diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/spring-batch-2.1.xsd b/spring-batch-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/spring-batch-2.1.xsd
index ab1874479..6deb50c1d 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/spring-batch-2.1.xsd
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/spring-batch-2.1.xsd
@@ -387,7 +387,16 @@ ref"							is not required, and only needs to be specified explicitly
 			<xsd:element name="description" type="description" minOccurs="0" />
 			<xsd:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1">
 				<xsd:choice>
-					<xsd:element name="tasklet" type="taskletType" />
+					<xsd:element name="tasklet" type="taskletType">
+						<xsd:annotation>
+							<xsd:documentation><![CDATA[
+							Declares the implementation of the Tasklet strategy indirectly
+							by configuring a chunk or directly by configuring a reference
+							to the Tasklet interface.
+							]]>
+							</xsd:documentation>
+						</xsd:annotation>
+					</xsd:element>
 					<!-- custom namespace tasklet declaration -->
 					<xsd:any namespace="##other" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" processContents="skip"/>
 				</xsd:choice>
@@ -542,7 +551,15 @@ ref"							is not required, and only needs to be specified explicitly
 
 	<xsd:complexType name="taskletType">
 		<xsd:all>
-			<xsd:element name="chunk" type="chunkTaskletType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
+			<xsd:element name="chunk" type="chunkTaskletType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1">
+				<xsd:annotation>
+					<xsd:documentation><![CDATA[
+					Declares that the owning Step will preform chunk oriented processing,
+					delegates what defines a chunk and configures the chunk oriented components.
+					]]>
+					</xsd:documentation>
+				</xsd:annotation>
+			</xsd:element>
 			<xsd:element name="transaction-attributes" type="transaction-attributesType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 			<xsd:element name="no-rollback-exception-classes" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1">
 				<xsd:annotation>
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/retry/policy/CompositeRetryPolicy.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/retry/policy/CompositeRetryPolicy.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..183c37347
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/retry/policy/CompositeRetryPolicy.java
@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2006-2007 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * 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.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.batch.retry.policy;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.springframework.batch.retry.RetryContext;
+import org.springframework.batch.retry.RetryPolicy;
+import org.springframework.batch.retry.context.RetryContextSupport;
+
+/**
+ * A {@link RetryPolicy} that composes a list of other policies and delegates
+ * calls to them in order.
+ * 
+ * @author Dave Syer
+ * @author Michael Minella
+ * 
+ */
+public class CompositeRetryPolicy implements RetryPolicy {
+
+	RetryPolicy[] policies = new RetryPolicy[0];
+	private boolean optimistic = false;
+
+	/**
+	 * Setter for the optimistic flag.
+	 * 
+	 * @param optimistic
+	 */
+	public void setOptimistic(boolean optimistic) {
+		this.optimistic = optimistic;
+	}
+	
+	/**
+	 * Setter for policies.
+	 * 
+	 * @param policies
+	 */
+	public void setPolicies(RetryPolicy[] policies) {
+		this.policies = Arrays.asList(policies).toArray(new RetryPolicy[policies.length]);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Delegate to the policies that were in operation when the context was
+	 * created. By default, if any of them cannot retry then return false, otherwise return
+	 * true.  If the optimistic flag has been set to true and any of them can retry
+	 * return true, otherwise return false.
+	 * 
+	 * @see org.springframework.batch.retry.RetryPolicy#canRetry(org.springframework.batch.retry.RetryContext)
+	 */
+	public boolean canRetry(RetryContext context) {
+		RetryContext[] contexts = ((CompositeRetryContext) context).contexts;
+		RetryPolicy[] policies = ((CompositeRetryContext) context).policies;
+		
+		boolean retryable = true;
+		
+		if(optimistic) {
+			retryable = false;
+			for (int i = 0; i < contexts.length; i++) {
+				if (policies[i].canRetry(contexts[i])) {
+					retryable = true;
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		else {
+			for (int i = 0; i < contexts.length; i++) {
+				if (!policies[i].canRetry(contexts[i])) {
+					retryable = false;
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		
+		return retryable;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Delegate to the policies that were in operation when the context was
+	 * created. If any of them fails to close the exception is propagated (and
+	 * those later in the chain are closed before re-throwing).
+	 * 
+	 * @see org.springframework.batch.retry.RetryPolicy#close(org.springframework.batch.retry.RetryContext)
+	 */
+	public void close(RetryContext context) {
+		RetryContext[] contexts = ((CompositeRetryContext) context).contexts;
+		RetryPolicy[] policies = ((CompositeRetryContext) context).policies;
+		RuntimeException exception = null;
+		for (int i = 0; i < contexts.length; i++) {
+			try {
+				policies[i].close(contexts[i]);
+			}
+			catch (RuntimeException e) {
+				if (exception == null) {
+					exception = e;
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		if (exception != null) {
+			throw exception;
+		}
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Creates a new context that copies the existing policies and keeps a list
+	 * of the contexts from each one.
+	 * 
+	 * @see org.springframework.batch.retry.RetryPolicy#open(RetryContext)
+	 */
+	public RetryContext open(RetryContext parent) {
+		List<RetryContext> list = new ArrayList<RetryContext>();
+		for (int i = 0; i < policies.length; i++) {
+			list.add(policies[i].open(parent));
+		}
+		return new CompositeRetryContext(parent, list);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Delegate to the policies that were in operation when the context was
+	 * created.
