diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 646048b1..e548c0b8 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ for detailed view of each issue, please consult http://issues.apache.org/jira/br
  	Maarteen Coene
  	Xavier Hanin
  	Gilles Scokart
- 
+  
  Contributors
  	Ingo Adler
 	Stephane Bailliez
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ for detailed view of each issue, please consult http://issues.apache.org/jira/br
 	Geoff Reedy
 	Christian Riege
 	Andreas Sahlbach
+	Adrian Sandor 	
 	Ruslan Shevchenko
 	John Shields
 	Johan Stuyts
@@ -73,7 +74,7 @@ for detailed view of each issue, please consult http://issues.apache.org/jira/br
 - IMPROVEMENT: Make IBiblio resolver compatible with maven proxy (IVY-466)
 - IMPROVEMENT: Use namespace aware validation (IVY-553)
 - IMPROVEMENT: use ModuleRevisionId instead of ModuleId in IvySettings#getResolver (IVY-691)
-- IMPROVEMENT: Flexible cache management (IVY-399 - not completed yet)
+- IMPROVEMENT: Flexible cache management (IVY-399) (With contribution of Adrian Sandor)
 - IMPROVEMENT: Decrease memory footprint (IVY-662)
 - IMPROVEMENT: Downgrade Ant version requirement to 1.6 to build Ivy (IVY-687)
 - IMPROVEMENT: In the ResolveReport class, add the possibility to filter the evicted module while getting the list of DownloadArtifact (IVY-704) (thanks to Nicolas Lalevée)
diff --git a/doc/configuration/caches.html b/doc/configuration/caches.html
index 0c8a8412..dc11aa2a 100644
--- a/doc/configuration/caches.html
+++ b/doc/configuration/caches.html
@@ -27,14 +27,20 @@
 	<textarea id="xooki-source">
 <b>Tag:</b> caches
 
-Defines the list of available repository cache instances. <span class="since">since 2.0</span>.
+Configures the Ivy cache system. <span class="since">since 2.0</span>.
+See <a href="../concept.html#cache">cache concept</a> for details on the Ivy cache concept.
 
-By default, Ivy defines one repository cache instance, called 'default-cache', and using the defaults cache settings defined using attributes on this tag. This default instance is defined as long as you don't define your own default cache using the 'default' attribute, and have at least one dependency resolver which doesn't specify which cache instance to use.
+By default, Ivy defines one repository cache instance, called 'default-cache', which uses the default cache settings defined using attributes on this tag. This default instance is defined as long as you don't define your own default cache using the 'default' attribute, and have at least one dependency resolver which doesn't specify which cache instance to use.
 
-Since repository cache implementation are pluggable, you can either define new cache instances based on the default implementation provided in Ivy using the cache child element, or use custom cache implementations using child elements as you have defined using [[configuration/typedef]].
+<em>defaultCacheDir</em> is the default directory used for both the resolution and repository cache(s). It usually points to a directory in your filesystem. If you want to isolate resolution cache from repository cache, we recommend setting both the resolutionCacheDir and repositoryCacheDir attributes on this tag instead of using defaultCacheDir.
+
+Since repository cache implementations are pluggable, you can either define new cache instances based on the default implementation provided in Ivy using the [[configuration/caches/cache]] child element, or use custom cache implementations using child elements as you have defined using [[configuration/typedef]].
 
 <em>ivyPattern</em> and <em>artifactPattern</em> are used to configure the default way Ivy stores ivy files and artifacts in repository cache(s). Usually you do not have to change this, unless you want to use the cache directly from another tool, which is not recommended. These patterns are relative to the repository cache base directory.
 
