diff --git a/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.core/src/org/eclipse/rse/core/AbstractRSESystemType.java b/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.core/src/org/eclipse/rse/core/AbstractRSESystemType.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..41921552e32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.core/src/org/eclipse/rse/core/AbstractRSESystemType.java
@@ -0,0 +1,179 @@
+/********************************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2006, 2007 IBM Corporation and others. All rights reserved.
+ * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the terms
+ * of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 which accompanies this distribution, and is
+ * available at http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+ *
+ * Initial Contributors:
+ * The following IBM employees contributed to the Remote System Explorer
+ * component that contains this file: David McKnight, Kushal Munir,
+ * Michael Berger, David Dykstal, Phil Coulthard, Don Yantzi, Eric Simpson,
+ * Emily Bruner, Mazen Faraj, Adrian Storisteanu, Li Ding, and Kent Hawley.
+ *
+ * Contributors:
+ * Uwe Stieber (Wind River) - Dynamic system type provider extension.
+ * Martin Oberhuber (Wind River) - [184095] Replace systemTypeName by IRSESystemType
+ * Martin Oberhuber (Wind River) - [186640] Add IRSESystemType.testProperty() 
+ ********************************************************************************/
+package org.eclipse.rse.core;
+
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import org.eclipse.core.runtime.PlatformObject;
+import org.osgi.framework.Bundle;
+
+/**
+ * Abstract base class holding core functionality of a system type.
+ * 
+ * Extenders must override {@link IRSESystemType#getSubsystemConfigurationIds()}
+ * according to their strategy of finding subsystem configuration id's that
+ * match their system type.
+ * 
+ * Extenders may override any other method.
+ */
+public abstract class AbstractRSESystemType extends PlatformObject implements IRSESystemType {
+
+	protected String id = null;
+	protected String name = null;
+	protected String label = null;
+	protected String description = null;
+	protected Bundle definingBundle = null;
+	protected Map properties;
+	
+	/**
+	 * Default constructor.
+	 * Only subclasses may call this if set the id, name, label,
+	 * description and properties attributes themselves. 
+	 */
+	protected AbstractRSESystemType()
+	{
+		super();
+	}
+	
+	/**
+	 * Constructor for an object representing a system type.
+	 * @param id unique id of this system type. Must be system unique.
+	 * @param name a name of this system type to be used for internal checks.
+	 * @param label a user-visible label of this system type. 
+	 *     May be <code>null</code> and falls back to the name in this case.
+	 * @param description a user-visible description of this system type.
+	 *     May be <code>null</code> and falls back to the label in this case.
+	 */
+	public AbstractRSESystemType(String id, String name, String label, String description, Bundle definingBundle)
+	{
+		super();
+		this.id = id;
+		this.name = name;
+		this.label = label == null ? name : label;
+		this.description = description == null ? "" : description; //$NON-NLS-1$
+		this.definingBundle = definingBundle;
+		this.properties = new HashMap();
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Checks whether two system types are the same.
+	 * 
+	 * System types are considered the same if they have the same ID.
+	 */
+	public boolean equals(Object obj) {
+		if (obj instanceof IRSESystemType) {
+			return id.equals( ((IRSESystemType)obj).getId() );
+		}
+		return false;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns the hashCode for this system type.
+	 * 
+	 * The hashCode is the hashCode of its ID.
+	 */
+	public int hashCode() {
+		return id.hashCode();
+	}
+
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see org.eclipse.rse.core.IRSESystemType#getId()
+	 */
+	public String getId() {
+		return id;
+	}
+
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see org.eclipse.rse.core.IRSESystemType#getLabel()
+	 */
+	public String getLabel() {
+		// For default RSE system types, the UI label is equal to the
+		// name. Therefore, fallback to the name if the label is not
+		// explicitly set.
+		if (label == null) return getName();
+		return label;
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see org.eclipse.rse.core.IRSESystemType#getName()
+	 */
+	public String getName() {
+		return name;
+	}
+
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see org.eclipse.rse.core.IRSESystemType#getDescription()
+	 */
+	public String getDescription() {
+		return description;
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see org.eclipse.rse.core.IRSESystemType#getDefiningBundle()
+	 */
+	public Bundle getDefiningBundle() {
+		return definingBundle;
+	}
+	
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see org.eclipse.rse.core.IRSESystemType#getProperty(java.lang.String)
+	 */
+	public String getProperty(String key) {
+		return (String) (properties.get(key));
+	}
+
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see org.eclipse.rse.core.IRSESystemType#getProperty(java.lang.String, boolean)
+	 */
+	public boolean testProperty(String key, boolean defaultValue) {
+		Object val = properties.get(key);
+		if (val instanceof String) {
+			return Boolean.valueOf((String)val).booleanValue();
+		}
+		return defaultValue;
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see org.eclipse.rse.core.IRSESystemType#isLocal()
+	 */
+	public boolean isLocal() {
+		return IRSESystemType.SYSTEMTYPE_LOCAL_ID.equals(getId())
+		   || testProperty(IRSESystemType.PROPERTY_IS_LOCAL, true);
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see org.eclipse.rse.core.IRSESystemType#isLocal()
+	 */
+	public boolean isWindows() {
+		return IRSESystemType.SYSTEMTYPE_WINDOWS_ID.equals(getId())
+		   || (isLocal() && System.getProperty("os.name").toLowerCase().startsWith("win")) //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$
+		   || testProperty(IRSESystemType.PROPERTY_IS_WINDOWS, true);
+	}
+
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see java.lang.Object#toString()
+	 */
+	public String toString() {
+		return getLabel() + " (" + getId() + ")"; //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.core/src/org/eclipse/rse/core/IRSESystemType.java b/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.core/src/org/eclipse/rse/core/IRSESystemType.java
index e6ce8b7a5ad..28fba401f65 100644
--- a/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.core/src/org/eclipse/rse/core/IRSESystemType.java
+++ b/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.core/src/org/eclipse/rse/core/IRSESystemType.java
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
  * Contributors:
  * Uwe Stieber (Wind River) - Extended system type -> subsystemConfiguration association.
  * Martin Oberhuber (Wind River) - [185098] Provide constants for all well-known system types
- * Martin Oberhuber (Wind River) - [186640] Add IRSESystemTyep.isLocal() 
+ * Martin Oberhuber (Wind River) - [186640] Add IRSESystemType.testProperty() 
  ********************************************************************************/
 
