diff --git a/eclipse/plugin.jelly b/eclipse/plugin.jelly
index 2ee1281e..1f3b9683 100644
--- a/eclipse/plugin.jelly
+++ b/eclipse/plugin.jelly
@@ -17,9 +17,14 @@
   */
 -->
 <project xmlns:j="jelly:core" xmlns:ant="jelly:ant" xmlns:util="jelly:util" xmlns:define="jelly:define"
-  xmlns:maven="jelly:maven">
+  xmlns:maven="jelly:maven" xmlns:eclipse="eclipse">
+
+    <define:taglib uri="eclipse">
+      <define:jellybean
+        name="download-sources"
+        className="org.apache.maven.eclipse.JavaSourcesDownloader"
+        method="downloadJavaSources"/>
 
-  <define:taglib uri="eclipse">
     <define:tag name="write-classpath-entry">
       <maven:param-check value="${groupId}" fail="true" message="'groupId' must be specified" />
       <maven:param-check value="${artifactId}" fail="true" message="'artifactId' must be specified" />
@@ -30,6 +35,17 @@
       <j:if test='${relativePathCheck == "X"}'>
         <j:set var="relativePath" value="${groupId}/jars/${artifactId}-${version}.jar" />
       </j:if>
+
+      <!-- download the source from the remote repository if necessary -->
+      <j:if test="${maven.eclipse.src.download}">
+        <eclipse:download-sources
+          project="${pom}"
+          groupId="${groupId}"
+          artifactId="${artifactId}"
+          version="${version}"
+        />
+      </j:if>
+
       <!--
         should be (m1 repo layout):
         ${groupId}/java-sources/${artifactId}-${version}-sources.jar
diff --git a/eclipse/plugin.properties b/eclipse/plugin.properties
index 5132e264..27f35807 100644
--- a/eclipse/plugin.properties
+++ b/eclipse/plugin.properties
@@ -26,5 +26,6 @@
 maven.eclipse.goals = plugins
 maven.gen.src=${maven.build.dir}/generated-sources
 maven.eclipse.src.extension = zip
+maven.eclipse.src.download = true
 maven.eclipse.resources.addtoclasspath=false
 maven.eclipse.servletapilist=javax.servlet:servlet-api,servletapi:servletapi,geronimo-spec:geronimo-spec-servlet
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/eclipse/project.xml b/eclipse/project.xml
index 9f050f19..a8fb9211 100644
--- a/eclipse/project.xml
+++ b/eclipse/project.xml
@@ -116,5 +116,47 @@
       </roles>
       <timezone>+1</timezone>
     </developer>
+    <developer>
+      <name>Stephane Nicoll</name>
+      <id>snicoll</id>
+      <email>snicoll@apache.org</email>
+      <organization>ASF</organization>
+      <roles>
+        <role>Java Developer</role>
+      </roles>
+      <timezone>+1</timezone>
+    </developer>
   </developers>
+  <dependencies>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>maven</groupId>
+      <artifactId>maven</artifactId>
+      <version>1.0.2</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
+      <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
+      <version>1.0.4</version>
+      <properties>
+        <comment>This library is already loaded by maven's core. Be careful to use the same version number as in the core.</comment>
+      </properties>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>commons-lang</groupId>
+      <artifactId>commons-lang</artifactId>
+      <version>2.0</version>
+      <type>jar</type>
+      <properties>
+        <comment>This library is already loaded by maven's core. Be careful to use the same version number as in the core.</comment>
+      </properties>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>commons-jelly</groupId>
+      <artifactId>commons-jelly</artifactId>
+      <version>1.0</version>
+      <properties>
+        <comment>This library is already loaded by maven's core. Be careful to use the same version number as in the core.</comment>
+      </properties>
+    </dependency>
+  </dependencies>
 </project>
diff --git a/eclipse/src/main/org/maven/eclipse/JavaSourcesDownloader.java b/eclipse/src/main/org/maven/eclipse/JavaSourcesDownloader.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1522b180
--- /dev/null
+++ b/eclipse/src/main/org/maven/eclipse/JavaSourcesDownloader.java
@@ -0,0 +1,279 @@
+package org.apache.maven.eclipse;
+
+import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+import org.apache.maven.AbstractMavenComponent;
+import org.apache.maven.MavenConstants;
+import org.apache.maven.project.Dependency;
+import org.apache.maven.project.Project;
+import org.apache.maven.util.HttpUtils;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+
+/* ====================================================================
+ *   Copyright 2001-2004 The Apache Software Foundation.
+ *
+ *   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ *   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ *   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ *   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ *   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ *   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ *   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ *   limitations under the License.
+ * ====================================================================
+ */
+
+/**
+ * An helper class used to download java sources archives.