+<em>checkUpToDate</em> indicates to ivy if it must check date of artifacts before retrieving them (i.e. copying them from
+cache to another place in your filesystem). Usually it is a good thing to check date to avoid unnecessary copy, even if it's most of the time a local copy.
+
 <h1>Attributes</h1>
 <table class="ivy-attributes">
 <thead>
@@ -43,13 +49,20 @@ Since repository cache implementation are pluggable, you can either define new c
 <tbody>
     <tr><td>default</td><td>the name of the default cache to use on all resolvers not defining the cache instance to use</td>
         <td>No, defaults to a default cache manager instance named 'default-cache'</td></tr>
-    <tr><td>basedir</td><td>the path of the default directory to use to put repository cache data. <strong>This should not point to a directory used as a repository!</strong></td>
-        <td>No, defaults to defaultCache defined in [[configuration/conf]]</td></tr>
+    <tr><td>defaultCacheDir</td><td>a path to a directory to use as default basedir for both resolution and repository cache(s)</td>
+        <td>No, defaults to .ivy2/cache in the user's home directory</td></tr>
+    <tr><td>resolutionCacheDir</td><td>the path of the directory to use for all resolution cache data</td>
+        <td>No, defaults to defaultCacheDir</td></tr>
+    <tr><td>repositoryCacheDir</td><td>the path of the default directory to use for repository cache data. <strong>This should not point to a directory used as a repository!</strong></td>
+        <td>No, defaults to defaultCacheDir</td></tr>
     <tr><td>ivyPattern</td><td>default pattern used to indicate where ivy files should be put in the repository cache(s)</td>
         <td>No, defaults to [organisation]/[module]/ivy-[revision].xml</td></tr>
-    <tr><td>artifactPattern</td><td>default pattern used to indicate where artifact files should be put in repository cache(s)</td>
+    <tr><td>artifactPattern</td><td>default pattern used to indicate where artifact files should be put in the repository cache(s)</td>
         <td>No, defaults to [organisation]/[module]/[type]s/[artifact]-[revision].[ext]</td></tr>
-    <tr><td>useOrigin</td><td>the default value to use for useOrigin for caches in which it isn't specifically defined</td>
+    <tr><td>checkUpToDate</td><td>Indicates if date should be checked before retrieving artifacts from cache</td>
+        <td>No, defaults to true</td></tr>
+    <tr><td>useOrigin</td><td>the default value to use for useOrigin for caches in which it isn't specifically defined.
+    	Use true to avoid the copy of local artifacts to the cache and use directly their original location.</td>
         <td>No, defaults to false</td></tr>
     <tr><td>lockStragegy</td><td>the name of the default [[configuration/lock-strategies lock strategy]] to use when accessing repository cache(s)</td>
         <td>No, defaults to <em>no-lock</em></td></tr>
@@ -63,8 +76,6 @@ Since repository cache implementation are pluggable, you can either define new c
 <tbody>
     <tr><td><a href="caches/cache.html">cache</a></td><td>defines a new repository cache instance, based on the default repository cache implementation</td>
         <td>0..n</td></tr>
-    <tr><td><em>any cache</em></td><td>defines a new repository cache instance</td>
-        <td>0..n</td></tr>
 </tbody>
 </table>
 <h1>Examples</h1>
diff --git a/doc/configuration/caches/cache.html b/doc/configuration/caches/cache.html
index d2835921..56cea831 100644
--- a/doc/configuration/caches/cache.html
+++ b/doc/configuration/caches/cache.html
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ The default repository cache implementation caches files on the local filesystem
     <tr><td>name</td><td>name of the cache instance</td>
         <td>Yes</td></tr>
     <tr><td>basedir</td><td>the path of the base directory to use to put repository cache data. <strong>This should not point to a directory used as a repository!</strong></td>
-        <td>No, defaults to basedir defined in [[configuration/caches]]</td></tr>
+        <td>No, defaults to repositoryCacheDir defined in [[configuration/caches]]</td></tr>
     <tr><td>ivyPattern</td><td>the pattern to use to store cached ivy files</td>
         <td>No, defaults to default cache ivy pattern as configured in [[configuration/caches]]</td></tr>
     <tr><td>artifactPattern</td><td>the pattern to use to store cached artifacts</td>
diff --git a/doc/configuration/conf.html b/doc/configuration/conf.html
index 0d554169..82329e4a 100644
--- a/doc/configuration/conf.html
+++ b/doc/configuration/conf.html
@@ -27,22 +27,16 @@
 	<textarea id="xooki-source">
 <b>Tag:</b> settings
 
-Configures some important ivy info: default cache, default resolver, ...
+Configures some important ivy info: default resolver, latest strategy, conflict manager...
 
