diff --git a/jar/plugin.properties b/jar/plugin.properties
index 835f903e..cc400958 100644
--- a/jar/plugin.properties
+++ b/jar/plugin.properties
@@ -24,4 +24,3 @@ maven.jar.manifest.extensions.add=false
 maven.jar.excludes = **/package.html
 maven.jar.index=false
 maven.jar.compress=true
-maven.remote.group=maven
diff --git a/jar/xdocs/changes.xml b/jar/xdocs/changes.xml
index 63eed261..0045a2e7 100644
--- a/jar/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/jar/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
   </properties>
   <body>
     <release version="1.5-SNAPSHOT" date="in CVS">
+      <action dev="brett" type="fix">move maven.remote.group to default.properties</action>
       <action dev="brett" type="fix" issue="MPJAR-22" due-to="Corey Jewett">improve manifest generation</action>
       <action dev="brett" type="fix" issue="MPJAR-17">revert maven.final.name to previuous value after executing jar:snapshot related goals.</action>
     </release>
diff --git a/repository/plugin.jelly b/repository/plugin.jelly
index 7489a9f7..7b7c1bca 100644
--- a/repository/plugin.jelly
+++ b/repository/plugin.jelly
@@ -87,6 +87,8 @@
       <!-- copy the license --> 
       <j:set var="directory" value="${maven.repo.central.directory}/${groupId}/licenses/" />
       <repository:copy from="${localFileName}" toFileOrDir="${directory}" />
+
+      <repository:setGroup var="group" />
          
       <!-- set permissions -->
       <echo>Setting permissions and group ownership in ${directory}'</echo>
@@ -95,10 +97,23 @@
         rm ${groupId}.license;
         ln -s ${fileName} ${groupId}.license;
         chmod -R g+w,a+r ${fileName};
-        chgrp -R ${maven.repository.group} *;
+        chgrp -R ${group} *;
       </repository:exec>
     </define:tag>
 
+    <!--
+     ! Get the remote group into a variable from a property.
+     ! This can be removed and inlined once maven.repository.group is removed.
+     ! @param var the variable to place the filename into
+     !-->
+    <define:tag name="setGroup">
+      <j:set var="${var}" value="${maven.remote.group}" scope="parent" />
+      <j:if test="${context.getVariable('maven.repository.group') != null}">
+        <ant:echo>DEPRECATED: please use maven.remote.group instead of maven.repository.group</ant:echo>
+        <j:set var="${var}" value="${maven.repository.group}" scope="parent" />
+      </j:if>
+    </define:tag>
+
     <!--
      ! place the file name portion of a url into a variable
      ! @param url the URL to process
@@ -180,8 +195,9 @@
         <j:set var="directory" 
           value="${maven.repo.central.directory}/${group.text}/${directoryName}" />
         <echo>Ensuring directory '${directory}' exists</echo>
+        <repository:setGroup var="group" />
         <repository:exec 
-          command="mkdir -p ${directory};chmod g+ws ${directory};chgrp ${maven.repository.group} ${directory};" />
+          command="mkdir -p ${directory};chmod g+ws ${directory};chgrp ${group} ${directory};" />
       </j:if>
     </x:forEach>
   </goal>
@@ -322,10 +338,11 @@
 
     <maven:param-check value="${groupId}" fail="true" message="'groupId' must be specified"/>
 
+    <repository:setGroup var="group" />
     <repository:exec>
       cd ${maven.repo.central.directory};
       mkdir ${groupId};
-      chgrp ${maven.repository.group} ${groupId};
+      chgrp ${group} ${groupId};
       chmod g+s ${groupId};
       mkdir ${groupId}/distributions;
       mkdir ${groupId}/jars;
@@ -373,12 +390,13 @@
     <j:set var="artifactName">${artifactFile.canonicalFile.name}</j:set>
 
     <echo>Setting up SNAPSHOT entries</echo>
+    <repository:setGroup var="group" />
     <repository:exec>
       cd ${directory};
       ln -sf ${artifactName} ${artifactId}-SNAPSHOT.jar;
       ln -sf ${artifactName}.md5 ${artifactId}-SNAPSHOT.jar.md5;
       echo ${snapshotVersion} | tee ${artifactId}-snapshot-version;
-      chgrp ${maven.repository.group} ${artifactId}-SNAPSHOT.jar*;
+      chgrp ${group} ${artifactId}-SNAPSHOT.jar*;
       chmod g+w,a+r ${artifactId}-SNAPSHOT.jar*;
     </repository:exec>
   </goal>
@@ -408,7 +426,8 @@
     <maven:param-check value="${type}" fail="true" message="'type' must be specified" />
 
     <j:set var="directory" value="${maven.repo.central.directory}/${groupId}/${type}s/" />
-    <repository:exec command="mkdir -p ${directory}; chmod g+ws ${directory}; chgrp ${maven.repository.group} ${directory}"/>
+    <repository:setGroup var="group" />
+    <repository:exec command="mkdir -p ${directory}; chmod g+ws ${directory}; chgrp ${group} ${directory}"/>
     <repository:copy from="${artifact}" toFileOrDir="${directory}" />
 
     <u:file name="${artifact}" var="artifactFile"/>
@@ -417,7 +436,7 @@
     <repository:exec>
       cd ${directory};
       md5sum ${artifactName} | sed 's/ .*$//' | tee ${artifactName}.md5;
-      chgrp ${maven.repository.group} *;
+      chgrp ${group} *;
       chmod g+w,a+r *;
     </repository:exec>
   </goal>
diff --git a/repository/plugin.properties b/repository/plugin.properties
deleted file mode 100644
index d8635f57..00000000
--- a/repository/plugin.properties
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
-# -------------------------------------------------------------------
-# 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.
-# -------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-# -------------------------------------------------------------------
-# P L U G I N  P R O P E R I E S
-# -------------------------------------------------------------------
-maven.repository.group=maven
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/repository/xdocs/changes.xml b/repository/xdocs/changes.xml
index 229b0ee5..f3017abe 100644
--- a/repository/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/repository/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@
     <author email="dion@apache.org">dIon Gillard</author>
   </properties>
   <body>
+    <release version="1.2-SNAPSHOT" date="in CVS">
+      <action dev="brett" issue="MPREPO-5" type="update">Deprecate maven.repository.group, use maven.remote.group instead</action>
+    </release>
     <release version="1.1" date="2004-03-11"></release>
     <release version="1.0" date="2003-09-29">
       <action dev="dion" type="add">Added repository:copy-jar</action>