diff --git a/lib/puppet.rb b/lib/puppet.rb
index 7941cc830..819428174 100644
--- a/lib/puppet.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet.rb
@@ -1,167 +1,170 @@
 # Try to load rubygems.  Hey rubygems, I hate you.
 begin
   require 'rubygems'
 rescue LoadError
 end
 
 # see the bottom of the file for further inclusions
 require 'singleton'
-require 'facter'
 require 'puppet/error'
 require 'puppet/util'
 require 'puppet/util/autoload'
 require 'puppet/settings'
 require 'puppet/util/feature'
 require 'puppet/util/suidmanager'
 require 'puppet/util/run_mode'
 
 #------------------------------------------------------------
 # the top-level module
 #
 # all this really does is dictate how the whole system behaves, through
 # preferences for things like debugging
 #
 # it's also a place to find top-level commands like 'debug'
 
 module Puppet
   PUPPETVERSION = '2.7.14'
 
   def Puppet.version
     PUPPETVERSION
   end
 
   class << self
     include Puppet::Util
     attr_reader :features
     attr_writer :name
   end
 
   # the hash that determines how our system behaves
   @@settings = Puppet::Settings.new
 
   # The services running in this process.
   @services ||= []
 
   require 'puppet/util/logging'
 
   extend Puppet::Util::Logging
 
   # The feature collection
   @features = Puppet::Util::Feature.new('puppet/feature')
 
   # Load the base features.
   require 'puppet/feature/base'
 
   # Store a new default value.
   def self.define_settings(section, hash)
     @@settings.define_settings(section, hash)
   end
 
   # configuration parameter access and stuff
   def self.[](param)
     if param == :debug
       return Puppet::Util::Log.level == :debug
     else
       return @@settings[param]
     end
   end
 
   # configuration parameter access and stuff
   def self.[]=(param,value)
     @@settings[param] = value
   end
 
   def self.clear
     @@settings.clear
   end
 
   def self.debug=(value)
     if value
       Puppet::Util::Log.level=(:debug)
     else
       Puppet::Util::Log.level=(:notice)
     end
   end
 
   def self.settings
     @@settings
   end
 
 
   def self.run_mode
     # This sucks (the existence of this method); there are a lot of places in our code that branch based the value of
     # "run mode", but there used to be some really confusing code paths that made it almost impossible to determine
     # when during the lifecycle of a puppet application run the value would be set properly.  A lot of the lifecycle
     # stuff has been cleaned up now, but it still seems frightening that we rely so heavily on this value.
     #
     # I'd like to see about getting rid of the concept of "run_mode" entirely, but there are just too many places in
     # the code that call this method at the moment... so I've settled for isolating it inside of the Settings class
     # (rather than using a global variable, as we did previously...).  Would be good to revisit this at some point.
     #
     # --cprice 2012-03-16
     Puppet::Util::RunMode[@@settings.run_mode]
   end
 
   # Load all of the configuration parameters.
   require 'puppet/defaults'
 
   def self.genmanifest
     if Puppet[:genmanifest]
       puts Puppet.settings.to_manifest
       exit(0)
     end
   end
 
   # Parse the config file for this process.
   def self.parse_config()
     Puppet.deprecation_warning("Puppet.parse_config is deprecated; please use Faces API (which will handle settings and state management for you), or (less desirable) call Puppet.initialize_settings")
     Puppet.initialize_settings
   end
 
   # Initialize puppet's settings.  This is intended only for use by external tools that are not
   #  built off of the Faces API or the Puppet::Util::Application class.  It may also be used
   #  to initialize state so that a Face may be used programatically, rather than as a stand-alone
   #  command-line tool.
   #
   # Note that this API may be subject to change in the future.
   def self.initialize_settings()
     do_initialize_settings_for_run_mode(:user)
   end
 
   # Initialize puppet's settings for a specified run_mode.  This
   def self.initialize_settings_for_run_mode(run_mode)
     Puppet.deprecation_warning("initialize_settings_for_run_mode may be removed in a future release, as may run_mode itself")
     do_initialize_settings_for_run_mode(run_mode)
   end
 
   # private helper method to provide the implementation details of initializing for a run mode,
   #  but allowing us to control where the deprecation warning is issued
   def self.do_initialize_settings_for_run_mode(run_mode)
     Puppet.settings.initialize_global_settings
     run_mode = Puppet::Util::RunMode[run_mode]
     Puppet.settings.initialize_app_defaults(Puppet::Settings.app_defaults_for_run_mode(run_mode))
   end
   private_class_method :do_initialize_settings_for_run_mode
 
   # Create a new type.  Just proxy to the Type class.  The mirroring query
   # code was deprecated in 2008, but this is still in heavy use.  I suppose
   # this can count as a soft deprecation for the next dev. --daniel 2011-04-12
   def self.newtype(name, options = {}, &block)
     Puppet::Type.newtype(name, options, &block)
   end
+
+  # We don't want to continue if Facter is not around, or isn't feature
+  # compliant
+  exit(1) unless Puppet.features.facter?
 end
 
 # This feels weird to me; I would really like for us to get to a state where there is never a "require" statement
 #  anywhere besides the very top of a file.  That would not be possible at the moment without a great deal of
 #  effort, but I think we should strive for it and revisit this at some point.  --cprice 2012-03-16
 
 require 'puppet/type'
 require 'puppet/parser'
 require 'puppet/resource'
 require 'puppet/network'
 require 'puppet/ssl'
 require 'puppet/module'
 require 'puppet/data_binding'
 require 'puppet/util/storage'
 require 'puppet/status'
 require 'puppet/file_bucket/file'
diff --git a/lib/puppet/feature/facter.rb b/lib/puppet/feature/facter.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5ba2f45f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/puppet/feature/facter.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+require 'puppet/util/feature'
+require 'semver'
+
+# See if Facter is available, and check revision
+Puppet.features.add(:facter) do
+  required_facter = "2.0.0"
+
+  begin
+    require 'facter'
+  rescue LoadError => err
+    begin
+      require 'rubygems'
+      require 'facter'
+    rescue LoadError => err
+    end
+  end
+
+  raise Puppet::Error, "Cannot find Facter class. Facter may not be installed, " +
+      "or not be in your RUBYLIB." unless defined?(::Facter)
+  raise Puppet::Error, "Cannot find Facter version declaration. Your " +
+        "installation of Facter may be invalid, very old or this may be a bug." unless defined?(::Facter.version)
+    
+  facter_version = ::SemVer.new(::Facter.version)
+  required_version = ::SemVer.new(required_facter)
+  raise Puppet::Error, "Found Facter version #{::Facter.version} " +
+       "however version #{required_facter} (or greater) is required for " +
+       "Puppet to operate" unless facter_version >= required_version
+       
+  true
+end
\ No newline at end of file