diff --git a/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/support/RepositoryLinkBuilder.java b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/support/RepositoryLinkBuilder.java
index 7738f79ab..7b2459225 100644
--- a/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/support/RepositoryLinkBuilder.java
+++ b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/support/RepositoryLinkBuilder.java
@@ -20,30 +20,69 @@ import java.net.URI;
 import org.springframework.data.mapping.PersistentProperty;
 import org.springframework.data.rest.core.mapping.ResourceMetadata;
 import org.springframework.hateoas.Link;
+import org.springframework.hateoas.LinkBuilder;
 import org.springframework.hateoas.core.LinkBuilderSupport;
+import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 import org.springframework.web.servlet.support.ServletUriComponentsBuilder;
 import org.springframework.web.util.UriComponentsBuilder;
 
+/**
+ * {@link LinkBuilder} to be able to create links pointing to repositories.
+ * 
+ * @author Oliver Gierke
+ */
 public class RepositoryLinkBuilder extends LinkBuilderSupport<RepositoryLinkBuilder> {
 
 	private final ResourceMetadata metadata;
 
+	/**
+	 * Creates a new {@link RepositoryLinkBuilder} with the given {@link ResourceMetadata} and base {@link URI}.
+	 * 
+	 * @param metadata must not be {@literal null}.
+	 * @param baseUri
+	 */
 	public RepositoryLinkBuilder(ResourceMetadata metadata, URI baseUri) {
 		this(metadata, prepareBuilder(baseUri, metadata));
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Creates a new {@link RepositoryLinkBuilder} with the given {@link ResourceMetadata} and
+	 * {@link UriComponentsBuilder}.
+	 * 
+	 * @param metadata must not be {@literal null}.
+	 * @param builder must not be {@literal null}.
+	 */
 	private RepositoryLinkBuilder(ResourceMetadata metadata, UriComponentsBuilder builder) {
 
 		super(builder);
+		Assert.notNull(metadata, "ResourceMetadata must not be null!");
 		this.metadata = metadata;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Prepares the {@link UriComponentsBuilder} pointing to the root repository path. If the given URI is an absolute one
+	 * (starting with {@code http://}) we'll use it as is and fallback to lookup the root URI of the current request's
+	 * servlet mapping appending the base URI.
+	 * 
+	 * @param baseUri must not be {@literal null}.
+	 * @param metadata must not be {@literal null}.
+	 * @return
+	 */
 	private static UriComponentsBuilder prepareBuilder(URI baseUri, ResourceMetadata metadata) {
 
-		ServletUriComponentsBuilder builder = ServletUriComponentsBuilder.fromCurrentServletMapping();
-		return builder.path(baseUri.toString()).path(metadata.getPath().toString());
+		Assert.notNull(baseUri, "Base URI must not be null!");
+		Assert.notNull(metadata, "ResourceMetadata must not be null!");
+
+		UriComponentsBuilder builder = baseUri.isAbsolute() ? UriComponentsBuilder.fromUri(baseUri)
+				: ServletUriComponentsBuilder.fromCurrentServletMapping().path(baseUri.toString());
+
+		return builder.path(metadata.getPath().toString());
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see org.springframework.hateoas.core.LinkBuilderSupport#slash(java.lang.Object)
+	 */
 	@Override
 	public RepositoryLinkBuilder slash(Object object) {
 
diff --git a/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/support/RepositoryLinkBuildUnitTests.java b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/support/RepositoryLinkBuildUnitTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b7ae2cdb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/support/RepositoryLinkBuildUnitTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2014 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.data.rest.webmvc.support;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.*;
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
+import java.net.URI;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.springframework.data.mongodb.core.mapping.MongoMappingContext;
+import org.springframework.data.mongodb.core.mapping.MongoPersistentEntity;
+import org.springframework.data.rest.core.mapping.MappingResourceMetadata;
+import org.springframework.data.rest.core.mapping.ResourceMetadata;
+import org.springframework.data.rest.webmvc.WebTestUtils;
+import org.springframework.data.rest.webmvc.mongodb.Profile;
+import org.springframework.hateoas.Link;
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests for {@link RepositoryLinkBuilder}.
+ * 
+ * @author Oliver Gierke
+ */
+public class RepositoryLinkBuildUnitTests {
+
+	MongoMappingContext context = new MongoMappingContext();
+
+	/**
+	 * @see DATAREST-292
+	 */
+	@Test
+	public void usesCurrentRequestsUriBaseForRelativeBaseUri() {
+
+		WebTestUtils.initWebTest();
+
+		assertRootUriFor("api", "http://localhost/api/profile");
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @see DATAREST-292, DATAREST-296
+	 */
+	@Test
+	public void usesBaseUriOnlyIfItIsAbsolute() {
+		assertRootUriFor("http://foobar/api", "http://foobar/api/profile");
+	}
+
+	private void assertRootUriFor(String baseUri, String expectedUri) {
+
+		MongoPersistentEntity<?> entity = context.getPersistentEntity(Profile.class);
+		ResourceMetadata metadata = new MappingResourceMetadata(entity);
+
+		RepositoryLinkBuilder builder = new RepositoryLinkBuilder(metadata, URI.create(baseUri));
+		Link link = builder.withSelfRel();
+
+		assertThat(link.getHref(), is(expectedUri));
+	}
+}