final Settings settings = Settings.settingsBuilder().put("discovery.zen.minimum_master_nodes", min_master_nodes).build();
+        final Settings settings = Settings.settingsBuilder()
+                .put("discovery.zen.join_timeout", TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(10))
+                .put("discovery.zen.minimum_master_nodes", min_master_nodes)
+                .build();
         discoveryConfig = new ClusterDiscoveryConfiguration.UnicastZen(currentNumNodes, currentNumOfUnicastHosts, settings);
 
         List<String> nodes = internalCluster().startNodesAsync(currentNumNodes).get();
 
-        ensureGreen();
+        ensureStableCluster(currentNumNodes);
 
         DiscoveryNode masterDiscoNode = null;
         for (String node : nodes) {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESIntegTestCase.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESIntegTestCase.java
index b232133eabe..2333380a4e9 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESIntegTestCase.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/ESIntegTestCase.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
 
 import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClients;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.state.ClusterStateResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.UnassignedInfo;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.allocation.decider.EnableAllocationDecider;
@@ -1105,6 +1106,38 @@ public abstract class ESIntegTestCase extends ESTestCase {
         return ensureGreen(indices);
     }
 
+    protected void ensureStableCluster(int nodeCount) {
+        ensureStableCluster(nodeCount, TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(30));
+    }
+
+    protected void ensureStableCluster(int nodeCount, TimeValue timeValue) {
+        ensureStableCluster(nodeCount, timeValue, false, null);
+    }
+
+    protected void ensureStableCluster(int nodeCount, @Nullable String viaNode) {
+        ensureStableCluster(nodeCount, TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(30), false, viaNode);
+    }
+
+    protected void ensureStableCluster(int nodeCount, TimeValue timeValue, boolean local, @Nullable String viaNode) {
+        if (viaNode == null) {
+            viaNode = randomFrom(internalCluster().getNodeNames());
+        }
+        logger.debug("ensuring cluster is stable with [{}] nodes. access node: [{}]. timeout: [{}]", nodeCount, viaNode, timeValue);
+        ClusterHealthResponse clusterHealthResponse = client(viaNode).admin().cluster().prepareHealth()
+                .setWaitForEvents(Priority.LANGUID)
+                .setWaitForNodes(Integer.toString(nodeCount))
+                .setTimeout(timeValue)
+                .setLocal(local)
+                .setWaitForRelocatingShards(0)
+                .get();
+        if (clusterHealthResponse.isTimedOut()) {
+            ClusterStateResponse stateResponse = client(viaNode).admin().cluster().prepareState().get();
+            fail("failed to reach a stable cluster of [" + nodeCount + "] nodes. Tried via [" + viaNode + "]. last cluster state:\n"
+                    + stateResponse.getState().prettyPrint());
+        }
+        assertThat(clusterHealthResponse.isTimedOut(), is(false));
+    }
+
     /**
      * Syntactic sugar for:
      * <pre>
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/InternalTestCluster.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/InternalTestCluster.java
index a7b858a6c14..557206f9505 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/InternalTestCluster.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/InternalTestCluster.java
@@ -226,11 +226,6 @@ public final class InternalTestCluster extends TestCluster {
     private ServiceDisruptionScheme activeDisruptionScheme;
     private String nodeMode;
 
