diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 8e179dca80f..5bedb38e464 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -2,21 +2,19 @@ import org.apache.tools.ant.filters.ReplaceTokens
 
 buildscript {
     repositories {
+        maven { url "https://repo.grails.org/grails/core" }
         jcenter()
     }
     dependencies {
         classpath "commons-io:commons-io:2.2"
         classpath "com.jfrog.bintray.gradle:gradle-bintray-plugin:1.1"
+        classpath "com.netflix.nebula:gradle-extra-configurations-plugin:2.2.0"
         classpath "com.github.adrianbk:gradle-travisci-trigger-plugin:1.0.0"
     }
 }
 
 apply plugin: 'idea'
 
-ext.optionalDeps = []
-ext.providedDeps = []
-
-ext.provided = { providedDeps << it }
 ext {
     bintrayPublish = false
     grailsVersion = '3.0.0.BUILD-SNAPSHOT'
@@ -51,6 +49,7 @@ ext {
     cglibVersion = "2.2.2"
     objenesisVersion = "1.4"
     tomcatVersion = "7.0.55"
+    servletApiVersion = "3.0.1"
 
     isJava8Compatible = org.gradle.api.JavaVersion.current().isJava8Compatible()
 }
@@ -152,11 +151,28 @@ subprojects { project ->
     apply plugin: 'eclipse'
     apply plugin: 'idea'
     apply plugin: 'project-report'
+    apply plugin: 'provided-base'
+    apply plugin: 'optional-base'
 
     sourceCompatibility = "1.7"
     targetCompatibility = "1.7"
 
+    if(project.name =~ /^(grails-web|grails-plugin-|grails-project-api|grails-test-suite|grails-test)/) {
+        dependencies {
+            provided "javax.servlet:javax.servlet-api:$servletApiVersion"
+            // MockHttpServletRequest/Response/Context used in many classes
+            provided("org.springframework:spring-test:${springVersion}") {
+                exclude group: 'commons-logging', module:'commons-logging'
+            }
+        }
+    }
 
+    if(project.name =~ /^(grails-plugin-datasource|grails-test-suite)/) {
+        dependencies {
+            provided 'hsqldb:hsqldb:1.8.0.10'
+            provided 'com.h2database:h2:1.3.176'
+        }
+    }
 
     jar{
         manifest.mainAttributes(
@@ -340,20 +356,6 @@ subprojects { project ->
 
                     pom.withXml {
                         def xml = asNode()
-                        // respect 'optional' and 'provided' dependencies
-                        optionalDeps.each { dep ->
-                            xml.dependencies.find { it.artifactId == dep.name }?.optional = true
-                        }
-                        providedDeps.each { dep ->
-                            xml.dependencies.find { it.artifactId == dep.name }?.scope = 'provided'
-
-                        }
-
-                        configurations.runtime.allDependencies.each { dependency ->
-                            if (dependency.hasProperty("notInPom") && dependency.notInPom) {
-                                xml.dependencies.removeAll { it.groupId == dependency.group && it.artifactId == dependency.name }
-                            }
-                        }
 
                         xml.children().last() + {
                             delegate.name 'Grails'
@@ -374,8 +376,6 @@ subprojects { project ->
                                 delegate.developerConnection 'scm:git@github.com:grails/grails-core.git'
                             }
 
-
-
                             delegate.developers {
                                 delegate.developer {
                                     delegate.id 'graemerocher'
@@ -386,8 +386,8 @@ subprojects { project ->
                                     delegate.name 'Jeff Brown'
                                 }
                                 delegate.developer {
-                                    delegate.id 'burtbeckwith'
-                                    delegate.name 'Burt Beckwith'
+                                    delegate.id 'lhotari'
+                                    delegate.name 'Lari Hotari'
                                 }
                             }
 