 package org.eclipse.rse.core;
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import org.osgi.framework.Bundle;
  * These constants are kept in sync with definitions in plugin.xml.
  * 
  * This interface is not intended to be implemented directly by clients.
- * Clients should extend the abstract base class {@link RSESystemType} instead.
+ * Clients should extend the abstract base class {@link AbstractRSESystemType} instead.
  */
 public interface IRSESystemType extends IAdaptable {
 
@@ -147,6 +147,19 @@ public interface IRSESystemType extends IAdaptable {
 	/** Telnet Only system type, "org.eclipse.rse.systemtype.telnet". */
 	public static final String SYSTEMTYPE_TELNET_ONLY_ID = "org.eclipse.rse.systemtype.telnet"; //$NON-NLS-1$
 	
+	/** 
+	 * System type Property Key (value: "isLocal") indicating whether 
+	 * a system type is declared in plugin.xml to refers to the local
+	 * system.
+	 * On a the local system, the following properties are expected:
+	 * <ul>
+	 *   <li>Subsystem Queries are fast and safe.</li>
+	 *   <li>Files in the file system can be converted to java.io.File.</li>
+	 * </ul>
+	 * @see #testProperty(String, boolean)
+	 */
+	public static final String PROPERTY_IS_LOCAL = "isLocal"; //$NON-NLS-1$
+	
 	/** 
 	 * System type Property Key (value: "isWindows") indicating whether 
 	 * a system type is declared in plugin.xml to refers to a Windows
@@ -158,14 +171,14 @@ public interface IRSESystemType extends IAdaptable {
 	 *   <li>Symbolic links are not supported</li>
 	 *   <li>"cmd" is used as the default shell</li>
 	 * </ul>
-	 * @see #getProperty(String, boolean)
+	 * @see #testProperty(String, boolean)
 	 */
 	public static final String PROPERTY_IS_WINDOWS = "isWindows"; //$NON-NLS-1$
 	
 	/**
 	 * System type Property Key (value: "isCaseSensitive") indicating
 	 * whether a given system type is in general case sensitive.
-	 * @see #getProperty(String, boolean)
+	 * @see #testProperty(String, boolean)
 	 */
 	public static final String PROPERTY_IS_CASE_SENSITIVE = "isCaseSensitive"; //$NON-NLS-1$
 	
@@ -206,18 +219,26 @@ public interface IRSESystemType extends IAdaptable {
 	public String getProperty(String key);
 	
 	/**
-	 * Returns the boolean property of this system type with the given key.
-	 * The default value is returned if there is no such key.
+	 * Tests whether the given boolean property matches the expected value
+	 * for this system type.
 	 * 
 	 * @param key the name of the property to return
-	 * @param defaultValue the default value to expect if the property is not set
-	 * @return the boolean value associated with the given key or the specified default value
+	 * @param expectedValue the expected boolean value of the property.
+	 * @return <code>true</code> if the Property is set on the system type and
+	 *     matches the expected value. Returns <code>false</code> if the property
+	 *     is not set or does not match.
 	 */
-	public boolean getProperty(String key, boolean defaultValue);
+	public boolean testProperty(String key, boolean expectedValue);
 	
 	/**
 	 * Tests whether the system type refers to the local system.
-	 * This is a shortcut for getId().equals(SYSTEMTYPE_LOCAL_ID)
+	 * This is a shortcut for
+	 * <pre> 
+	 *   getId().equals(SYSTEMTYPE_LOCAL_ID) || 
+	 *   || getProperty(PROPERTY_IS_LOCAL, false)
+	 * </pre>
+	 * See {@link #PROPERTY_IS_LOCAL} for properties expected on 
+	 * a Local system.
 	 * Extenders (contributors of custom system types) may override.
 	 * @return true if the system type refers to the local system.
 	 */
@@ -227,9 +248,12 @@ public interface IRSESystemType extends IAdaptable {
 	 * Tests whether the system type refers to the Windows system.
 	 * This is a shortcut for
 	 * <pre> 
-	 *   getId().equals(SYSTEMTYPE_WINDOWS_ID) || 
-	 *   isLocal() && System.getProperty("os.name").toLowerCase().startsWith("win")
+	 *   getId().equals(SYSTEMTYPE_WINDOWS_ID)
+	 *   || isLocal() && System.getProperty("os.name").toLowerCase().startsWith("win")
+	 *   || getProperty(PROPERTY_IS_WINDOWS, false)
 	 * </pre>
+	 * See {@link #PROPERTY_IS_WINDOWS} for properties expected on 
+	 * a Windows system.
 	 * Extenders (contributors of custom system types) may override.
 	 * @return true if the system type refers to a Windows system.
 	 */