-    public InternalTestCluster(String nodeMode, long clusterSeed, Path baseDir, int minNumDataNodes, int maxNumDataNodes, String clusterName, int numClientNodes,
-                               boolean enableHttpPipelining, String nodePrefix) {
-        this(nodeMode, clusterSeed, baseDir, minNumDataNodes, maxNumDataNodes, clusterName, DEFAULT_SETTINGS_SOURCE, numClientNodes, enableHttpPipelining, nodePrefix);
-    }
-
     public InternalTestCluster(String nodeMode, long clusterSeed, Path baseDir,
                                int minNumDataNodes, int maxNumDataNodes, String clusterName, NodeConfigurationSource nodeConfigurationSource, int numClientNodes,
                                boolean enableHttpPipelining, String nodePrefix) {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPoolSerializationTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPoolSerializationTests.java
index 3226662f686..be33df33d36 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPoolSerializationTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPoolSerializationTests.java
@@ -99,4 +99,23 @@ public class ThreadPoolSerializationTests extends ESTestCase {
         assertThat(threadPool.info("index").getQueueSize(), is(nullValue()));
         terminate(threadPool);
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testThatToXContentWritesInteger() throws Exception {
+        ThreadPool.Info info = new ThreadPool.Info("foo", "search", 1, 10, TimeValue.timeValueMillis(3000), SizeValue.parseSizeValue("1k"));
+        XContentBuilder builder = jsonBuilder();
+        builder.startObject();
+        info.toXContent(builder, ToXContent.EMPTY_PARAMS);
+        builder.endObject();
+
+        BytesReference bytesReference = builder.bytes();
+        Map<String, Object> map;
+        try (XContentParser parser = XContentFactory.xContent(bytesReference).createParser(bytesReference)) {
+            map = parser.map();
+        }
+        assertThat(map, hasKey("foo"));
+        map = (Map<String, Object>) map.get("foo");
+        assertThat(map, hasKey("queue_size"));
+        assertThat(map.get("queue_size").toString(), is("1000"));
+    }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/ContextAndHeaderTransportIT.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/ContextAndHeaderTransportIT.java
index 917148cc91b..7257a08ce9f 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/ContextAndHeaderTransportIT.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/ContextAndHeaderTransportIT.java
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.client.FilterClient;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.AbstractModule;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Module;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.PreProcessModule;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.http.HttpServerTransport;
@@ -405,22 +404,18 @@ public class ContextAndHeaderTransportIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
         public Collection<Module> nodeModules() {
             return Collections.<Module>singletonList(new ActionLoggingModule());
         }
+
+        public void onModule(ActionModule module) {
+            module.registerFilter(LoggingFilter.class);
+        }
     }
 
-    public static class ActionLoggingModule extends AbstractModule implements PreProcessModule {
-
-
+    public static class ActionLoggingModule extends AbstractModule {
         @Override
         protected void configure() {
             bind(LoggingFilter.class).asEagerSingleton();
         }
 
-        @Override
-        public void processModule(Module module) {
-            if (module instanceof ActionModule) {
-                ((ActionModule)module).registerFilter(LoggingFilter.class);
-            }
-        }
     }
 