+ *
+ * @author <a href="snicoll@apache.org">Stephane Nicoll</a>
+ * @version $Id$
+ */
+public class JavaSourcesDownloader
+    extends AbstractMavenComponent
+{
+    private static final Log log = LogFactory.getLog( JavaSourcesDownloader.class );
+
+    private Project project;
+
+    private String groupId;
+
+    private String artifactId;
+
+    private String version;
+
+
+    public void downloadJavaSources()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        if (project == null) {
+            throw new NullPointerException("project should be set.");
+        }
+
+        if (groupId == null) {
+            throw new NullPointerException("groupId should be set.");
+        }
+
+        if (artifactId == null) {
+            throw new NullPointerException("artifactId should be set.");
+        }
+
+        if (version == null) {
+            throw new NullPointerException("version should be set.");
+        }
+
+        final String dependencyId = groupId + ":" + artifactId;
+        Dependency dependency = project.getDependency( dependencyId );
+        if ( dependency == null )
+        {
+            log.warn("Could not retrieve dependency object for[" + dependencyId + "] - skipping" );
+            return;
+        }
+
+        String relativePath = buildRelativePath();
+        File localFile = new File( project.getContext().getMavenRepoLocal(), relativePath );
+        if ( isSnapshot() )
+        {
+            getRemoteArtifact( localFile, relativePath, dependency );
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            if ( localFile.exists() )
+            {
+                log.debug( "source for[" + groupId + ":" + artifactId + ":" + version +
+                    "] is available in the local repository." );
+                return;
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                // download it
+                getRemoteArtifact( localFile, relativePath, dependency );
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private String buildRelativePath()
+    {
+        StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
+        sb.append( groupId ).append( "/java-sources/" ).append( artifactId ).append( "-" ).append( version ).append(
+            "-sources.jar" );
+        return sb.toString();
+    }
+
+    private boolean isSnapshot()
+    {
+        return version.endsWith( "SNAPSHOT" );
+    }
+
+    // Getters & Setters
+
+
+    public Project getProject()
+    {
+        return project;
+    }
+
+    public void setProject( final Project project )
+    {
+        this.project = project;
+    }
+
+    public String getGroupId()
+    {
+        return groupId;
+    }
+
+    public void setGroupId( final String groupId )
+    {
+        this.groupId = groupId;
+    }
+
+    public String getArtifactId()
+    {
+        return artifactId;
+    }
+
+    public void setArtifactId( final String artifactId )
+    {
+        this.artifactId = artifactId;
+    }
+
+    public String getVersion()
+    {
+        return version;
+    }
+
+    public void setVersion( final String version )
+    {
+        this.version = version;
+    }
+
+    // Taken from maven core code in order to mimic the current behavior
+
+    /**
+     * Retrieve a <code>remoteFile</code> from the maven remote repositories
+     * and store it at <code>destinationFile</code>
+     *
+     * @param destinationFile the destination file in the local repository
+     * @param relativePath    the relative path to the dependency
+     * @return true if the retrieval succeeds, false otherwise.
+     */
+    private boolean getRemoteArtifact( File destinationFile, String relativePath, Dependency relatedDependency )
+    {
+
+        // The directory structure for the project this dependency belongs to
+        // may not exists so attempt to create the project directory structure
+        // before attempting to download the dependency.
+        File directory = destinationFile.getParentFile();
+
+        if ( !directory.exists() )
+        {
+            directory.mkdirs();
+        }
+
+        log.info( "Attempting to download sources for " + relatedDependency.getArtifact());
+
+        boolean artifactFound = false;
+
+        for ( Iterator i = getProject().getContext().getMavenRepoRemote().iterator(); i.hasNext(); )
+        {
+            String remoteRepo = (String) i.next();
+
+            if ( remoteRepo.endsWith( "/" ) )
+            {
+                remoteRepo = remoteRepo.substring( 0, remoteRepo.length() - 1 );
+            }
+
+            // The username and password parameters are not being
+            // used here. Those are the "" parameters you see below.
+            String url = remoteRepo + "/" + relativePath;
+            url = StringUtils.replace( url, "//", "/" );
+
+            if ( !url.startsWith( "file" ) )
+            {
+                if ( url.startsWith( "https" ) )
+                {
+                    url = StringUtils.replace( url, "https:/", "https://" );
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    url = StringUtils.replace( url, "http:/", "http://" );
+                }
+            }
+            log.debug("Trying to download source at " + url);
+
+            // Attempt to retrieve the artifact and set the checksum if retrieval
+            // of the checksum file was successful.
+            try
+            {
+                String loginHost = (String) getProject().getContext().getVariable( MavenConstants.PROXY_LOGINHOST );
+                String loginDomain = (String) getProject().getContext().getVariable( MavenConstants.PROXY_LOGINDOMAIN );
+                String meterType = (String) getProject().getContext().getVariable( MavenConstants.DOWNLOAD_METER );
+                if ( meterType != null )
+                {
+                    HttpUtils.setMeterType( meterType );
+                }
+                HttpUtils.getFile( url, destinationFile, false, true, getProject().getContext().getProxyHost(),
+                                   getProject().getContext().getProxyPort(),
+                                   getProject().getContext().getProxyUserName(),
+                                   getProject().getContext().getProxyPassword(), loginHost, loginDomain, true );
+
+                // Artifact was found, continue checking additional remote repos (if any)
+                // in case there is a newer version (i.e. snapshots) in another repo
+                artifactFound = true;                
+
+                if ( !isSnapshot() )
+                {
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+            catch ( FileNotFoundException e )
+            {
+                // Multiple repositories may exist, and if the file is not found
+                // in just one of them, it's no problem, and we don't want to
+                // even print out an error.
