diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index b6be77d1f..7fb6ca16e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
-Changes between 1.0.0b3 and 1.0.0
+Changes between 1.0.0b3 and 1.0.0b6
 =============================================
 
+* renamed py.test.xfail back to py.test.mark.xfail to avoid 
+  two ways to decorate for xfail
+
 * re-added py.test.mark decorator for setting keywords on functions 
+  (it was actually documented so removing it was not nice) 
 
 * remove scope-argument from request.addfinalizer() because 
   request.cached_setup has the scope arg. TOOWTDI. 
diff --git a/py/execnet/testing/test_gateway.py b/py/execnet/testing/test_gateway.py
index f5bba5b90..7b8514e38 100644
--- a/py/execnet/testing/test_gateway.py
+++ b/py/execnet/testing/test_gateway.py
@@ -543,7 +543,7 @@ class TestPopenGateway(PopenGatewayTestSetup, BasicRemoteExecution):
             ret = channel.receive()
             assert ret == 42
             
-    @py.test.xfail # "fix needed: dying remote process does not cause waitclose() to fail"
+    @py.test.mark.xfail # "fix needed: dying remote process does not cause waitclose() to fail"
     def test_waitclose_on_remote_killed(self):
         gw = py.execnet.PopenGateway()
         channel = gw.remote_exec("""
@@ -616,12 +616,12 @@ class TestSshGateway(BasicRemoteExecution):
     def test_sshaddress(self):
         assert self.gw.remoteaddress == self.sshhost
 
-    @py.test.xfail # XXX ssh-gateway error handling
+    @py.test.mark.xfail # XXX ssh-gateway error handling
     def test_connexion_failes_on_non_existing_hosts(self):
         py.test.raises(IOError, 
             "py.execnet.SshGateway('nowhere.codespeak.net')")
 
-    @py.test.xfail # "XXX ssh-gateway error handling"
+    @py.test.mark.xfail # "XXX ssh-gateway error handling"
     def test_deprecated_identity(self):
         py.test.deprecated_call(
             py.test.raises, IOError, 
diff --git a/py/test/dist/testing/test_dsession.py b/py/test/dist/testing/test_dsession.py
index 542ae9ba8..02679a75c 100644
--- a/py/test/dist/testing/test_dsession.py
+++ b/py/test/dist/testing/test_dsession.py
@@ -367,7 +367,7 @@ class TestDSession:
         assert node.gateway.spec.popen
         #XXX eq.geteventargs("pytest_sessionfinish")
 
-    @py.test.xfail
+    @py.test.mark.xfail
     def test_collected_function_causes_remote_skip_at_module_level(self, testdir):
         p = testdir.makepyfile("""
             import py
diff --git a/py/test/dist/testing/test_nodemanage.py b/py/test/dist/testing/test_nodemanage.py
index b95a1c4c8..da4fd979b 100644
--- a/py/test/dist/testing/test_nodemanage.py
+++ b/py/test/dist/testing/test_nodemanage.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ class pytest_funcarg__mysetup:
         request.getfuncargvalue("_pytest")
 
 class TestNodeManager:
-    @py.test.xfail
+    @py.test.mark.xfail
     def test_rsync_roots_no_roots(self, mysetup):
         mysetup.source.ensure("dir1", "file1").write("hello")
         config = py.test.config._reparse([source])
diff --git a/py/test/plugin/pytest_xfail.py b/py/test/plugin/pytest_xfail.py
index 77e9274b0..d53bd1a6b 100644
--- a/py/test/plugin/pytest_xfail.py
+++ b/py/test/plugin/pytest_xfail.py
@@ -3,13 +3,15 @@ mark tests as expected-to-fail and report them separately.
 
 example: 
 
-    @py.test.xfail
+    @py.test.mark.xfail
     def test_hello():
         ...
         assert 0
 """
 import py
 
+pytest_plugins = ['keyword']
+
 def pytest_runtest_makereport(__call__, item, call):
     if call.when != "call":
         return
@@ -52,12 +54,6 @@ def pytest_terminal_summary(terminalreporter):
         for event in xpassed:
             tr._tw.line("%s: xpassed" %(event.item,))
 
-def xfail_decorator(func):
-    func.xfail = True
-    return func
- 
-def pytest_namespace(config):
-    return dict(xfail=xfail_decorator)
 
 # ===============================================================================
 #
@@ -68,11 +64,11 @@ def pytest_namespace(config):
 def test_xfail(testdir, linecomp):
     p = testdir.makepyfile(test_one="""
         import py
-        @py.test.xfail
+        @py.test.mark.xfail
         def test_this():
             assert 0
 
-        @py.test.xfail
+        @py.test.mark.xfail
         def test_that():
             assert 1
     """)
diff --git a/py/test/testing/test_pluginmanager.py b/py/test/testing/test_pluginmanager.py
index e1d4ec3e8..b1fc23f28 100644
--- a/py/test/testing/test_pluginmanager.py
+++ b/py/test/testing/test_pluginmanager.py
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ class TestPytestPluginInteractions:
         assert not pluginmanager.listattr("hello")
         assert pluginmanager.listattr("x") == [42]
 
-    @py.test.xfail # setup call methods
+    @py.test.mark.xfail # setup call methods
     def test_call_setup_participants(self, testdir):
         testdir.makepyfile(
             conftest="""