     public static class LoggingFilter extends ActionFilter.Simple {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/tribe/TribeIT.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/tribe/TribeIT.java
index 0f5e8bfc9a1..4847d2b528e 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/tribe/TribeIT.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/tribe/TribeIT.java
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.LuceneTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.health.ClusterHealthResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.health.ClusterHealthStatus;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.node.info.NodeInfo;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.node.info.NodesInfoResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.Client;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.Requests;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterState;
@@ -32,11 +34,14 @@ import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNodes;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Priority;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.transport.TransportAddress;
 import org.elasticsearch.discovery.MasterNotDiscoveredException;
+import org.elasticsearch.discovery.zen.ping.unicast.UnicastZenPing;
 import org.elasticsearch.node.Node;
 import org.elasticsearch.node.NodeBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESIntegTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.InternalTestCluster;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.SettingsSource;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.TestCluster;
 import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.AfterClass;
@@ -44,6 +49,8 @@ import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertAcked;
@@ -69,8 +76,21 @@ public class TribeIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
     @BeforeClass
     public static void setupSecondCluster() throws Exception {
         ESIntegTestCase.beforeClass();
+        SettingsSource source = new SettingsSource() {
+            @Override
+            public Settings node(int nodeOrdinal) {
+                final int base = InternalTestCluster.BASE_PORT + 1000;
+                return Settings.builder().put("transport.tcp.port", base + "-" + (base + 100)).build();
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public Settings transportClient() {
+                return node(0);
+            }
+        };
         // create another cluster
-        cluster2 = new InternalTestCluster(InternalTestCluster.configuredNodeMode(), randomLong(), createTempDir(), 2, 2, Strings.randomBase64UUID(getRandom()), 0, false, SECOND_CLUSTER_NODE_PREFIX);
+        cluster2 = new InternalTestCluster(InternalTestCluster.configuredNodeMode(), randomLong(), createTempDir(), 2, 2, Strings.randomBase64UUID(getRandom()), source, 0, false, SECOND_CLUSTER_NODE_PREFIX);
+
         cluster2.beforeTest(getRandom(), 0.1);
         cluster2.ensureAtLeastNumDataNodes(2);
     }
@@ -109,6 +129,10 @@ public class TribeIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
             tribe1Defaults.put("tribe.t1." + entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());
             tribe2Defaults.put("tribe.t2." + entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());
         }
+        // give each tribe it's unicast hosts to connect to
+        tribe1Defaults.putArray("tribe.t1." + UnicastZenPing.DISCOVERY_ZEN_PING_UNICAST_HOSTS, getUnicastHosts(internalCluster().client()));
+        tribe1Defaults.putArray("tribe.t2." + UnicastZenPing.DISCOVERY_ZEN_PING_UNICAST_HOSTS, getUnicastHosts(cluster2.client()));
+
         Settings merged = Settings.builder()
                 .put("tribe.t1.cluster.name", internalCluster().getClusterName())
                 .put("tribe.t2.cluster.name", cluster2.getClusterName())
@@ -421,4 +445,14 @@ public class TribeIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
         }
         return count;
     }
+
+    public String[] getUnicastHosts(Client client) {
+        ArrayList<String> unicastHosts = new ArrayList<>();
+        NodesInfoResponse nodeInfos = client.admin().cluster().prepareNodesInfo().clear().setTransport(true).get();
+        for (NodeInfo info : nodeInfos.getNodes()) {
+            TransportAddress address = info.getTransport().getAddress().publishAddress();
+            unicastHosts.add(address.getAddress() + ":" + address.getPort());
+        }
+        return unicastHosts.toArray(new String[unicastHosts.size()]);
+    }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/dev-tools/prepare_release_candidate.py b/dev-tools/prepare_release_candidate.py
index b22885ad536..baaac881474 100644
--- a/dev-tools/prepare_release_candidate.py
+++ b/dev-tools/prepare_release_candidate.py
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ enabled=1
 
 def run(command, env_vars=None):
   if env_vars:
-    for key, value in env_vars.iter_items():
+    for key, value in env_vars.items():
       os.putenv(key, value)
   if os.system('%s' % (command)):
     raise RuntimeError('    FAILED: %s' % (command))
@@ -223,10 +223,10 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     shutil.rmtree(localRepoElasticsearch)
 
   if install_only:
-    mvn_targets = 'install'
+    mvn_target = 'install'
   else:
-    mvn_targets = 'install deploy'
-  install_command = 'mvn clean %s -Prelease -Dskip.integ.tests=true -Dgpg.keyname="%s" -Dpackaging.rpm.rpmbuild=/usr/bin/rpmbuild -Drpm.sign=true -Dmaven.repo.local=%s -Dno.commit.pattern="\\bno(n|)commit\\b" -Dforbidden.test.signatures=""' % (mvn_targets, gpg_key, localRepo)
+    mvn_target = 'deploy'
+  install_command = 'mvn clean %s -Prelease -Dskip.integ.tests=true -Dgpg.keyname="%s" -Dpackaging.rpm.rpmbuild=/usr/bin/rpmbuild -Drpm.sign=true -Dmaven.repo.local=%s -Dno.commit.pattern="\\bno(n|)commit\\b" -Dforbidden.test.signatures=""' % (mvn_target, gpg_key, localRepo)
   clean_repo_command = 'find %s -name _remote.repositories -exec rm {} \;' % (localRepoElasticsearch)
   rename_metadata_files_command = 'for i in $(find %s -name "maven-metadata-local.xml*") ; do mv "$i" "${i/-local/}" ; done' % (localRepoElasticsearch)
   s3_sync_command = 's3cmd sync %s s3://download.elasticsearch.org/elasticsearch/staging/%s-%s/org/' % (localRepoElasticsearch, release_version, shortHash)
diff --git a/docs/java-api/client.asciidoc b/docs/java-api/client.asciidoc
index 4a747b70782..cfc45b7bc4b 100644
--- a/docs/java-api/client.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/java-api/client.asciidoc
@@ -152,8 +152,8 @@ be "two hop" operations).
 // on startup
 