@@ -478,4 +478,4 @@ tciTrigger {
 task wrapper(type: Wrapper) {
     gradleVersion = '2.3'
     jarFile = 'gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar'
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/grails-core/build.gradle b/grails-core/build.gradle
index 84606c98ff6..2b8547198e0 100644
--- a/grails-core/build.gradle
+++ b/grails-core/build.gradle
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-configurations {
-    optional
-}
 dependencies {
     compile 'org.hibernate.javax.persistence:hibernate-jpa-2.1-api:1.0.0.Final'
     compile( "com.googlecode.concurrentlinkedhashmap:concurrentlinkedhashmap-lru:${concurrentlinkedhashmapVersion}" ) {
@@ -19,9 +16,8 @@ dependencies {
     compile("org.springframework:spring-context:${springVersion}") {
         exclude group: 'commons-logging', module:'commons-logging'
     }
-    compile("org.springframework:spring-test:${springVersion}") {
+    provided("org.springframework:spring-test:${springVersion}") {
         exclude group: 'commons-logging', module:'commons-logging'
-        ext.notInPom = true
     }
 
     // Used by Spring AOP
@@ -32,9 +28,7 @@ dependencies {
         exclude group: 'xml-apis', module:'xml-apis'
     }
 
-    optional ("org.springframework:springloaded:$springLoadedVersion")
-
-
+    provided ("org.springframework:springloaded:$springLoadedVersion")
 
     compile project(":grails-bootstrap"), {
         exclude group:"org.fusesource.jansi", module:"jansi"
@@ -60,26 +54,16 @@ dependencies {
 
     // These dependencies are not required, but due to a Groovy compiler bug they are loaded by Groovy and hence
     // have to be on the path for compilation even though they shouldn't be
-    optional "org.apache.ant:ant:${antVersion}"
-    optional "jline:jline:$jlineVersion"
-    optional "org.fusesource.jansi:jansi:$jansiVersion"
-    optional("org.codehaus.gant:gant_groovy1.8:${gantVersion}") {
+    provided "org.apache.ant:ant:${antVersion}"
+    provided "jline:jline:$jlineVersion"
+    provided "org.fusesource.jansi:jansi:$jansiVersion"
+    provided("org.codehaus.gant:gant_groovy1.8:${gantVersion}") {
         exclude group:'commons-cli', module:'commons-cli'
         exclude group:'org.apache.ant', module:'ant'
     }
 
 }
 
-sourceSets {
-    main {
-        compileClasspath += files(configurations.optional)
-    }
-    test {
-        compileClasspath += files(configurations.optional)
-        runtimeClasspath += files(configurations.optional)
-    }
-}
-javadoc.classpath += files(configurations.optional)
 compileGroovy.doFirst {
     delete("${buildDir}/classes/main/META-INF")
     ant.mkdir(dir:sourceSets.main.output.classesDir)
diff --git a/grails-plugin-async/build.gradle b/grails-plugin-async/build.gradle
index 9e56f5428d4..25e6368b1a6 100644
--- a/grails-plugin-async/build.gradle
+++ b/grails-plugin-async/build.gradle
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 dependencies {
-    compile 'javax.servlet:javax.servlet-api:3.0.1', provided
-    compile 'javax:javaee-web-api:6.0', provided
+    provided "javax.servlet:javax.servlet-api:$servletApiVersion"
+    provided 'javax:javaee-web-api:6.0'
     compile project(':grails-plugin-controllers'), project(':grails-plugin-events')
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/grails-plugin-converters/build.gradle b/grails-plugin-converters/build.gradle
index ef922a412eb..921ab953844 100644
--- a/grails-plugin-converters/build.gradle
+++ b/grails-plugin-converters/build.gradle
@@ -3,4 +3,5 @@ dependencies {
 
     compile project(":grails-web"),
             project(':grails-plugin-domain-class')
+    provided project(":grails-async")
 }
diff --git a/grails-plugin-datasource/build.gradle b/grails-plugin-datasource/build.gradle
index 6de9aa78d06..86de82982ec 100644
--- a/grails-plugin-datasource/build.gradle
+++ b/grails-plugin-datasource/build.gradle
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-configurations {
-    optional
-}
 dependencies {
     compile("org.springframework:spring-jdbc:${springVersion}") {
         exclude group: 'commons-logging', module:'commons-logging'
@@ -15,20 +12,5 @@ dependencies {
     compile "org.apache.tomcat:tomcat-jdbc:$tomcatVersion"
     runtime "org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-logging-log4j:$tomcatVersion"
 
