diff --git a/spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/xml/BeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java b/spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/xml/BeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java
index 37ef1b40904..ffe9d294d9b 100644
--- a/spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/xml/BeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java
+++ b/spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/xml/BeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2012 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2013 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.
@@ -16,11 +16,11 @@
 
 package org.springframework.beans.factory.xml;
 
+import org.w3c.dom.Document;
+
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException;
 import org.springframework.core.env.Environment;
 
-import org.w3c.dom.Document;
-
 /**
  * SPI for parsing an XML document that contains Spring bean definitions.
  * Used by XmlBeanDefinitionReader for actually parsing a DOM document.
@@ -38,20 +38,21 @@ import org.w3c.dom.Document;
 public interface BeanDefinitionDocumentReader {
 
 	/**
-	 * Read bean definitions from the given DOM document,
-	 * and register them with the given bean factory.
+	 * Set the Environment to use when reading bean definitions.
+	 * <p>Used for evaluating profile information to determine whether a
+	 * {@code <beans/>} document/element should be included or ignored.
+	 */
+	void setEnvironment(Environment environment);
+
+	/**
+	 * Read bean definitions from the given DOM document and
+	 * register them with the registry in the given reader context.
 	 * @param doc the DOM document
-	 * @param readerContext the current context of the reader. Includes the resource being parsed
+	 * @param readerContext the current context of the reader
+	 * (includes the target registry and the resource being parsed)
 	 * @throws BeanDefinitionStoreException in case of parsing errors
 	 */
 	void registerBeanDefinitions(Document doc, XmlReaderContext readerContext)
 			throws BeanDefinitionStoreException;
 
-	/**
-	 * Set the Environment to use when reading bean definitions. Used for evaluating
-	 * profile information to determine whether a {@code <beans/>} document/element should
-	 * be included or omitted.
-	 */
-	void setEnvironment(Environment environment);
-
 }
diff --git a/spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/xml/DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java b/spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/xml/DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java
index 9900aa16517..a422d5b4fcd 100644
--- a/spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/xml/DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java
+++ b/spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/xml/DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2012 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2013 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.
@@ -72,16 +72,15 @@ public class DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader implements BeanDefinitionDocume
 
 	public static final String RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTE = "resource";
 
-	/** @see org.springframework.context.annotation.Profile */
 	public static final String PROFILE_ATTRIBUTE = "profile";
 
 
 	protected final Log logger = LogFactory.getLog(getClass());
 
-	private XmlReaderContext readerContext;
-
 	private Environment environment;
 
+	private XmlReaderContext readerContext;
+
 	private BeanDefinitionParserDelegate delegate;
 
 
@@ -104,13 +103,12 @@ public class DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader implements BeanDefinitionDocume
 	 */
 	public void registerBeanDefinitions(Document doc, XmlReaderContext readerContext) {
 		this.readerContext = readerContext;
-
 		logger.debug("Loading bean definitions");
 		Element root = doc.getDocumentElement();
-
 		doRegisterBeanDefinitions(root);
 	}
 
+
 	/**
 	 * Register each bean definition within the given root {@code <beans/>} element.
 	 * @throws IllegalStateException if {@code <beans profile="..."} attribute is present
@@ -120,21 +118,22 @@ public class DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader implements BeanDefinitionDocume
 	protected void doRegisterBeanDefinitions(Element root) {
 		String profileSpec = root.getAttribute(PROFILE_ATTRIBUTE);
 		if (StringUtils.hasText(profileSpec)) {
-			Assert.state(this.environment != null, "environment property must not be null");
-			String[] specifiedProfiles = StringUtils.tokenizeToStringArray(profileSpec, BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.MULTI_VALUE_ATTRIBUTE_DELIMITERS);
+			Assert.state(this.environment != null, "Environment must be set for evaluating profiles");
+			String[] specifiedProfiles = StringUtils.tokenizeToStringArray(
+					profileSpec, BeanDefinitionParserDelegate.MULTI_VALUE_ATTRIBUTE_DELIMITERS);
 			if (!this.environment.acceptsProfiles(specifiedProfiles)) {
 				return;
 			}
 		}
 
-		// any nested <beans> elements will cause recursion in this method. In
+		// Any nested <beans> elements will cause recursion in this method. In
 		// order to propagate and preserve <beans> default-* attributes correctly,
 		// keep track of the current (parent) delegate, which may be null. Create
 		// the new (child) delegate with a reference to the parent for fallback purposes,
 		// then ultimately reset this.delegate back to its original (parent) reference.
 		// this behavior emulates a stack of delegates without actually necessitating one.
 		BeanDefinitionParserDelegate parent = this.delegate;
-		this.delegate = createHelper(readerContext, root, parent);
+		this.delegate = createHelper(this.readerContext, root, parent);
 
 		preProcessXml(root);
 		parseBeanDefinitions(root, this.delegate);
@@ -143,7 +142,9 @@ public class DefaultBeanDefinitionDocumentReader implements BeanDefinitionDocume
 		this.delegate = parent;
 	}
 
-	protected BeanDefinitionParserDelegate createHelper(XmlReaderContext readerContext, Element root, BeanDefinitionParserDelegate parentDelegate) {
+	protected BeanDefinitionParserDelegate createHelper(
+			XmlReaderContext readerContext, Element root, BeanDefinitionParserDelegate parentDelegate) {
+
 		BeanDefinitionParserDelegate delegate = new BeanDefinitionParserDelegate(readerContext, environment);
 		delegate.initDefaults(root, parentDelegate);
 		return delegate;