diff --git a/service-artifact-gradle-plugin.iml b/service-artifact-gradle-plugin.iml
index 9f901fd..00f339b 100644
--- a/service-artifact-gradle-plugin.iml
+++ b/service-artifact-gradle-plugin.iml
@@ -35,7 +35,9 @@
           <root url="jar://$USER_HOME$/.gradle/wrapper/dists/gradle-2.0-all/evtta6k9rngqxp6sxbf6unsdw/gradle-2.0/lib/groovy-all-2.3.3.jar!/" />
         </CLASSES>
         <JAVADOC />
-        <SOURCES />
+        <SOURCES>
+          <root url="jar://$USER_HOME$/.ideaLibSources/groovy-all-2.3.3-sources.jar!/" />
+        </SOURCES>
       </library>
     </orderEntry>
     <orderEntry type="module-library" exported="">
diff --git a/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/AbstractServiceExtension.groovy b/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/AbstractServiceExtension.groovy
index 9d266ad..cfe0dc2 100644
--- a/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/AbstractServiceExtension.groovy
+++ b/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/AbstractServiceExtension.groovy
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 package com.github.lookout.serviceartifact
 
-import com.github.lookout.serviceartifact.scm.AbstractScmHandler
-import groovy.json.JsonBuilder
 import org.gradle.api.Project
 import org.gradle.api.Task
 
@@ -15,56 +13,27 @@ abstract class AbstractServiceExtension {
 
     /**
      * Properly update the compressed archive tasks with the appropriate
-     * configurations after the serviceJar task has been set up
+     * configurations after a serviceJar task has been set up
      *
      * @param project
-     * @return
      */
-    protected void setupCompressedArchives(Project project, AbstractScmHandler scmHandler) {
+    protected void setupCompressedArchives(Object serviceExtension) {
+        Project project = serviceExtension.project
         Task tar = project.tasks.findByName('serviceTar')
         Task zip = project.tasks.findByName('serviceZip')
         Task jar = project.tasks.findByName('serviceJar')
 
-        Task version = project.tasks.create('serviceVersionInfo') {
-            group ServiceArtifactPlugin.GROUP_NAME
-            description "Generate the service artifact version information"
-
-            def versionFilePath = "${this.project.buildDir}/VERSION"
-            outputs.file(versionFilePath).upToDateWhen { false }
-
-            doFirst {
-                JsonBuilder builder = new JsonBuilder()
-                builder(buildDate: new Date(),
-                        version: project.version,
-                        name: project.name,
-                        revision: scmHandler?.revision,
-                        builtOn: InetAddress.localHost.hostName)
-                new File(versionFilePath).write(builder.toPrettyString())
-            }
-        }
-
         /* Ensure our service (distribution) artifact tasks depend on this
          * jar task
          */
         [tar, zip].each {
-            String directory = String.format("%s-%s", project.name, project.version)
-
             it.dependsOn(jar)
-            it.into(directory) { from(jar.outputs.files) }
-            it.into("${directory}/bin") { from("${project.projectDir}/bin") }
-
-            /* Pack a handy VERSION file containing some built metadata about
-             * this artifact to help trace it back to builds in the future
-             */
-            it.into(directory) { from version.outputs.files }
+            it.into(serviceExtension.archiveDirName) { from(jar.outputs.files) }
+            it.into("${serviceExtension.archiveDirName}/bin") { from("${project.projectDir}/bin") }
         }
     }
 
     protected void disableJarTask() {
-        Task jarTask = this.project.tasks.findByName('jar')
-
-        if (jarTask instanceof Task) {
-            jarTask.enabled = false
-        }
+        this.project.tasks.findByName('jar')?.enabled = false
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/ServiceArtifactExtension.groovy b/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/ServiceArtifactExtension.groovy
index 5c53c46..8cae9ed 100644
--- a/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/ServiceArtifactExtension.groovy
+++ b/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/ServiceArtifactExtension.groovy
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 package com.github.lookout.serviceartifact
 