 Client client = TransportClient.builder().build()
-        .addTransportAddress(new InetSocketTransportAddress("host1", 9300))
-        .addTransportAddress(new InetSocketTransportAddress("host2", 9300));
+        .addTransportAddress(new InetSocketTransportAddress(InetAddress.getByName("host1"), 9300))
+        .addTransportAddress(new InetSocketTransportAddress(InetAddress.getByName("host2"), 9300));
 
 // on shutdown
 
diff --git a/docs/reference/aggregations/pipeline/avg-bucket-aggregation.asciidoc b/docs/reference/aggregations/pipeline/avg-bucket-aggregation.asciidoc
index 8311f58cdf3..bbd540dc01f 100644
--- a/docs/reference/aggregations/pipeline/avg-bucket-aggregation.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/aggregations/pipeline/avg-bucket-aggregation.asciidoc
@@ -52,13 +52,13 @@ The following snippet calculates the average of the total monthly `sales`:
         },
         "avg_monthly_sales": {
             "avg_bucket": {
-                "buckets_paths": "sales_per_month>sales" <1>
+                "buckets_path": "sales_per_month>sales" <1>
             }
         }
     }
 }
 --------------------------------------------------
-<1> `bucket_paths` instructs this avg_bucket aggregation that we want the (mean) average value of the `sales` aggregation in the 
+<1> `buckets_path` instructs this avg_bucket aggregation that we want the (mean) average value of the `sales` aggregation in the 
 `sales_per_month` date histogram.
 
 And the following may be the response:
diff --git a/docs/reference/aggregations/pipeline/derivative-aggregation.asciidoc b/docs/reference/aggregations/pipeline/derivative-aggregation.asciidoc
index 93580409140..ec63600a321 100644
--- a/docs/reference/aggregations/pipeline/derivative-aggregation.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/aggregations/pipeline/derivative-aggregation.asciidoc
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ The following snippet calculates the derivative of the total monthly `sales`:
                 },
                 "sales_deriv": {
                     "derivative": {
-                        "buckets_paths": "sales" <1>
+                        "buckets_path": "sales" <1>
                     }
                 }
             }
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ The following snippet calculates the derivative of the total monthly `sales`:
 }
 --------------------------------------------------
 
-<1> `bucket_paths` instructs this derivative aggregation to use the output of the `sales` aggregation for the derivative
+<1> `buckets_path` instructs this derivative aggregation to use the output of the `sales` aggregation for the derivative
 
 And the following may be the response:
 
@@ -137,12 +137,12 @@ monthly sales:
                 },
                 "sales_deriv": {
                     "derivative": {
-                        "buckets_paths": "sales"
+                        "buckets_path": "sales"
                     }
                 },
                 "sales_2nd_deriv": {
                     "derivative": {
-                        "buckets_paths": "sales_deriv" <1>
+                        "buckets_path": "sales_deriv" <1>
                     }
                 }
             }
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ monthly sales:
 }
 --------------------------------------------------
 
-<1> `bucket_paths` for the second derivative points to the name of the first derivative
+<1> `buckets_path` for the second derivative points to the name of the first derivative
 
 And the following may be the response:
 
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ of the total sales per month but ask for the derivative of the sales as in the u
                 },
                 "sales_deriv": {
                     "derivative": {
-                        "buckets_paths": "sales",
+                        "buckets_path": "sales",
                         "unit": "day" <1>
                     }
                 }
diff --git a/docs/reference/indices/templates.asciidoc b/docs/reference/indices/templates.asciidoc
index 3a5a3c5731b..ca09a87d1c0 100644
--- a/docs/reference/indices/templates.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/indices/templates.asciidoc
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [[indices-templates]]
 == Index Templates
 