-    optional 'hsqldb:hsqldb:1.8.0.10'
-
-    optional 'com.h2database:h2:1.3.176'
-
     compile project(":grails-core")
 }
-
-sourceSets {
-    main {
-        compileClasspath += files(configurations.optional)
-    }
-    test {
-        compileClasspath += files(configurations.optional)
-        runtimeClasspath += files(configurations.optional)
-    }
-}
-javadoc.classpath += files(configurations.optional)
diff --git a/grails-plugin-domain-class/build.gradle b/grails-plugin-domain-class/build.gradle
index ba190fb0f11..4fce04e154e 100644
--- a/grails-plugin-domain-class/build.gradle
+++ b/grails-plugin-domain-class/build.gradle
@@ -2,9 +2,7 @@ dependencies {
 
     compile project(":grails-core"), project(":grails-spring"), project(":grails-validation")
 
-    compile project(":grails-async"), {
-        ext.notInPom = true
-    }
+    provided project(":grails-async")
 
     // Datastore APIs
     compile("org.grails:grails-datastore-gorm:$datastoreVersion") {
diff --git a/grails-plugin-domain-class/src/main/groovy/org/grails/plugins/domain/DomainClassPluginSupport.groovy b/grails-plugin-domain-class/src/main/groovy/org/grails/plugins/domain/DomainClassPluginSupport.groovy
index 38395522a4e..903515c2688 100644
--- a/grails-plugin-domain-class/src/main/groovy/org/grails/plugins/domain/DomainClassPluginSupport.groovy
+++ b/grails-plugin-domain-class/src/main/groovy/org/grails/plugins/domain/DomainClassPluginSupport.groovy
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ class DomainClassPluginSupport {
             return true
         }
 
-        def constraints = object.constraints
+        def constraints = object.getConstraints()
         if (constraints) {
             for (prop in constraints.values()) {
                 prop.messageSource = ctx.getBean("messageSource")
diff --git a/grails-plugin-testing/build.gradle b/grails-plugin-testing/build.gradle
index 71700ff83ca..28f36f088c9 100644
--- a/grails-plugin-testing/build.gradle
+++ b/grails-plugin-testing/build.gradle
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ dependencies {
     }
 
     runtime "cglib:cglib:${cglibVersion}"
+
+    provided "org.apache.ant:ant:${antVersion}"
 }
 
 eclipse {
@@ -44,4 +46,3 @@ eclipse {
        }
     }
 }
-
diff --git a/grails-plugin-url-mappings/build.gradle b/grails-plugin-url-mappings/build.gradle
index 993915092e1..9c89f3ebf07 100644
--- a/grails-plugin-url-mappings/build.gradle
+++ b/grails-plugin-url-mappings/build.gradle
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-configurations {
-    optional
-}
 dependencies {
     compile "commons-lang:commons-lang:$commonsLangVersion"
     compile( "com.googlecode.concurrentlinkedhashmap:concurrentlinkedhashmap-lru:${concurrentlinkedhashmapVersion}" ) {
@@ -8,13 +5,5 @@ dependencies {
     }
 
     compile project(":grails-web"), project(":grails-plugin-controllers"), project(":grails-validation")
-    optional "junit:junit:${junitVersion}"
+    provided "junit:junit:${junitVersion}"
 }
-sourceSets {
-    main {
-        compileClasspath += files(configurations.optional)
-    }
-    test {
-        runtimeClasspath += files(configurations.optional)
-    }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/grails-test/build.gradle b/grails-test/build.gradle
index ed38e698161..b0a6d3825cd 100644
--- a/grails-test/build.gradle
+++ b/grails-test/build.gradle
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-configurations {
-    optional
-}
 dependencies {
 
     compile "org.springframework:spring-tx:${springVersion}"
@@ -15,37 +12,23 @@ dependencies {
     compile "junit:junit:${junitVersion}", {
         exclude group:'org.hamcrest', module: 'hamcrest-core'
     }
-    compile("org.spockframework:spock-core:${spockVersion}") {
+        compile("org.spockframework:spock-core:${spockVersion}") {
         transitive = false
         exclude group:'junit', module: 'junit-dep'
         exclude group:'org.codehaus.groovy', module: 'groovy-all'
     }
 
