diff --git a/org.springframework.beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/access/SingletonBeanFactoryLocator.java b/org.springframework.beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/access/SingletonBeanFactoryLocator.java
index 1656fcf12c..2bdc1e5e5b 100644
--- a/org.springframework.beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/access/SingletonBeanFactoryLocator.java
+++ b/org.springframework.beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/access/SingletonBeanFactoryLocator.java
@@ -387,12 +387,12 @@ public class SingletonBeanFactoryLocator implements BeanFactoryLocator {
 					this.bfgInstancesByKey.remove(this.resourceLocation);
 					this.bfgInstancesByObj.remove(groupContext);
 					throw new BootstrapException("Unable to initialize group definition. " +
-						"Group resource name [" + this.resourceLocation + "], factory key [" + factoryKey + "]", ex);
+							"Group resource name [" + this.resourceLocation + "], factory key [" + factoryKey + "]", ex);
 				}
 			}
 
 			try {
-				BeanFactory beanFactory = null;
+				BeanFactory beanFactory;
 				if (factoryKey != null) {
 					beanFactory = bfg.definition.getBean(factoryKey, BeanFactory.class);
 				}
diff --git a/org.springframework.beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/config/PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer.java b/org.springframework.beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/config/PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer.java
index 0c5a3170e2..4fa46be645 100644
--- a/org.springframework.beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/config/PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer.java
+++ b/org.springframework.beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/factory/config/PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 package org.springframework.beans.factory.config;
 
 import java.util.Properties;
+import java.util.Set;
 
 import org.springframework.beans.BeansException;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException;
@@ -352,12 +353,25 @@ public class PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer extends PropertyResourceConfigurer
 		}
 	}
 
-
 	/**
-	 * BeanDefinitionVisitor that resolves placeholders in String values,
-	 * delegating to the <code>parseStringValue</code> method of the
-	 * containing class.
+	 * Parse the given String value for placeholder resolution.
+	 * @param strVal the String value to parse
+	 * @param props the Properties to resolve placeholders against
+	 * @param visitedPlaceholders the placeholders that have already been visited
+	 * during the current resolution attempt (ignored in this version of the code)
+	 * @deprecated as of Spring 3.0, in favor of using {@link #resolvePlaceholder}
+	 * with {@link org.springframework.util.PropertyPlaceholderHelper}.
+	 * Only retained for compatibility with Spring 2.5 extensions.
 	 */
+	@Deprecated
+	protected String parseStringValue(String strVal, Properties props, Set visitedPlaceholders) {
+		PropertyPlaceholderHelper helper = new PropertyPlaceholderHelper(
+				placeholderPrefix, placeholderSuffix, valueSeparator, ignoreUnresolvablePlaceholders);
+		PlaceholderResolver resolver = new PropertyPlaceholderConfigurerResolver(props);
+		return helper.replacePlaceholders(strVal, resolver);
+	}
+
+
 	private class PlaceholderResolvingStringValueResolver implements StringValueResolver {
 
 		private final PropertyPlaceholderHelper helper;