diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index c0ebf2305..05f5a1334 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -1,71 +1,73 @@
 # Rakefile for Puppet -*- ruby -*-
 
 # We need access to the Puppet.version method
 $LOAD_PATH.unshift(File.expand_path("lib"))
 require 'puppet/version'
 
 $LOAD_PATH << File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), 'tasks')
 
 begin
   require 'rubygems'
   require 'rubygems/package_task'
+  require 'rspec'
+  require 'rspec/core/rake_task'
 rescue LoadError
   # Users of older versions of Rake (0.8.7 for example) will not necessarily
   # have rubygems installed, or the newer rubygems package_task for that
   # matter.
   require 'rake/packagetask'
   require 'rake/gempackagetask'
 end
 
 require 'rake'
-require 'rspec'
-require "rspec/core/rake_task"
 
 Dir['tasks/**/*.rake'].each { |t| load t }
 Dir['ext/packaging/tasks/**/*'].sort.each { |t| load t }
 
 build_defs_file = 'ext/build_defaults.yaml'
 if File.exist?(build_defs_file)
   begin
     require 'yaml'
     @build_defaults ||= YAML.load_file(build_defs_file)
   rescue Exception => e
     STDERR.puts "Unable to load yaml from #{build_defs_file}:"
     STDERR.puts e
   end
   @packaging_url  = @build_defaults['packaging_url']
   @packaging_repo = @build_defaults['packaging_repo']
   raise "Could not find packaging url in #{build_defs_file}" if @packaging_url.nil?
   raise "Could not find packaging repo in #{build_defs_file}" if @packaging_repo.nil?
 
   namespace :package do
     desc "Bootstrap packaging automation, e.g. clone into packaging repo"
     task :bootstrap do
       if File.exist?("ext/#{@packaging_repo}")
         puts "It looks like you already have ext/#{@packaging_repo}. If you don't like it, blow it away with package:implode."
       else
         cd 'ext' do
           %x{git clone #{@packaging_url}}
         end
       end
     end
     desc "Remove all cloned packaging automation"
     task :implode do
       rm_rf "ext/#{@packaging_repo}"
     end
   end
 end
 
 task :default do
     sh %{rake -T}
 end
 
-RSpec::Core::RakeTask.new do |t|
-    t.pattern ='spec/{unit,integration}/**/*.rb'
-    t.fail_on_error = true
+if defined?(RSpec::Core::RakeTask)
+  RSpec::Core::RakeTask.new do |t|
+      t.pattern ='spec/{unit,integration}/**/*.rb'
+      t.fail_on_error = true
+  end
 end
 
 desc "Run the unit tests"
 task :unit do
   Dir.chdir("test") { sh "rake" }
 end