-    // needed for Spock
-    compile 'org.objenesis:objenesis:1.4'
-
     compile project(":grails-plugin-converters"), project(":grails-plugin-mimetypes")
     compile project(":grails-web")
 
     // command line requirements
-    optional  "jline:jline:$jlineVersion"
-    optional "org.fusesource.jansi:jansi:$jansiVersion"
+    provided  "jline:jline:$jlineVersion"
+    provided "org.fusesource.jansi:jansi:$jansiVersion"
 
     // Ant
-    optional "org.apache.ant:ant:${antVersion}"
-    optional "org.apache.ant:ant-junit:${antVersion}"
+    provided "org.apache.ant:ant:${antVersion}"
+    provided "org.apache.ant:ant-junit:${antVersion}"
 
     // needed for Spock
     compile "org.objenesis:objenesis:${objenesisVersion}"
 }
-
-sourceSets {
-    main {
-        compileClasspath += files(configurations.optional)
-    }
-    test {
-        compileClasspath += files(configurations.optional)
-        runtimeClasspath += files(configurations.optional)
-    }
-}
-javadoc.classpath += files(configurations.optional)
diff --git a/grails-web-common/build.gradle b/grails-web-common/build.gradle
index 05d31c31d7c..31939a15550 100644
--- a/grails-web-common/build.gradle
+++ b/grails-web-common/build.gradle
@@ -7,9 +7,8 @@ dependencies {
     compile project(":grails-gsp")
 
     compile "org.codehaus.groovy:groovy-templates:$groovyVersion"
-    compile 'javax.servlet:javax.servlet-api:3.0.1', provided
 
     compile "org.springframework:spring-webmvc:${springVersion}"
     compile "org.springframework:spring-context-support:${springVersion}"
     compile 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.2.4'
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/grails-web-gsp/build.gradle b/grails-web-gsp/build.gradle
index df2d10fa677..d3a59485f6f 100644
--- a/grails-web-gsp/build.gradle
+++ b/grails-web-gsp/build.gradle
@@ -1,8 +1,3 @@
-configurations {
-    optional
-}
-
-
 dependencies {
     compile( project(":grails-gsp") )
     compile( project(":grails-web-common") )
@@ -16,13 +11,5 @@ dependencies {
 //    }
 
     testRuntime( project(":grails-spring") )
-    optional "org.apache.ant:ant:${antVersion}"
+    provided "org.apache.ant:ant:${antVersion}"
 }
-
-sourceSets {
-    main {
-        compileClasspath += files(configurations.optional)
-    }
-}
-
-javadoc.classpath += files(configurations.optional)
diff --git a/grails-web-url-mappings/build.gradle b/grails-web-url-mappings/build.gradle
index aba1a985c72..186c80c7bfa 100644
--- a/grails-web-url-mappings/build.gradle
+++ b/grails-web-url-mappings/build.gradle
@@ -1,11 +1,7 @@
-configurations {
-    optional
-}
 dependencies {
     compile project(":grails-web-common"),
             project(":grails-validation")
 
-    compile 'javax.servlet:javax.servlet-api:3.0.1', provided
     compile("org.grails:grails-datastore-core:$datastoreVersion") {
         exclude group: 'org.springframework', module:'spring-core'
         exclude group: 'org.springframework', module:'spring-context'
@@ -30,14 +26,6 @@ dependencies {
         exclude group: 'commons-logging', module:'commons-logging'
     }
 
-    optional "org.fusesource.jansi:jansi:$jansiVersion"
-    optional "jline:jline:$jlineVersion"
+    provided "org.fusesource.jansi:jansi:$jansiVersion"
+    provided "jline:jline:$jlineVersion"
 }
-sourceSets {
-    main {
-        compileClasspath += files(configurations.optional)
-    }
-    test {
-        runtimeClasspath += files(configurations.optional)
-    }
-}
\ No newline at end of file