-Index templates allow to define templates that will automatically be
+Index templates allow you to define templates that will automatically be
 applied to new indices created. The templates include both settings and
 mappings, and a simple pattern template that controls if the template
 will be applied to the index created. For example:
diff --git a/docs/reference/migration/migrate_2_0/stats.asciidoc b/docs/reference/migration/migrate_2_0/stats.asciidoc
index 46f3c68a1ba..84635f5713e 100644
--- a/docs/reference/migration/migrate_2_0/stats.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/migration/migrate_2_0/stats.asciidoc
@@ -55,3 +55,7 @@ headers by default. Verbosity can be turned off with the `v` parameter:
 GET _cat/shards?v=0
 -----------------
 
+==== Nodes Stats API
+
+Queue lengths are now reported as basic numeric so they can easily processed by code. Before we used a human
+readable format. For example, a queue with 1,000 items is now reported as `1000` instead of `1k`.
diff --git a/docs/reference/search/request/sort.asciidoc b/docs/reference/search/request/sort.asciidoc
index 0a8f3682b72..1cc07e21313 100644
--- a/docs/reference/search/request/sort.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/search/request/sort.asciidoc
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 Allows to add one or more sort on specific fields. Each sort can be
 reversed as well. The sort is defined on a per field level, with special
-field name for `_score` to sort by score.
+field name for `_score` to sort by score, and `_doc` to sort by index order.
 
 [source,js]
 --------------------------------------------------
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ field name for `_score` to sort by score.
 }
 --------------------------------------------------
 
+NOTE: `_doc` has no real use-case besides being the most efficient sort order.
+So if you don't care about the order in which documents are returned, then you
+should sort by `_doc`. This especially helps when <<search-request-scroll,scrolling>>.
+
 ==== Sort Values
 
 The sort values for each document returned are also returned as part of
diff --git a/docs/reference/search/suggesters/completion-suggest.asciidoc b/docs/reference/search/suggesters/completion-suggest.asciidoc
index 456dc8ba940..3b4f70f3e89 100644
--- a/docs/reference/search/suggesters/completion-suggest.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/search/suggesters/completion-suggest.asciidoc
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ curl -X POST 'localhost:9200/music/_suggest?pretty' -d '{
   "song-suggest" : [ {
     "text" : "n",
     "offset" : 0,
-    "length" : 4,
+    "length" : 1,
     "options" : [ {
       "text" : "Nirvana - Nevermind",
       "score" : 34.0, "payload" : {"artistId":2321}
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 13bda58932d..8295e8ebe86 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -875,10 +875,16 @@
                     <version>2.4.1</version>
                 </plugin>
                 <plugin>
-                    <!-- We just declare which plugin version to use. Each project can have then its own settings -->
                     <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                     <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
                     <version>2.7</version>
+                    <!-- add some additonal binary types to prevent maven from 
+                         screwing them up with resource filtering  -->
+                    <configuration>
+                        <nonFilteredFileExtensions>
+                            <nonFilteredFileExtension>ico</nonFilteredFileExtension>
+                        </nonFilteredFileExtensions>
+                    </configuration>
                 </plugin>
                 <plugin>
                     <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
diff --git a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/20_tar_package.bats b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/20_tar_package.bats
index b5daaece1d4..61210d2df68 100644
--- a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/20_tar_package.bats
+++ b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/20_tar_package.bats
@@ -31,37 +31,31 @@
 # Load test utilities
 load packaging_test_utils
 
-# Cleans everything for the 1st execution
 setup() {
-    if [ "$BATS_TEST_NUMBER" -eq 1 ]; then
-        clean_before_test
-    fi
+    skip_not_tar_gz
 }
 
 ##################################
 # Install TAR GZ package
 ##################################
 @test "[TAR] tar command is available" {
-    skip_not_tar_gz
+    # Cleans everything for the 1st execution
+    clean_before_test
     run tar --version
     [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
 }
 
