Index: tooling/karaf-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/karaf/tooling/features/CreateKarMojo.java
===================================================================
--- tooling/karaf-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/karaf/tooling/features/CreateKarMojo.java	(revision 1294725)
+++ tooling/karaf-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/karaf/tooling/features/CreateKarMojo.java	(working copy)
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.repository.metadata.SnapshotVersion;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.repository.metadata.Versioning;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.repository.metadata.io.xpp3.MetadataXpp3Writer;
+import org.apache.maven.artifact.resolver.ArtifactNotFoundException;
+import org.apache.maven.artifact.resolver.ArtifactResolutionException;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoFailureException;
 import org.codehaus.plexus.archiver.jar.JarArchiver;
@@ -47,7 +49,7 @@
 /**
  * assembles a kar archive
  *
- * @version $Revision: 1.1 $
+ * @version $Revision$
  * @goal features-create-kar
  * @phase package
  * @requiresDependencyResolution runtime
@@ -104,7 +106,7 @@
      *
      * @parameter default-value="${project.build.directory}/feature/feature.xml"
      */
-    private File featuresFile;
+    private String featuresFile;
 
 
     /**
@@ -113,16 +115,44 @@
      * @parameter default-value="${repositoryPath}"
      */
     private String repositoryPath = "repository/";
-
-
+    
     //
     // Mojo
     //
 
     public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException, MojoFailureException {
-        List<Artifact> resources = readResources();
+        File featuresFileResolved = new File(featuresFile);
+        String groupId = project.getGroupId();
+        String artifactId = project.getArtifactId();
+        String version = project.getVersion();
+        
+        if (isMavenUrl(featuresFile)) {
+          featuresFileResolved = new File(translateFromMaven(featuresFile).replace("file:///", ""));
+
+          Artifact artifactTemp = resourceToArtifact(featuresFile, false);
+
+          if (!featuresFileResolved.exists()) {
+            try {
+                resolver.resolve(artifactTemp, remoteRepos, localRepo);
+                featuresFileResolved = artifactTemp.getFile();
+            } catch (ArtifactResolutionException e) {
+              getLog().error("Artifact was not resolved", e);
+            } catch (ArtifactNotFoundException e) {
+              getLog().error("Artifact was not found", e);
+            }
+          } 
+          
+          if (artifactTemp.getGroupId() != null)
+            groupId = artifactTemp.getGroupId();
+          if (artifactTemp.getArtifactId() != null)
+            artifactId = artifactTemp.getArtifactId();
+          if (artifactTemp.getVersion() != null)
+            version = artifactTemp.getVersion();
+        }
+        
+        List<Artifact> resources = readResources(featuresFileResolved);
         // Build the archive
-        File archive = createArchive(resources);
+        File archive = createArchive(resources, featuresFileResolved, groupId, artifactId, version);
 
         // Attach the generated archive for install/deploy
         Artifact artifact = factory.createArtifact(project.getGroupId(), project.getArtifactId(), project.getVersion(), null, "kar");
@@ -137,14 +167,14 @@
      * @return
      * @throws MojoExecutionException
      */
-    private List<Artifact> readResources() throws MojoExecutionException {
+    private List<Artifact> readResources(File featuresFile) throws MojoExecutionException {
         List<Artifact> resources = new ArrayList<Artifact>();
         try {
             InputStream in = new FileInputStream(featuresFile);
             try {
                 Features features = JaxbUtil.unmarshal(in, false);
                 for (Feature feature : features.getFeature()) {
-                    for (BundleInfo bundle : feature.getBundles()) {
+                   for (BundleInfo bundle : feature.getBundles()) {
                         if (!bundle.isDependency()) {
                             resources.add(resourceToArtifact(bundle.getLocation(), false));
                         }
@@ -169,7 +199,7 @@
      *
      * @param bundles
      */
-    private File createArchive(List<Artifact> bundles) throws MojoExecutionException {
+    private File createArchive(List<Artifact> bundles, File featuresFile, String groupId, String artifactId, String version) throws MojoExecutionException {
         ArtifactRepositoryLayout layout = new DefaultRepositoryLayout();
         File archiveFile = getArchiveFile(outputDirectory, finalName, null);
 
@@ -196,7 +226,7 @@
 //            archive.addManifestEntry(Constants.BUNDLE_SYMBOLICNAME, project.getArtifactId());
 
             //include the feature.xml
-            Artifact featureArtifact = factory.createArtifactWithClassifier(project.getGroupId(), project.getArtifactId(), project.getVersion(), "xml", KarArtifactInstaller.FEATURE_CLASSIFIER);
+            Artifact featureArtifact = factory.createArtifactWithClassifier(groupId, artifactId, version, "xml", KarArtifactInstaller.FEATURE_CLASSIFIER);
             jarArchiver.addFile(featuresFile, repositoryPath + layout.pathOf(featureArtifact));
 
             if (featureArtifact.isSnapshot()) {
@@ -276,6 +306,16 @@
             throw new MojoExecutionException("Failed to create archive", e);
         }
     }
+    
+    protected static Boolean isMavenUrl(String uri) {
+      Boolean result = false;
+      
+      if (uri.startsWith("mvn:")) {
+        result = true;
+      }
+      
+      return result;
+    }
 
     protected static File getArchiveFile(final File basedir, final String finalName, String classifier) {
         if (classifier == null) {