diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/doc/DocsTestPlugin.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/doc/DocsTestPlugin.groovy
index ce76ad5d28f..a0ce24e45c7 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/doc/DocsTestPlugin.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/doc/DocsTestPlugin.groovy
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ package org.elasticsearch.gradle.doc
 
 import org.elasticsearch.gradle.Version
 import org.elasticsearch.gradle.VersionProperties
+import org.elasticsearch.gradle.test.ClusterFormationTasks
 import org.elasticsearch.gradle.test.RestTestPlugin
 import org.gradle.api.Project
 import org.gradle.api.Task
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ public class DocsTestPlugin extends RestTestPlugin {
             '\\{version_qualified\\}': VersionProperties.elasticsearch,
             '\\{lucene_version\\}' : VersionProperties.lucene.replaceAll('-snapshot-\\w+$', ''),
             '\\{build_flavor\\}' : project.integTestCluster.distribution,
+            '\\{build_type\\}' : ClusterFormationTasks.getOs().equals("windows") ? "zip" : "tar",
         ]
         Task listSnippets = project.tasks.create('listSnippets', SnippetsTask)
         listSnippets.group 'Docs'
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
index 7a0a7d9436e..e750385a669 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
         }
         setup = configureCheckPreviousTask(taskName(prefix, node, 'checkPrevious'), project, setup, node)
         setup = configureStopTask(taskName(prefix, node, 'stopPrevious'), project, setup, node)
-        setup = configureExtractTask(taskName(prefix, node, 'extract'), project, setup, node, distribution)
+        setup = configureExtractTask(taskName(prefix, node, 'extract'), project, setup, node, distribution, config.distribution)
         setup = configureWriteConfigTask(taskName(prefix, node, 'configure'), project, setup, node, writeConfig)
         setup = configureCreateKeystoreTask(taskName(prefix, node, 'createKeystore'), project, setup, node)
         setup = configureAddKeystoreSettingTasks(prefix, project, setup, node)
@@ -343,14 +343,15 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
     }
 
     /** Adds a task to extract the elasticsearch distribution */
-    static Task configureExtractTask(String name, Project project, Task setup, NodeInfo node, Configuration configuration) {
+    static Task configureExtractTask(String name, Project project, Task setup, NodeInfo node,
+                                     Configuration configuration, String distribution) {
         List extractDependsOn = [configuration, setup]
         /* configuration.singleFile will be an external artifact if this is being run by a plugin not living in the
           elasticsearch source tree. If this is a plugin built in the elasticsearch source tree or this is a distro in
           the elasticsearch source tree then this should be the version of elasticsearch built by the source tree.
           If it isn't then Bad Things(TM) will happen. */
         Task extract = project.tasks.create(name: name, type: Copy, dependsOn: extractDependsOn) {
-            if (getOs().equals("windows")) {
+            if (getOs().equals("windows") || distribution.equals("integ-test-zip") || node.nodeVersion.before("7.0.0")) {
                 from {
                     project.zipTree(configuration.singleFile)
                 }
@@ -971,9 +972,9 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
     /** Find the current OS */
     static String getOs() {
         String os = "linux"
-        if (Os.FAMILY_WINDOWS) {
+        if (Os.isFamily(Os.FAMILY_WINDOWS)) {
             os = "windows"
-        } else if (Os.FAMILY_MAC) {
+        } else if (Os.isFamily(Os.FAMILY_MAC)) {
             os = "darwin"
         }
         return os
diff --git a/docs/Versions.asciidoc b/docs/Versions.asciidoc
index 0ca2bcf0be2..f1c93cdf88f 100644
--- a/docs/Versions.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/Versions.asciidoc
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 :jdk:                   1.8.0_131
 :jdk_major:             8
 :build_flavor:          default
+:build_type:            tar
 
 //////////
 release-state can be: released | prerelease | unreleased
diff --git a/docs/plugins/discovery-azure-classic.asciidoc b/docs/plugins/discovery-azure-classic.asciidoc
index 61161836e1a..d1088a764e7 100644
--- a/docs/plugins/discovery-azure-classic.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/plugins/discovery-azure-classic.asciidoc
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@ This command should give you a JSON result:
   "version" : {
     "number" : "{version_qualified}",
     "build_flavor" : "{build_flavor}",
-    "build_type" : "zip",
+    "build_type" : "{build_type}",
     "build_hash" : "f27399d",
     "build_date" : "2016-03-30T09:51:41.449Z",
     "build_snapshot" : false,
diff --git a/docs/reference/cluster/nodes-info.asciidoc b/docs/reference/cluster/nodes-info.asciidoc
index 9d53c8715d5..c51167ca9f9 100644
--- a/docs/reference/cluster/nodes-info.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/cluster/nodes-info.asciidoc
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ The result will look similar to:
       "ip": "192.168.17",
       "version": "{version}",
       "build_flavor": "{build_flavor}",
-      "build_type": "zip",
+      "build_type": "{build_type}",
       "build_hash": "587409e",
       "roles": [
         "master",
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ The result will look similar to:
       "ip": "192.168.17",
       "version": "{version}",
       "build_flavor": "{build_flavor}",
-      "build_type": "zip",
+      "build_type": "{build_type}",
       "build_hash": "587409e",
       "roles": [],
       "attributes": {},
diff --git a/docs/reference/setup/install/check-running.asciidoc b/docs/reference/setup/install/check-running.asciidoc
index 150252ecc5d..6a9bab2ae09 100644
--- a/docs/reference/setup/install/check-running.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/setup/install/check-running.asciidoc
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ which should give you a response something like this:
   "version" : {
     "number" : "{version_qualified}",
     "build_flavor" : "{build_flavor}",
-    "build_type" : "zip",
+    "build_type" : "{build_type}",
     "build_hash" : "f27399d",
     "build_date" : "2016-03-30T09:51:41.449Z",
     "build_snapshot" : false,