 @test "[TAR] archive is available" {
-    skip_not_tar_gz
     count=$(find . -type f -name 'elasticsearch*.tar.gz' | wc -l)
     [ "$count" -eq 1 ]
 }
 
 @test "[TAR] archive is not installed" {
-    skip_not_tar_gz
     count=$(find /tmp -type d -name 'elasticsearch*' | wc -l)
     [ "$count" -eq 0 ]
 }
 
 @test "[TAR] install archive" {
-    skip_not_tar_gz
-
     # Install the archive
     install_archive
 
@@ -73,8 +67,6 @@ setup() {
 # Check that the archive is correctly installed
 ##################################
 @test "[TAR] verify archive installation" {
-    skip_not_tar_gz
-
     verify_archive_installation "/tmp/elasticsearch"
 }
 
@@ -82,14 +74,11 @@ setup() {
 # Check that Elasticsearch is working
 ##################################
 @test "[TAR] test elasticsearch" {
-    skip_not_tar_gz
-
     start_elasticsearch_service
 
     run_elasticsearch_tests
 
     stop_elasticsearch_service
 
-    run rm -rf "/tmp/elasticsearch"
-    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    rm -rf "/tmp/elasticsearch"
 }
diff --git a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/packaging_test_utils.bash b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/packaging_test_utils.bash
index c3773b557ef..cbb68389cc0 100644
--- a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/packaging_test_utils.bash
+++ b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/packaging_test_utils.bash
@@ -242,34 +242,27 @@ install_archive() {
         eshome="$1"
     fi
 
-    run tar -xzvf elasticsearch*.tar.gz -C "$eshome" >&2
-    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    tar -xzvf elasticsearch*.tar.gz -C "$eshome"
 
-    run find "$eshome" -depth -type d -name 'elasticsearch*' -exec mv {} "$eshome/elasticsearch" \;
-    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    find "$eshome" -depth -type d -name 'elasticsearch*' -exec mv {} "$eshome/elasticsearch" \;
 
     # ES cannot run as root so create elasticsearch user & group if needed
     if ! getent group "elasticsearch" > /dev/null 2>&1 ; then
         if is_dpkg; then
-            run addgroup --system "elasticsearch"
-            [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+            addgroup --system "elasticsearch"
         else
-            run groupadd -r "elasticsearch"
-            [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+            groupadd -r "elasticsearch"
         fi
     fi
     if ! id "elasticsearch" > /dev/null 2>&1 ; then
         if is_dpkg; then
-            run adduser --quiet --system --no-create-home --ingroup "elasticsearch" --disabled-password --shell /bin/false "elasticsearch"
-            [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+            adduser --quiet --system --no-create-home --ingroup "elasticsearch" --disabled-password --shell /bin/false "elasticsearch"
         else
-            run useradd --system -M --gid "elasticsearch" --shell /sbin/nologin --comment "elasticsearch user" "elasticsearch"
-            [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+            useradd --system -M --gid "elasticsearch" --shell /sbin/nologin --comment "elasticsearch user" "elasticsearch"
         fi
     fi
 
-    run chown -R elasticsearch:elasticsearch "$eshome/elasticsearch"
-    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    chown -R elasticsearch:elasticsearch "$eshome/elasticsearch"
 }
 
 
@@ -354,11 +347,12 @@ clean_before_test() {
 }
 
 start_elasticsearch_service() {
-
     if [ -f "/tmp/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch" ]; then
-        run /bin/su -s /bin/sh -c '/tmp/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch -d -p /tmp/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.pid' elasticsearch
-        [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
-
+        # su and the Elasticsearch init script work together to break bats.
+        # sudo isolates bats enough from the init script so everything continues
+        # to tick along
+        sudo -u elasticsearch /tmp/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch -d \
+            -p /tmp/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.pid
     elif is_systemd; then
         run systemctl daemon-reload
         [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
@@ -383,9 +377,8 @@ start_elasticsearch_service() {
         pid=$(cat /tmp/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.pid)
         [ "x$pid" != "x" ] && [ "$pid" -gt 0 ]
 