-Default cache is the default directory used for both the resolution and repository cache(s). It usually points to a directory in your filesystem. If you want to isolate resolution cache from repository cache, we recommend setting both the resolutionCacheDir attribute on this tag and the basedir attribute on [[configuration/caches]] instead of using defaultCache.
-See [[concept cache concept]] for details on Ivy cache concept.
-
-Default resolver is used whenever nothing else is configured in the modules section of the configuration file. It should give the name of a dependency resolver defined in the resolvers section of the configuration file.
+Default resolver is used whenever nothing else is configured in the modules section of the settings file. It should give the name of a dependency resolver defined in the [[configuration/resolvers]] section of the settings file.
 
 Default latest strategy and conflict manager can also be configured here.
 
-validate indicates if ivy files should generally be validate against xsd or not. This setting is only a default value, and can be overriden :
+<em>validate</em> indicates if ivy files should generally be validated against the xsd or not. This setting is only a default value, and can be overridden:
 1) in ant tasks
 2) in resolvers
-So if there is a setting in the resolver, it always win against all other settings.
-
-checkUpToDate indicates to ivy if it must check date of artifacts before retrieving them (i.e. copying them from
-cache to another place in your filesystem). Usually it is a good thing to check date to avoid unnecessary copy, even if it's most of the time a local copy.
+So if there is a setting in the resolver, it always wins against all other settings.
 
 <h1>Attributes</h1>
 <table class="ivy-attributes">
@@ -50,10 +44,6 @@ cache to another place in your filesystem). Usually it is a good thing to check
     <tr><th class="ivy-att">Attribute</th><th class="ivy-att-desc">Description</th><th class="ivy-att-req">Required</th></tr>
 </thead>
 <tbody>
-    <tr><td>defaultCache</td><td>a path to a directory to use as default basedir for both resolution and repository cache(s)</td>
-        <td>No, defaults to .ivy2/cache in user home</td></tr>
-    <tr><td>resolutionCacheDir</td><td>the path of the directory to use to put all resolution cache data <span class="since">since 2.0</span></td>
-        <td>No, defaults to defaultCache</td></tr>
     <tr><td>defaultResolver</td><td>the name of the default resolver to use</td>
         <td>No, but all modules should be configured in the modules section if not provided</td></tr>
     <tr><td>defaultLatestStrategy</td><td>the name of the default latest strategy to use</td>
@@ -66,14 +56,20 @@ cache to another place in your filesystem). Usually it is a good thing to check
         <td>No, defaults to warn</td></tr>
     <tr><td>validate</td><td>Indicates if ivy files should be validated against ivy.xsd or not.</td>
         <td>No, defaults to true</td></tr>
-    <tr><td>checkUpToDate</td><td>Indicates if date should be checked before retrieving artifacts from cache</td>
-        <td>No, defaults to true</td></tr>
-    <tr><td>cacheIvyPattern</td><td>a pattern to indicate where ivy files should be put in cache. <i>We recommend using the repositoryIvyPattern on the [[configuration/cache]] tag instead</i></td>
-        <td>No, defaults to [organisation]/[module]/ivy-[revision].xml</td></tr>
-    <tr><td>cacheArtifactPattern</td><td>a pattern to indicate where artifact files should be put in cache. <i>We recommend using the repositoryArtifactPattern on the [[configuration/cache]] tag instead</i></td>
-        <td>No, defaults to [organisation]/[module]/[type]s/[artifact]-[revision].[ext]</td></tr>
