diff --git a/py/execnet/testing/test_xspec.py b/py/execnet/testing/test_xspec.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..706ed8cf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/py/execnet/testing/test_xspec.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import py
+
+def test_XSpec_attributes():
+    XSpec = py.execnet.XSpec
+    spec = XSpec("socket=192.168.102.2:8888//python=c:/this/python2.5//path=d:\hello")
+    assert spec.socket == "192.168.102.2:8888"
+    assert spec.python == "c:/this/python2.5" 
+    assert spec.path == "d:\hello"
+    assert spec.xyz is None
+
+    py.test.raises(AttributeError, "spec._hello")
+
+    spec = XSpec("socket=192.168.102.2:8888//python=python2.5")
+    assert spec.socket == "192.168.102.2:8888"
+    assert spec.python == "python2.5"
+    assert spec.path is None
+
+    spec = XSpec("ssh=user@host//path=/hello/this//python=/usr/bin/python2.5")
+    assert spec.ssh == "user@host"
+    assert spec.python == "/usr/bin/python2.5"
+    assert spec.path == "/hello/this"
+
+    spec = XSpec("popen")
+    assert spec.popen == True
+
+@py.test.mark.xfail
+def test_makegateway_popen():
+    spec = py.execnet.XSpec("popen")
+    gw = py.execnet.makegateway(spec)
+    assert gw.spec == spec
+    rinfo = gw.remote_info()
+    assert rinfo.executable == py.std.sys.executable 
+    assert rinfo.curdir == py.std.os.getcwd()
+    assert rinfo.version_info == py.std.sys.version_info
diff --git a/py/execnet/xspec.py b/py/execnet/xspec.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b9eaffc39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/py/execnet/xspec.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+
+import py
+
+class XSpec:
+    """ Execution Specification: key1=value1//key2=value2 ... 
+        * keys need to be unique within the specification scope 
+        * neither key nor value are allowed to contain "//"
+        * keys are not allowed to contain "=" 
+        * keys are not allowed to start with underscore 
+        * if no "=value" is given, assume a boolean True value 
+    """
+    def __init__(self, *strings):
+        for string in strings:
+            for keyvalue in string.split("//"):
+                i = keyvalue.find("=")
+                if i == -1:
+                    setattr(self, keyvalue, True)
+                else:
+                    setattr(self, keyvalue[:i], keyvalue[i+1:])
+
+    def __getattr__(self, name):
+        if name[0] == "_":
+            raise AttributeError(name) 
+        return None
+
+def makegateway(spec):
+    pass
+
+