+                // if it's not found at all, artifactFound will be false, and the
+                // build _will_ break, and the user will get an error message
+                log.debug( "File not found on one of the repos", e );
+            }
+            catch ( Exception e )
+            {
+                // If there are additional remote repos, then ignore exception
+                // as artifact may be found in another remote repo. If there
+                // are no more remote repos to check and the artifact wasn't found in
+                // a previous remote repo, then artifactFound is false indicating
+                // that the artifact could not be found in any of the remote repos
+                //
+                // arguably, we need to give the user better control (another command-
+                // line switch perhaps) of what to do in this case? Maven already has
+                // a command-line switch to work in offline mode, but what about when
+                // one of two or more remote repos is unavailable? There may be multiple
+                // remote repos for redundancy, in which case you probably want the build
+                // to continue. There may however be multiple remote repos because some
+                // artifacts are on one, and some are on another. In this case, you may
+                // want the build to break.
+                //
+                // print a warning, in any case, so user catches on to mistyped
+                // hostnames, or other snafus
+                // FIXME: localize this message
+                String[] parsedUrl = HttpUtils.parseUrl( url );
+                log.warn( "Error retrieving artifact from [" + parsedUrl[2] + "]: " + e );
+                if ( parsedUrl[0] != null )
+                {
+                    log.debug( "Username was '" + parsedUrl[0] + "', password hidden" );
+                }
+                log.debug( "Error details", e );
+            }
+        }
+
+        return artifactFound;
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/eclipse/xdocs/changes.xml b/eclipse/xdocs/changes.xml
index 67455fb9..41457e33 100644
--- a/eclipse/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/eclipse/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@
     <author email="dion@multitask.com.au">dIon Gillard</author>
   </properties>
   <body>
+    <release version="1.11" date="in SVN">
+      <action dev="snicoll" type="add" issue="MPECLIPSE-60">Now trying to download java sources archives from the remote repositories.</action>
+    </release>
     <release version="1.10" date="2005-12-03">
       <action dev="carlos" type="fix">Moved test classpath before main so test classpath resources override main ones</action>
       <action dev="epugh" type="fix" issue="MPECLIPSE-68">eclipse:add-maven-repo doesn't update correct Eclipse property file for Eclipse 3.x</action>
diff --git a/eclipse/xdocs/index.xml b/eclipse/xdocs/index.xml
index 9b8a3b2f..d5e71e71 100644
--- a/eclipse/xdocs/index.xml
+++ b/eclipse/xdocs/index.xml
@@ -75,14 +75,15 @@
       with debugging.
       </p>
       <p>
-      The plugin will check if the file located at <code>MAVEN_REPO${groupId}/java-sources/${artifactId}-${version}-sources.jar</code>
-      exists and will add it as a source attachment.
+      The plugin is able to download sources archive at <code>${groupId}/java-sources/${artifactId}-${version}-sources.jar</code>
+      from the repository. This behavior can be disabled by configuring the <code>maven.eclipse.src.download</code> property.
       As an example, the source archive for the dependency <code>MAVEN_REPO/eclipse/<em>jars</em>/eclipse-ui-3.0.0<em>.jar</em></code>
       will be mapped to <code>MAVEN_REPO/eclipse/<em>java-sources</em>/eclipse-ui-3.0.0<em>-sources.jar</em></code>
       </p>
       <p>
       For backward compatibility the plugin still accepts source archives located at
-      <code>MAVEN_REPO/${groupId}/src/${artifactId}-${version}.${maven.eclipse.src.extension}</code>.
+      <code>MAVEN_REPO/${groupId}/src/${artifactId}-${version}.${maven.eclipse.src.extension}</code> but it won't
+      download them from the repository.
       </p>
       </subsection>
       <subsection name="Generated Source Code">
diff --git a/eclipse/xdocs/properties.xml b/eclipse/xdocs/properties.xml
index 1ba479bb..5126201e 100644
--- a/eclipse/xdocs/properties.xml
+++ b/eclipse/xdocs/properties.xml
@@ -135,6 +135,14 @@
             <code>MAVEN_REPO${groupId}/java-sources/${artifactId}-${version}-sources.jar</code>
           </td>
         </tr>
+        <tr>
+          <td>maven.eclipse.src.downlad</td>
+          <td>Yes (default=<code>true</code>)</td>
+          <td>
+            Specify if java sources archives need to be downloaded from the configured
+            remote repositories. Defaults to true.
+          </td>
+        </tr>
       </table>
       <p>
         Note that you will need to defined a <code>MAVEN_REPO</code> Java