+import groovy.json.JsonBuilder
 import org.gradle.api.Project
+import org.gradle.api.Task
 import org.slf4j.Logger
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory
 
@@ -22,6 +24,8 @@ class ServiceArtifactExtension {
     /** SCM Handler appropriate for this execution */
     protected AbstractScmHandler _scmHandler
 
+    /** Map of metadata that should be written into the artifact's etc/metadata.conf */
+    protected Map<String, Object> metadata = [:]
 
     ServiceArtifactExtension(final Project project) {
         this(project, [:])
@@ -33,6 +37,73 @@ class ServiceArtifactExtension {
         this.env = env
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Bootstrap and set up whatever internal tasks/helpers we need to set up
+     */
+    void bootstrap() {
+        String versionFilePath = String.format("%s/VERSION", this.project.buildDir)
+
+        Task version = project.tasks.create('serviceVersionInfo') {
+            group ServiceArtifactPlugin.GROUP_NAME
+            description "Generate the service artifact version information"
+
+            outputs.file(versionFilePath).upToDateWhen { false }
+
+            doFirst {
+                JsonBuilder builder = new JsonBuilder()
+                builder(generateVersionMap())
+                new File(versionFilePath).write(builder.toPrettyString())
+            }
+        }
+
+        [ServiceArtifactPlugin.TAR_TASK, ServiceArtifactPlugin.ZIP_TASK].each {
+            Task archiveTask = this.project.tasks.findByName(it)
+
+            if (archiveTask instanceof Task) {
+                archiveTask.dependsOn(version)
+                /* Pack the VERSION file containing some built metadata about
+                 * this artifact to help trace it back to builds in the future
+                 */
+                archiveTask.into(this.archiveDirName) { from version.outputs.files }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     *
+     * @return A map containing the necessary version information we want to drop into archives
+     */
+    Map<String, Object> generateVersionMap() {
+        return [
+                'version' : this.project.version,
+                'name' : this.project.name,
+                'buildDate' : new Date(),
+                'revision': scmHandler?.revision,
+                'builtOn': this.hostname,
+        ]
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Return a hostname or unknown if we can't resolve our localhost (as seen on Mavericks)
+     *
+     * @return Local host's name or 'unknown'
+     */
+    String getHostname() {
+        try {
+            return InetAddress.localHost.hostName
+        }
+        catch (UnknownHostException) {
+            return 'unknown'
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return A (name)-(version) String for the directory name inside a compressed archive
+     */
+    String getArchiveDirName() {
+        return String.format("%s-%s", this.project.name, this.project.version)
+    }
+
     /**
      * Lazily look up our SCM Handler
      */
@@ -64,5 +135,31 @@ class ServiceArtifactExtension {
 
         return baseVersion
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Return the computed Map<> of metadata that is to be written to the etc/metadata.conf
+     * inside of the service artifact
+     */
+    Map<String, Object> getMetadata() {
+        return this.metadata
+    }
+
+    void metadata(Object... arguments) {
+        arguments.each {
+            this.metadata.putAll(it as Map)
+        }
+    }
+
+    void setMetadata(Object... arguments) {
+        this.metadata = [:]
+        this.metadata arguments
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * return the configured project for this service{} extension
+     */
+    Project getProject() {
+        return this.project
+    }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/ServiceArtifactPlugin.groovy b/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/ServiceArtifactPlugin.groovy
index 16d30c9..1458765 100644
--- a/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/ServiceArtifactPlugin.groovy
+++ b/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/ServiceArtifactPlugin.groovy
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import org.gradle.api.tasks.bundling.Tar
 class ServiceArtifactPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
     static final String GROUP_NAME = 'Service Artifact'
     static final String ARCHIVES_CONFIG = "serviceArchives"
+    static final String ZIP_TASK = 'serviceZip'
+    static final String TAR_TASK = 'serviceTar'
 
     void apply(Project project) {
         /* Add the asciidoctor plugin because...docs are important */
@@ -37,13 +39,13 @@ class ServiceArtifactPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
             description "stub task for preparing the bin scripts for the artifact"
         }
 