-        run  ps $pid
-        [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
-
+        echo "Looking for elasticsearch pid...."
+        ps $pid
     elif is_systemd; then
         run systemctl is-active elasticsearch.service
         [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
@@ -400,14 +393,11 @@ start_elasticsearch_service() {
 }
 
 stop_elasticsearch_service() {
-
     if [ -r "/tmp/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.pid" ]; then
         pid=$(cat /tmp/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.pid)
         [ "x$pid" != "x" ] && [ "$pid" -gt 0 ]
 
-        run kill -SIGTERM $pid
-        [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
-
+        kill -SIGTERM $pid
     elif is_systemd; then
         run systemctl stop elasticsearch.service
         [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
@@ -428,36 +418,63 @@ stop_elasticsearch_service() {
 
 # Waits for Elasticsearch to reach a given status (defaults to "green")
 wait_for_elasticsearch_status() {
-    local status="green"
+    local desired_status="green"
     if [ "x$1" != "x" ]; then
         status="$1"
     fi
 
-    # Try to connect to elasticsearch and wait for expected status
-    wget --quiet --retry-connrefused --waitretry=1 --timeout=60 \
-         --output-document=/dev/null "http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health?wait_for_status=$status&timeout=60s" || true
+    echo "Making sure elasticsearch is up..."
+    wget -O - --retry-connrefused --waitretry=1 --timeout=60 http://localhost:9200 || {
+          echo "Looks like elasticsearch never started. Here is its log:"
+          if [ -r "/tmp/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.pid" ]; then
+              cat /tmp/elasticsearch/log/elasticsearch.log
+          else
+              if [ -e '/var/log/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.log' ]; then
+                  cat /var/log/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.log
+              else
+                  echo "The elasticsearch log doesn't exist. Maybe /vag/log/messages has something:"
+                  tail -n20 /var/log/messages
+              fi
+          fi
+          false
+    }
 
-    # Checks the cluster health
-    curl -XGET 'http://localhost:9200/_cat/health?h=status&v=false'
-    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
-        echo "error when checking cluster health" >&2
-        exit 1
+    echo "Tring to connect to elasticsearch and wait for expected status..."
+    curl -sS "http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health?wait_for_status=$desired_status&timeout=60s&pretty"
+    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
+        echo "Connected"
+    else
+        echo "Unable to connect to Elastisearch"
+        false
     fi
+
+    echo "Checking that the cluster health matches the waited for status..."
+    run curl -sS -XGET 'http://localhost:9200/_cat/health?h=status&v=false'
+    if [ "$status" -ne 0 ]; then
+        echo "error when checking cluster health. code=$status output="
+        echo $output
+        false
+    fi
+    echo $output | grep $desired_status || {
+        echo "unexpected status:  '$output' wanted '$desired_status'"
+        false
+    }
 }
 
 # Executes some very basic Elasticsearch tests
 run_elasticsearch_tests() {
+    # TODO this assertion is the same the one made when waiting for
+    # elasticsearch to start
     run curl -XGET 'http://localhost:9200/_cat/health?h=status&v=false'
     [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
     echo "$output" | grep -w "green"
 
-    run curl -XPOST 'http://localhost:9200/library/book/1?refresh=true' -d '{"title": "Elasticsearch - The Definitive Guide"}' 2>&1
-    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    curl -s -XPOST 'http://localhost:9200/library/book/1?refresh=true&pretty' -d '{
+      "title": "Elasticsearch - The Definitive Guide"
+    }'
 
-    run curl -XGET 'http://localhost:9200/_cat/count?h=count&v=false'
-    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
-    echo "$output" | grep -w "1"
+    curl -s -XGET 'http://localhost:9200/_cat/count?h=count&v=false&pretty' |
+      grep -w "1"
 
-    run curl -XDELETE 'http://localhost:9200/_all'
-    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    curl -s -XDELETE 'http://localhost:9200/_all'
 }