diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 59de67a75..ac379e72f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 == Change Log
 
 === Edge
+* Make specs and bootstrap work in instance mode. [Sean Cribbs]
 * Override spec:integration task and rescope some spec task options to 
 RADIANT_ROOT. [Sean Cribbs]
 * Improve rspec-1.1.12 compatibility. [Sean Cribbs]
diff --git a/lib/tasks/instance.rake b/lib/tasks/instance.rake
index 602ba89e7..503676f52 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/instance.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/instance.rake
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Redefined standard Rails tasks only in instance mode
-unless File.directory? "#{RAILS_ROOT}/app"
+unless Radiant.app?
   require 'rake/testtask'
   
   ENV['RADIANT_ENV_FILE'] = File.join(RAILS_ROOT, 'config', 'environment')
@@ -7,16 +7,14 @@ unless File.directory? "#{RAILS_ROOT}/app"
   [Dir["#{RADIANT_ROOT}/vendor/rails/railties/lib/tasks/*.rake"], Dir["#{RADIANT_ROOT}/vendor/plugins/rspec_on_rails/tasks/*.rake"]].flatten.each do |rake|
     lines = IO.readlines(rake)
     lines.map! do |line|
-      line.gsub!('RAILS_ROOT', 'RADIANT_ROOT') unless rake =~ /(misc|rspec)\.rake$/
+      line.gsub!('RAILS_ROOT', 'RADIANT_ROOT') unless rake =~ /(misc|rspec|databases)\.rake$/
       case rake
       when /testing\.rake$/
-        line.gsub!(/t.libs << (["'])/, 't.libs << \1' + RADIANT_ROOT + '/')
-        line.gsub!(/t\.pattern = (["'])/, 't.pattern = \1' + RADIANT_ROOT + '/')
+        line.gsub!(/t.libs << (["'])/, 't.libs << \1#{RADIANT_ROOT}/')
+        line.gsub!(/t\.pattern = (["'])/, 't.pattern = \1#{RADIANT_ROOT}/')
       when /databases\.rake$/
-        line.gsub!(/migrate\((["'])/, 'migrate(\1' + RADIANT_ROOT + '/')
-      when /rspec\.rake$/
-        line.gsub!('RAILS_ROOT', 'RADIANT_ROOT') unless line =~ /:noop/
-        line.gsub!(/FileList\[(["'])/, "FileList[\\1#{RADIANT_ROOT}/")
+        line.gsub!(/(migrate|rollback)\((["'])/, '\1(\2#{RADIANT_ROOT}/')
+        line.gsub!(/(run|new)\((:up|:down), (["'])db/, '\1(\2, \3#{RADIANT_ROOT}/db')
       end
       line
     end
diff --git a/lib/tasks/release.rake b/lib/tasks/release.rake
index 323606f90..a778cd083 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/release.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/release.rake
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ namespace 'radiant' do
     files.exclude /^pkg/
     files.include 'public/.htaccess'
     files.exclude /\btmp\b/
+    files.exclude 'radiant.gemspec'
     s.files = files.to_a
   end
 
diff --git a/lib/tasks/rspec.rake b/lib/tasks/rspec.rake
index 35f81a183..5e7cf782a 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/rspec.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/rspec.rake
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ namespace :spec do
     desc "Run the specs under spec/#{sub}"
     Spec::Rake::SpecTask.new(sub => spec_prereq) do |t|
       t.spec_opts = ['--options', "\"#{RADIANT_ROOT}/spec/spec.opts\""]
-      t.spec_files = FileList["spec/#{sub}/**/*_spec.rb"]
+      t.spec_files = FileList["#{RADIANT_ROOT}/spec/#{sub}/**/*_spec.rb"]
     end
   end
   
diff --git a/lib/tasks/undefine.rake b/lib/tasks/undefine.rake
index 56e3a26e2..171e3161c 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/undefine.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/undefine.rake
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Undefined unneeded tasks in instance mode
-unless File.directory? "#{RAILS_ROOT}/app"
+unless Radiant.app?
   def undefine_task(*names)
     app = Rake.application
     tasks = app.instance_variable_get('@tasks')
diff --git a/spec/generators/extension_generators_spec_helper.rb b/spec/generators/extension_generators_spec_helper.rb
index f8cacae79..1274567b8 100644
--- a/spec/generators/extension_generators_spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/generators/extension_generators_spec_helper.rb
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 RAILS_ENV = 'test'
 BASE_ROOT = File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '../../'))
 require 'fileutils'
+require 'tempfile'
 require 'spec'
 require File.join(BASE_ROOT, 'spec/matchers/generator_matchers')
 require File.join(BASE_ROOT, 'lib/plugins/string_extensions/lib/string_extensions')
@@ -49,7 +50,7 @@ class InstanceTag; end
   end
 
   # Set RAILS_ROOT appropriately fixture generation
-  tmp_dir = File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), "../fixtures/tmp"))
+  tmp_dir = File.expand_path(File.join(Dir.tmpdir, 'radiant'))
   $stdout << "#{tmp_dir}\n\n"
   FileUtils.mkdir_p tmp_dir
 
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 674e4bb58..e16987f2e 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ def rputs(*args)
   class Test::Unit::TestCase
     include Dataset
     datasets_directory "#{RADIANT_ROOT}/spec/datasets"
-
+    Dataset::ClassMethods.datasets_database_dump_path = File.expand_path(RAILS_ROOT + '/tmp/dataset')
+    
     class << self
       # Class method for test helpers
       def test_helper(*names)