-        Task tarTask = project.task('serviceTar', type: Tar) {
+        Task tarTask = project.task(TAR_TASK, type: Tar) {
             group GROUP_NAME
             description "Create a .tar.gz artifact containing the service"
             dependsOn prepareTask
         }
 
-        Task zipTask = project.task('serviceZip', type: Zip) {
+        Task zipTask = project.task(ZIP_TASK, type: Zip) {
             group GROUP_NAME
             description "Create a .zip artifact containing the service"
             dependsOn prepareTask
@@ -63,5 +65,8 @@ class ServiceArtifactPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
 
         project.artifacts.add(ARCHIVES_CONFIG, zipTask)
         project.artifacts.add(ARCHIVES_CONFIG, tarTask)
+
+        /* With everything defined, let's bootstrap the service extension internals */
+        service.bootstrap()
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/lang/JRuby.groovy b/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/lang/JRuby.groovy
index e0e1514..a06db0f 100644
--- a/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/lang/JRuby.groovy
+++ b/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/lang/JRuby.groovy
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ class JRuby extends AbstractServiceExtension {
 
         disableJarTask()
         setupJRubyJar()
-        setupCompressedArchives(this.project, serviceExtension.scmHandler)
+        setupCompressedArchives(serviceExtension)
 
         extraConfig.delegate = new JRubyDSL(this.project)
         extraConfig.call(this.project)
diff --git a/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/lang/Scala.groovy b/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/lang/Scala.groovy
index eb07d4d..3e38e8c 100644
--- a/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/lang/Scala.groovy
+++ b/src/main/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/lang/Scala.groovy
@@ -41,8 +41,10 @@ class Scala extends AbstractServiceExtension {
         }
         this.project.tasks.findByName('assemble').dependsOn(jar)
         this.project.artifacts.add(ServiceArtifactPlugin.ARCHIVES_CONFIG, jar)
+
         jar.configurations.add(this.project.configurations.getByName('compile'))
-        setupCompressedArchives(this.project, serviceExtension.scmHandler)
+
+        setupCompressedArchives(serviceExtension)
         disableJarTask()
     }
 
diff --git a/src/test/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/ServiceArtifactExtensionSpec.groovy b/src/test/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/ServiceArtifactExtensionSpec.groovy
index b932fc4..1437aec 100644
--- a/src/test/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/ServiceArtifactExtensionSpec.groovy
+++ b/src/test/groovy/com/github/lookout/serviceartifact/ServiceArtifactExtensionSpec.groovy
@@ -6,6 +6,17 @@ import org.gradle.api.Project
 import org.gradle.api.Task
 import org.gradle.testfixtures.ProjectBuilder
 
+import com.github.lookout.serviceartifact.scm.GerritHandler
+
+abstract class AppliedExtensionSpec extends Specification {
+    protected Project project
+
+    def setup() {
+        this.project = ProjectBuilder.builder().build()
+        this.project.apply plugin: 'com.github.lookout.service-artifact'
+    }
+}
+
 class ServiceArtifactExtensionSpec extends Specification {
     protected Project project
 
@@ -30,23 +41,15 @@ class ServiceArtifactExtensionSpec extends Specification {
         expect:
         extension instanceof ServiceArtifactExtension
     }
-}
-
-
-class ServiceArtifactExtensionInstanceSpec extends ServiceArtifactExtensionSpec {
 
     def "getScmHandler() instantiate a handler instance"() {
         given: "we're inside of a Gerrit-triggered Jenkins job"
         def ext = new ServiceArtifactExtension(this.project, gerritEnv())
 
         expect:
-        ext.scmHandler instanceof scm.GerritHandler
+        ext.scmHandler instanceof GerritHandler
     }
 