     <tr><td>useRemoteConfig</td><td>true to configure ivyrep and ibiblio resolver from a remote configuration file (updated with changes in those repository structure if any) (<span class="since">since 1.2</span>)</td>
         <td>No, defaults to false</td></tr>
+    <tr><td><s>defaultCache</s></td><td>a path to a directory to use as default basedir for both resolution and repository cache(s).
+	    <i>Deprecated, we recommend using defaultCacheDir on the [[configuration/caches]] tag instead</i></td>
+        <td>No, defaults to .ivy2/cache in user home</td></tr>
+    <tr><td><s>checkUpToDate</s></td><td>Indicates if date should be checked before retrieving artifacts from cache.
+    	<i>Deprecated, we recommend using checkUpToDate on the [[configuration/caches]] tag instead</i></td>
+        <td>No, defaults to true</td></tr>
+    <tr><td><s>cacheIvyPattern</s></td><td>a pattern to indicate where ivy files should be put in cache.
+    	<i>Deprecated, we recommend using ivyPattern on the [[configuration/caches]] tag instead</i></td>
+        <td>No, defaults to [organisation]/[module]/ivy-[revision].xml</td></tr>
+    <tr><td><s>cacheArtifactPattern</s></td><td>a pattern to indicate where artifact files should be put in cache.
+    	<i>Deprecated, we recommend using artifactPattern on the [[configuration/caches]] tag instead</i></td>
+        <td>No, defaults to [organisation]/[module]/[type]s/[artifact]-[revision].[ext]</td></tr>
 </tbody>
 </table>
 </textarea>
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/ivy/core/settings/XmlSettingsParser.java b/src/java/org/apache/ivy/core/settings/XmlSettingsParser.java
index 59d56b0c..ee115335 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/ivy/core/settings/XmlSettingsParser.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/ivy/core/settings/XmlSettingsParser.java
@@ -287,6 +287,8 @@ public class XmlSettingsParser extends DefaultHandler {
                 }
                 String cache = (String) attributes.get("defaultCache");
                 if (cache != null) {
+                    Message.deprecated("'defaultCache' is deprecated, "
+                        + "use 'caches[@defaultCacheDir]' instead (" + settings + ")");
                     ivy.setDefaultCache(new File(cache));
                 }
                 String defaultBranch = (String) attributes.get("defaultBranch");
@@ -299,6 +301,8 @@ public class XmlSettingsParser extends DefaultHandler {
                 }
                 String up2d = (String) attributes.get("checkUpToDate");
                 if (up2d != null) {
+                    Message.deprecated("'checkUpToDate' is deprecated, "
+                        + "use 'caches[@checkUpToDate]' instead (" + settings + ")");
                     ivy.setCheckUpToDate(Boolean.valueOf(up2d).booleanValue());
                 }
                 String useRemoteConfig = (String) attributes.get("useRemoteConfig");
@@ -306,10 +310,6 @@ public class XmlSettingsParser extends DefaultHandler {
                     ivy.setUseRemoteConfig(Boolean.valueOf(useRemoteConfig)
                             .booleanValue());
                 }
-                String resolutionDir = (String) attributes.get("resolutionCacheDir");
-                if (resolutionDir != null) {
-                    ivy.setDefaultResolutionCacheBasedir(resolutionDir);
-                }
                 String cacheIvyPattern = (String) attributes.get("cacheIvyPattern");
                 if (cacheIvyPattern != null) {
                     Message.deprecated(
@@ -337,6 +337,18 @@ public class XmlSettingsParser extends DefaultHandler {
                 defaultLock = (String) attributes.get("lockStrategy");
                 defaultCacheManager = (String) attributes.get("default");
                 
