diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index a3d6b41c3..b17fa69df 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ New features
 
   (thanks Ronny Pfannschmidt) 
 
+- introduce '--junitprefix=STR' option to prepend a prefix 
+  to all reports in the junitxml file. 
+
 - Funcarg factories can now dynamically apply a marker to a 
   test invocation.  This is particularly useful if a factory
   provides parameters to a test which you expect-to-fail:
diff --git a/py/_plugin/pytest_junitxml.py b/py/_plugin/pytest_junitxml.py
index 4fca5ffe3..82910114e 100644
--- a/py/_plugin/pytest_junitxml.py
+++ b/py/_plugin/pytest_junitxml.py
@@ -11,11 +11,14 @@ def pytest_addoption(parser):
     group.addoption('--junitxml', action="store", dest="xmlpath", 
            metavar="path", default=None,
            help="create junit-xml style report file at given path.")
+    group.addoption('--junitprefix', action="store", dest="junitprefix", 
+           metavar="str", default=None,
+           help="prepend prefix to classnames in junit-xml output")
 
 def pytest_configure(config):
     xmlpath = config.option.xmlpath
     if xmlpath:
-        config._xml = LogXML(xmlpath)
+        config._xml = LogXML(xmlpath, config.option.junitprefix)
         config.pluginmanager.register(config._xml)
 
 def pytest_unconfigure(config):
@@ -25,18 +28,25 @@ def pytest_unconfigure(config):
         config.pluginmanager.unregister(xml)
 
 class LogXML(object):
-    def __init__(self, logfile):
+    def __init__(self, logfile, prefix):
         self.logfile = logfile
+        self.prefix = prefix
         self.test_logs = []
         self.passed = self.skipped = 0
         self.failed = self.errors = 0
         self._durations = {}
   
     def _opentestcase(self, report):
-        node = report.item 
-        d = {'time': self._durations.pop(report.item, "0")}
+        if hasattr(report, 'item'):
+            node = report.item
+        else:
+            node = report.collector
+        d = {'time': self._durations.pop(node, "0")}
         names = [x.replace(".py", "") for x in node.listnames() if x != "()"]
-        d['classname'] = ".".join(names[:-1])
+        classnames = names[:-1]
+        if self.prefix:
+            classnames.insert(0, self.prefix)
+        d['classname'] = ".".join(classnames)
         d['name'] = py.xml.escape(names[-1])
         attrs = ['%s="%s"' % item for item in sorted(d.items())]
         self.test_logs.append("\n<testcase %s>" % " ".join(attrs))
@@ -66,17 +76,8 @@ class LogXML(object):
             self.failed += 1
         self._closetestcase()
 
-    def _opentestcase_collectfailure(self, report):
-        node = report.collector
-        d = {'time': '???'}
-        names = [x.replace(".py", "") for x in node.listnames() if x != "()"]
-        d['classname'] = ".".join(names[:-1])
-        d['name'] = py.xml.escape(names[-1])
-        attrs = ['%s="%s"' % item for item in sorted(d.items())]
-        self.test_logs.append("\n<testcase %s>" % " ".join(attrs))
-
     def append_collect_failure(self, report):
-        self._opentestcase_collectfailure(report)
+        self._opentestcase(report)
         #msg = str(report.longrepr.reprtraceback.extraline)
         self.appendlog('<failure message="collection failure">%s</failure>', 
             report.longrepr)
@@ -84,7 +85,7 @@ class LogXML(object):
         self.errors += 1
 
     def append_collect_skipped(self, report):
-        self._opentestcase_collectfailure(report)
+        self._opentestcase(report)
         #msg = str(report.longrepr.reprtraceback.extraline)
         self.appendlog('<skipped message="collection skipped">%s</skipped>',
             report.longrepr)
diff --git a/testing/plugin/test_pytest_junitxml.py b/testing/plugin/test_pytest_junitxml.py
index ba51e4b01..a0b97e5d6 100644
--- a/testing/plugin/test_pytest_junitxml.py
+++ b/testing/plugin/test_pytest_junitxml.py
@@ -119,6 +119,28 @@ class TestPython:
             classname="test_failure_escape.test_failure_escape", 
             name="test_func[&]")
 
+    def test_junit_prefixing(self, testdir):
+        testdir.makepyfile("""
+            def test_func(): 
+                assert 0
+            class TestHello:
+                def test_hello(self):
+                    pass
+        """)
+        result, dom = runandparse(testdir, "--junitprefix=xyz")
+        assert result.ret 
+        node = dom.getElementsByTagName("testsuite")[0]
+        assert_attr(node, failures=1, tests=2)
+        tnode = node.getElementsByTagName("testcase")[0]
+        assert_attr(tnode, 
+            classname="xyz.test_junit_prefixing.test_junit_prefixing",
+            name="test_func")
+        tnode = node.getElementsByTagName("testcase")[1]
+        assert_attr(tnode, 
+            classname="xyz.test_junit_prefixing.test_junit_prefixing."
+                      "TestHello", 
+            name="test_hello")
+
     def test_xfailure_function(self, testdir):
         testdir.makepyfile("""
             import py