+	 * 
+	 * @see org.springframework.batch.retry.RetryPolicy#close(org.springframework.batch.retry.RetryContext)
+	 */
+	public void registerThrowable(RetryContext context, Throwable throwable) {
+		RetryContext[] contexts = ((CompositeRetryContext) context).contexts;
+		RetryPolicy[] policies = ((CompositeRetryContext) context).policies;
+		for (int i = 0; i < contexts.length; i++) {
+			policies[i].registerThrowable(contexts[i], throwable);
+		}
+		((RetryContextSupport) context).registerThrowable(throwable);
+	}
+
+	private class CompositeRetryContext extends RetryContextSupport {
+		RetryContext[] contexts;
+
+		RetryPolicy[] policies;
+
+		public CompositeRetryContext(RetryContext parent, List<RetryContext> contexts) {
+			super(parent);
+			this.contexts = contexts.toArray(new RetryContext[0]);
+			this.policies = CompositeRetryPolicy.this.policies;
+		}
+
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/retry/policy/CompositeRetryPolicyTests.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/retry/policy/CompositeRetryPolicyTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0f146139e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/retry/policy/CompositeRetryPolicyTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2006-2007 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * 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.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.batch.retry.policy;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+import org.springframework.batch.retry.RetryContext;
+import org.springframework.batch.retry.RetryPolicy;
+
+public class CompositeRetryPolicyTests extends TestCase {
+
+	public void testEmptyPolicies() throws Exception {
+		CompositeRetryPolicy policy = new CompositeRetryPolicy();
+		RetryContext context = policy.open(null);
+		assertNotNull(context);
+		assertTrue(policy.canRetry(context));
+	}
+
+	public void testTrivialPolicies() throws Exception {
+		CompositeRetryPolicy policy = new CompositeRetryPolicy();
+		policy.setPolicies(new RetryPolicy[] { new MockRetryPolicySupport(), new MockRetryPolicySupport() });
+		RetryContext context = policy.open(null);
+		assertNotNull(context);
+		assertTrue(policy.canRetry(context));
+	}
+
+	public void testNonTrivialPolicies() throws Exception {
+		CompositeRetryPolicy policy = new CompositeRetryPolicy();
+		policy.setPolicies(new RetryPolicy[] { new MockRetryPolicySupport(), new MockRetryPolicySupport() {
+			public boolean canRetry(RetryContext context) {
+				return false;
+			}
+		} });
+		RetryContext context = policy.open(null);
+		assertNotNull(context);
+		assertFalse(policy.canRetry(context));
+	}
+
+	public void testNonTrivialPoliciesWithThrowable() throws Exception {
+		CompositeRetryPolicy policy = new CompositeRetryPolicy();
+		policy.setPolicies(new RetryPolicy[] { new MockRetryPolicySupport(), new MockRetryPolicySupport() {
+			boolean errorRegistered = false;
+
+			public boolean canRetry(RetryContext context) {
+				return !errorRegistered;
+			}
+
+			public void registerThrowable(RetryContext context, Throwable throwable) {
+				errorRegistered = true;
+			}
+		} });
+		RetryContext context = policy.open(null);
+		assertNotNull(context);
+		assertTrue(policy.canRetry(context));
+		policy.registerThrowable(context, null);
+		assertFalse("Should be still able to retry", policy.canRetry(context));
+	}
+
+	public void testNonTrivialPoliciesClose() throws Exception {
+		final List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();
+		CompositeRetryPolicy policy = new CompositeRetryPolicy();
+		policy.setPolicies(new RetryPolicy[] { new MockRetryPolicySupport() {
+			public void close(RetryContext context) {
+				list.add("1");
+			}
+		}, new MockRetryPolicySupport() {
+			public void close(RetryContext context) {
+				list.add("2");
+			}
+		} });
+		RetryContext context = policy.open(null);
+		assertNotNull(context);
+		policy.close(context);
+		assertEquals(2, list.size());
+	}
+
+	public void testExceptionOnPoliciesClose() throws Exception {
+		final List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();
+		CompositeRetryPolicy policy = new CompositeRetryPolicy();
+		policy.setPolicies(new RetryPolicy[] { new MockRetryPolicySupport() {
+			public void close(RetryContext context) {
+				list.add("1");
+				throw new RuntimeException("Pah!");
+			}
+		}, new MockRetryPolicySupport() {
+			public void close(RetryContext context) {
+				list.add("2");
+			}
+		} });
+		RetryContext context = policy.open(null);
+		assertNotNull(context);
+		try {
+			policy.close(context);
+			fail("Expected RuntimeException");
+		} catch (RuntimeException e) {
+			assertEquals("Pah!", e.getMessage());
+		}
+		assertEquals(2, list.size());
+	}
+
+	public void testRetryCount() throws Exception {
+		CompositeRetryPolicy policy = new CompositeRetryPolicy();
+		policy.setPolicies(new RetryPolicy[] { new MockRetryPolicySupport(), new MockRetryPolicySupport() });
+		RetryContext context = policy.open(null);
+		assertNotNull(context);
+		policy.registerThrowable(context, null);
+		assertEquals(0, context.getRetryCount());
+		policy.registerThrowable(context, new RuntimeException("foo"));
+		assertEquals(1, context.getRetryCount());
+		assertEquals("foo", context.getLastThrowable().getMessage());
+	}
+
+	public void testParent() throws Exception {
+		CompositeRetryPolicy policy = new CompositeRetryPolicy();
+		RetryContext context = policy.open(null);
+		RetryContext child = policy.open(context);
+		assertNotSame(child, context);
+		assertSame(context, child.getParent());
+	}
+	
+	public void testOptimistic() throws Exception {
+		CompositeRetryPolicy policy = new CompositeRetryPolicy();
+		policy.setOptimistic(true);
+		policy.setPolicies(new RetryPolicy[] { new MockRetryPolicySupport() {
+			public boolean canRetry(RetryContext context) {
+				return false;
+			}
+		}, new MockRetryPolicySupport() });
+		RetryContext context = policy.open(null);
+		assertNotNull(context);
+		assertTrue(policy.canRetry(context));
+	}
+}