-}
-
-class ServiceArtifactExtensionVersionSpec extends ServiceArtifactExtensionSpec {
-
     def "version() should return an unmolested string by default"() {
         given:
         def ext = Spy(ServiceArtifactExtension, constructorArgs: [this.project])
@@ -69,14 +72,95 @@ class ServiceArtifactExtensionVersionSpec extends ServiceArtifactExtensionSpec {
         then:
         version == '1.0.1.1+0xded'
     }
+
+    def "bootstrap() should define a serviceVersionInfo task"() {
+        given:
+        def extension = new ServiceArtifactExtension(this.project)
+
+        when:
+        extension.bootstrap()
+
+        then:
+        this.project.tasks.findByName('serviceVersionInfo')
+    }
+
+    @Ignore
+    def "bootstrap() should define serviceMetadata"() {
+        given:
+        def extension = new ServiceArtifactExtension(this.project)
+
+        when:
+        extension.bootstrap()
+
+        then:
+        this.project.tasks.findByName('serviceMetadata')
+    }
+
+
+    def "generateVersionMap()"() {
+        given:
+        def extension = new ServiceArtifactExtension(this.project)
+        Map versionMap = extension.generateVersionMap()
+
+        expect:
+        versionMap instanceof Map
+        versionMap['version']
+        versionMap['name']
+        versionMap['buildDate']
+        versionMap['revision']
+        versionMap['builtOn']
+    }
 }
 
-class ServiceArtifactExtensionShadowSpec extends Specification {
-    protected Project project
+class ExtensionIntegrationSpec extends AppliedExtensionSpec {
 
+    def "bootstrap() should have set up dependencies for serviceVersionInfo"() {
+        given:
+        Closure matcher = { (it instanceof Task) && (it.name == 'serviceVersionInfo') }
+        Task zip = this.project.tasks.findByName('serviceZip')
+        Task tar = this.project.tasks.findByName('serviceTar')
+
+        expect: "the compressed archives to rely on serviceVersionInfo"
+        zip.dependsOn.find(matcher)
+        tar.dependsOn.find(matcher)
+    }
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * Test the functionality of the service { metadata [:] } property
+ */
+class ServiceArtifactExtensionMetadataSpec extends AppliedExtensionSpec {
+    def "its metadata should be a map by default"() {
+        expect:
+        this.project.service.metadata instanceof Map
+    }
+
+    def "I should be able to set metadata"() {
+        given:
+        this.project.service.metadata 'success' : true
+
+        expect:
+        this.project.service.metadata == ['success' : true]
+    }
+
+    def "I should be able to completely overwrite it with setMetadata"() {
+        given:
+        this.project.service.metadata 'overwrite' : 1
+
+        when:
+        this.project.service.setMetadata 'success' : true
+
+        then:
+        this.project.service.metadata == ['success' : true]
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Test the functionality of the service { jruby{} } closure
+ */
+class ServiceArtifactExtensionJRubyIntegrationSpec extends AppliedExtensionSpec {
     def setup() {
-        this.project = ProjectBuilder.builder().build()
-        this.project.apply plugin: 'com.github.lookout.service-artifact'
         this.project.service { jruby {} }
     }
 
@@ -105,19 +189,6 @@ class ServiceArtifactExtensionShadowSpec extends Specification {
         task.manifest.attributes['Main-Class']
 
     }
-}
-
-/**
- * Test the behaviors of the setupCompressedArchives() functionality
- */
-class ServiceArtifactExtensionArchivesSpec extends Specification {
-    protected Project project
-
-    def setup() {
-        this.project = ProjectBuilder.builder().build()
-        this.project.apply plugin: 'com.github.lookout.service-artifact'
-        this.project.service { jruby {} }
-    }
 
     def "the serviceTar task should depend on serviceJar"() {
         given:
@@ -135,4 +206,3 @@ class ServiceArtifactExtensionArchivesSpec extends Specification {
         tar.dependsOn.find { (it instanceof Task) && (it.name == 'serviceJar') }
     }
 }
-