+                String cache = (String) attributes.get("defaultCacheDir");
+                if (cache != null) {
+                    ivy.setDefaultCache(new File(cache));
+                }
+                String up2d = (String) attributes.get("checkUpToDate");
+                if (up2d != null) {
+                    ivy.setCheckUpToDate(Boolean.valueOf(up2d).booleanValue());
+                }
+                String resolutionDir = (String) attributes.get("resolutionCacheDir");
+                if (resolutionDir != null) {
+                    ivy.setDefaultResolutionCacheBasedir(resolutionDir);
+                }
                 String useOrigin = (String) attributes.get("useOrigin");
                 if (useOrigin != null) {
                     ivy.setDefaultUseOrigin(Boolean.valueOf(useOrigin).booleanValue());
@@ -349,7 +361,7 @@ public class XmlSettingsParser extends DefaultHandler {
                 if (cacheArtPattern != null) {
                     ivy.setDefaultCacheArtifactPattern(cacheArtPattern);
                 }
-                String repositoryDir = (String) attributes.get("basedir");
+                String repositoryDir = (String) attributes.get("repositoryCacheDir");
                 if (repositoryDir != null) {
                     ivy.setDefaultRepositoryCacheBasedir(repositoryDir); 
                 }
diff --git a/test/java/org/apache/ivy/ant/ivysettings-cleancache.xml b/test/java/org/apache/ivy/ant/ivysettings-cleancache.xml
index 2e1dd292..22c4a5a4 100644
--- a/test/java/org/apache/ivy/ant/ivysettings-cleancache.xml
+++ b/test/java/org/apache/ivy/ant/ivysettings-cleancache.xml
@@ -17,10 +17,9 @@
    under the License.    
 -->
 <ivysettings>
-	<settings resolutionCacheDir="${cache}/resolution" />
-	<caches basedir="${cache}/repository">
+	<caches resolutionCacheDir="${cache}/resolution" repositoryCacheDir="${cache}/repository">
 		<cache name="mycache" />
-		<cache name="mycache2" 
+		<cache name="mycache2"
 				basedir="${cache}/repository2"
 		/>
 	</caches>
diff --git a/test/java/org/apache/ivy/core/settings/ivysettings-cache.xml b/test/java/org/apache/ivy/core/settings/ivysettings-cache.xml
index 5de6a1f2..c1b3b879 100644
--- a/test/java/org/apache/ivy/core/settings/ivysettings-cache.xml
+++ b/test/java/org/apache/ivy/core/settings/ivysettings-cache.xml
@@ -17,9 +17,8 @@
    under the License.    
 -->
 <ivysettings>
-	<settings resolutionCacheDir="resolution" />
-	<caches default="mycache2" 
-	        basedir="repository" 
+	<caches default="mycache2" resolutionCacheDir="resolution"
+	        repositoryCacheDir="repository" 
 	        ivyPattern="[module]/ivys/ivy-[revision].xml" 
 	        artifactPattern="[module]/[type]s/[artifact]-[revision].[ext]"
 	        useOrigin="true"
diff --git a/test/java/org/apache/ivy/core/settings/ivysettings-test.xml b/test/java/org/apache/ivy/core/settings/ivysettings-test.xml
index 1901d53c..b1c0ac62 100644
--- a/test/java/org/apache/ivy/core/settings/ivysettings-test.xml
+++ b/test/java/org/apache/ivy/core/settings/ivysettings-test.xml
@@ -19,12 +19,9 @@
 <ivysettings>
 	<property name="shared" value="sharedrep"/>
 	<properties file="test/java/org/apache/ivy/core/settings/ivysettings.properties"/>
-	<settings   defaultCache="mycache" 
-	        defaultResolver="libraries" 
-			validate="false"
-			checkUpToDate="false"
-			/>
-	<caches ivyPattern="[module]/ivys/ivy-[revision].xml" 
+	<settings defaultResolver="libraries" validate="false" />
+	<caches defaultCacheDir="mycache" checkUpToDate="false"
+			ivyPattern="[module]/ivys/ivy-[revision].xml" 
 			artifactPattern="[module]/[type]s/[artifact]-[revision].[ext]" />
 	<latest-strategies>
 	    <latest-revision name="mylatest-revision">
diff --git a/test/repositories/extra-attributes/ivysettings.xml b/test/repositories/extra-attributes/ivysettings.xml
index e421a953..89d13e98 100644
--- a/test/repositories/extra-attributes/ivysettings.xml
+++ b/test/repositories/extra-attributes/ivysettings.xml
@@ -17,11 +17,8 @@
    under the License.    
 -->
 <ivysettings>
-   <settings 
-     defaultCache="${ivy.settings.dir}/cache" 
-	 defaultResolver="default" 
-	 />
-   <caches      
+   <settings defaultResolver="default" />
+   <caches defaultCacheDir="${ivy.settings.dir}/cache" 
    	 ivyPattern="[organisation]/[module]/[eatt]/[revision]/ivy.xml"
      artifactPattern="[organisation]/[module]/[eatt]/[revision]/[artifact]-[platform].[ext]"
    />
diff --git a/test/repositories/ivysettings-multicache.xml b/test/repositories/ivysettings-multicache.xml
index 98e45c33..4be83264 100644
--- a/test/repositories/ivysettings-multicache.xml
+++ b/test/repositories/ivysettings-multicache.xml
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@
 -->
 <ivysettings>
 	<properties file="${ivy.settings.dir}/ivysettings.properties" />
-	<settings defaultResolver="test" resolutionCacheDir="${cache.dir}/wkspace"/>
-	<caches basedir="${cache.dir}/repo1"  
+	<settings defaultResolver="test"/>
+	<caches resolutionCacheDir="${cache.dir}/wkspace" repositoryCacheDir="${cache.dir}/repo1"  
 	        ivyPattern="[module]/ivy-[revision].xml">
 		
 		<cache name="cache2" basedir="${cache.dir}/repo2"