diff --git a/checkstyle.xml b/checkstyle.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9b4b0c27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/checkstyle.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<!DOCTYPE module PUBLIC
+    "-//Puppy Crawl//DTD Check Configuration 1.1//EN"
+    "http://www.puppycrawl.com/dtds/configuration_1_1.dtd">
+
+<!--
+  Checkstyle checks configured for Maven.
+-->
+
+<module name="Checker">
+
+    <!-- Checks that a package.html file exists for each package.     -->
+    <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_javadoc.html#PackageHtml -->
+    <module name="PackageHtml"/>
+
+    <!-- Checks whether files end with a new line.                        -->
+    <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_misc.html#NewlineAtEndOfFile -->
+    <module name="NewlineAtEndOfFile"/>
+
+    <!-- Checks that property files contain the same keys.         -->
+    <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_misc.html#Translation -->
+    <module name="Translation"/>
+
+    <module name="TreeWalker">
+
+        <property name="cacheFile" value="${checkstyle.cache.file}"/>
+
+        <!-- ************************************************************** -->
+        <!-- Checks that are different from the sun coding conventions ones -->
+        <!-- ************************************************************** -->
+        <module name="Header">
+            <property name="headerFile" value="${maven.checkstyle.header.file}"/>
+            <property name="ignoreLines" value="1,2,3,4,5,6"/>
+        </module>
+        <property name="tabWidth" value="4"/>
+        <module name="LeftCurly">
+          <property name="option" value="nl"/>
+        </module>
+        <module name="RightCurly">
+          <property name="option" value="alone"/>
+        </module>
+        <module name="LineLength">
+          <property name="max" value="132"/>
+        </module>
+        <module name="MethodLength">
+          <property name="max" value="175"/>
+        </module>
+        <!-- No Paren pad check
+        <module name="ParenPad"/>
+        -->
+        <module name="ConstantName">
+          <property name="format" value="log|^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_]*$"/>
+        </module>
+        
+        <!-- ************************************************************** -->
+        <!-- Default Sun coding conventions checks                          -->
+        <!-- ************************************************************** -->
+
+        <!-- Checks for Javadoc comments.                     -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_javadoc.html -->
+        <module name="JavadocMethod"/>
+        <module name="JavadocType"/>
+        <module name="JavadocVariable"/>
+
+
+        <!-- Checks for Naming Conventions.                  -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_naming.html -->
+        <module name="LocalFinalVariableName"/>
+        <module name="LocalVariableName"/>
+        <module name="MethodName"/>
+        <module name="PackageName"/>
+        <module name="ParameterName"/>
+        <module name="StaticVariableName"/>
+        <module name="TypeName"/>
+        <module name="MemberName"/>
+
+        <!-- Checks for imports                              -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_import.html -->
+        <module name="AvoidStarImport"/>
+        <module name="IllegalImport"/> <!-- defaults to sun.* packages -->
+        <module name="RedundantImport"/>
+        <module name="UnusedImports"/>
+
+
+        <!-- Checks for Size Violations.                    -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_sizes.html -->
+        <module name="FileLength"/>
+        <module name="ParameterNumber"/>
+
+
+        <!-- Checks for whitespace                               -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_whitespace.html -->
+        <module name="EmptyForIteratorPad"/>
+        <module name="NoWhitespaceAfter"/>
+        <module name="NoWhitespaceBefore"/>
+        <module name="OperatorWrap"/>
+        <module name="TabCharacter"/>
+        <module name="WhitespaceAfter"/>
+        <module name="WhitespaceAround"/>
+
+
+        <!-- Modifier Checks                                    -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_modifiers.html -->
+        <module name="ModifierOrder"/>
+        <module name="RedundantModifier"/>
+
+
+        <!-- Checks for blocks. You know, those {}'s         -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_blocks.html -->
+        <module name="AvoidNestedBlocks"/>
+        <module name="EmptyBlock"/>
+        
+        <module name="NeedBraces"/>
+
+
+        <!-- Checks for common coding problems               -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_coding.html -->
+        <module name="AvoidInlineConditionals"/>
+        <module name="DoubleCheckedLocking"/>    <!-- MY FAVOURITE -->
+        <module name="EmptyStatement"/>
+        <module name="EqualsHashCode"/>
+        <module name="HiddenField"/>
+        <module name="IllegalInstantiation"/>
+        <module name="InnerAssignment"/>
+        <module name="MagicNumber"/>
+        <module name="MissingSwitchDefault"/>
+        <!--<module name="RedundantThrows"/>-->
+        <module name="SimplifyBooleanExpression"/>
+        <module name="SimplifyBooleanReturn"/>
+
+        <!-- Checks for class design                         -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_design.html -->
+        <!--<module name="DesignForExtension"/>-->
+        <module name="FinalClass"/>
+        <module name="HideUtilityClassConstructor"/>
+        <module name="InterfaceIsType"/>
+        <module name="VisibilityModifier"/>
+
+
+        <!-- Miscellaneous other checks.                   -->
+        <!-- See http://checkstyle.sf.net/config_misc.html -->
+        <module name="ArrayTypeStyle"/>
+        <!-- <module name="FinalParameters"/> -->
+        <module name="GenericIllegalRegexp">
+            <property name="format" value="\s+$"/>
+            <property name="message" value="Line has trailing spaces."/>
+        </module>
+        <module name="TodoComment"/>
+        <module name="UpperEll"/>
+
+    </module>
+
+</module>