diff --git a/doc/PROFILES.md b/doc/PROFILES.md
index 979c9a08..fc24c849 100644
--- a/doc/PROFILES.md
+++ b/doc/PROFILES.md
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ into a given profile and they will be merged into the project map when
 that profile is activated.
 
 The example below adds a "dummy-data" resources directory during
-development and a dependency upon "expectations" that's only used for tests.
+development and a dependency upon "expectations" that's only used for
+tests/development.
 
 ```clj
 (defproject myproject "0.5.0-SNAPSHOT"
@@ -72,6 +73,9 @@ project should never define a `:user` profile, nor should a user-wide
 `:dev` profile be defined.  Likewise, system profiles should use the
 `:system` profile, and define neither `:user` nor `:dev` profiles.
 
+The `:system` profile is similar to `:user`, except it applies
+system-wide instead of merely to a single user.
+
 The `:base` profile provides dependencies necessary for basic repl
 functionality, adds `dev-resources` to the `:resources-path`, and sets
 defaults for `:jvm-opts`, `:checkout-deps-share` and
@@ -80,8 +84,7 @@ to change it.
 
 The profiles listed above are active during development, but they are
 unmerged before the jar and pom files are created, making them
-invisible to code that depends upon your project. The next two
-profile is different.
+invisible to code that depends upon your project.
 
 The `:provided` profile is used to specify dependencies that should be
 available during jar creation, but not propagated to other code that
@@ -91,11 +94,9 @@ but are needed during the development of the project. This is often
 used for frameworks like Hadoop that provide their own copies of
 certain libraries.
 
-## Default Profiles
-
-The `:default-profile` specifies the profiles that are active by
+The `:default` profile specifies the profiles that are active by
 default when running lein tasks.  If not overridden, this is set to
-`:core-default`, which is a composite profile with
+`:leiningen/default`, which is a composite profile with
 `[:base :system :user :provided :dev]`.
 
 ## Task Specific Profiles
@@ -107,15 +108,17 @@ these are the `:test` profile, when running the `test` task, and the
 ## Profile Metadata
 
 If you mark your profile with `^:leaky` metadata, then the profile
-will affect the generated pom and jar when active.
+will not be stripped out when the pom and jar files are created.
 
 If you mark a profile with `^{:pom-scope :test}` metadata, then the
 profile's `:dependencies` will be added with a `test` scope in the
-generated pom and jar when active.
+generated pom and jar when active. The `:dev`, `:test`, and `:base`
+profiles have this set automatically.
 
-If you mark a profile with `^{:pom-scope :provided}` metadata, then the
-profile's `:dependencies` will be added with a `provided` scope in the
-generated pom and jar when active.
+If you mark a profile with `^{:pom-scope :provided}` metadata, then
+the profile's `:dependencies` will be added with a `provided` scope in
+the generated pom and jar when active. The `:provided` profile has
+this set automatically.
 
 ## Merging
 
@@ -203,13 +206,7 @@ This can be used to avoid duplication:
  :production [:shared {:servers ["prod1.mycorp.com", "prod1.mycorp.com"]}]}
 ```
 
-Composite profiles are used by Leiningen internally for the `:default`
-profile, which is the profile used if you don't change it using
-`with-profile`. The `:default` profile is defined to be a composite of
-`[:base :system :user :provided :dev]`, but you can change
-this in your `project.clj` just like any other profile.
-
-## Using Functions 
+## Dynamic Eval
 
 Often you want to read an environment variable or execute a function to capture
 a value to use in your profiles. In order to do such a thing with the profiles.clj
diff --git a/leiningen-core/src/leiningen/core/project.clj b/leiningen-core/src/leiningen/core/project.clj
index 7cd511b2..d7d86120 100644
--- a/leiningen-core/src/leiningen/core/project.clj
+++ b/leiningen-core/src/leiningen/core/project.clj
@@ -469,8 +469,8 @@
 (def default-profiles
   "Profiles get merged into the project map. The :dev, :provided, and :user
   profiles are active by default."
-  (atom {:default [:core-default]
-         :core-default [:base :system :user :provided :dev]
+  (atom {:default [:leiningen/default]
+         :leiningen/default [:base :system :user :provided :dev]
          :base {:resource-paths ["dev-resources"]
                 :jvm-opts (with-meta tiered-jvm-opts
                             {:displace true})
diff --git a/src/leiningen/jar.clj b/src/leiningen/jar.clj
index 612e5be4..e84e648f 100644
--- a/src/leiningen/jar.clj
+++ b/src/leiningen/jar.clj
@@ -305,6 +305,7 @@ With an argument, the jar will be built with an alternate main."
        (when (:auto-clean project true)
          (clean/clean project))
        (eval/prep
+        ;; TODO: don't hard-code :provided here, rely on ^:leaky
         (process-project project main project/merge-profiles
                          (project/pom-scope-profiles project :provided)))
        (let [jar-file (get-jar-filename* project nil)]
diff --git a/test_projects/sample-profile-meta/project.clj b/test_projects/sample-profile-meta/project.clj
index c2d036ac..eac0e424 100644
--- a/test_projects/sample-profile-meta/project.clj
+++ b/test_projects/sample-profile-meta/project.clj
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 (defproject nomnomnom "0.5.0-SNAPSHOT"
   :dependencies []
-  :profiles {:default [:core-default :my-leaky :my-provided :my-test]
+  :profiles {:default [:leiningen/default :my-leaky :my-provided :my-test]
              :my-leaky ^:leaky {:dependencies
                                 [[org.clojure/tools.macro "0.1.2"]]}
              :my-test