diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/CreateProjectCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/CreateProjectCommand.php
index 1b3ee0324..761f1b0b1 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/CreateProjectCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/CreateProjectCommand.php
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ EOT
         if (null === $repositoryUrl) {
             $sourceRepo = new CompositeRepository(Factory::createDefaultRepositories($io, $config));
         } elseif ("json" === pathinfo($repositoryUrl, PATHINFO_EXTENSION)) {
-            $sourceRepo = new FilesystemRepository(new JsonFile($repositoryUrl, new RemoteFilesystem($io)));
+            $sourceRepo = new FilesystemRepository(new JsonFile($repositoryUrl, Factory::createRemoteFilesystem($io, $config)));
         } elseif (0 === strpos($repositoryUrl, 'http')) {
             $sourceRepo = new ComposerRepository(array('url' => $repositoryUrl), $io, $config);
         } else {
diff --git a/src/Composer/Downloader/FileDownloader.php b/src/Composer/Downloader/FileDownloader.php
index 2f8c048dc..db982f1d7 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Downloader/FileDownloader.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Downloader/FileDownloader.php
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ namespace Composer\Downloader;
 
 use Composer\Config;
 use Composer\Cache;
+use Composer\Factory;
 use Composer\IO\IOInterface;
 use Composer\Package\PackageInterface;
 use Composer\Package\Version\VersionParser;
@@ -56,7 +57,7 @@ class FileDownloader implements DownloaderInterface
         $this->io = $io;
         $this->config = $config;
         $this->eventDispatcher = $eventDispatcher;
-        $this->rfs = $rfs ?: new RemoteFilesystem($io);
+        $this->rfs = $rfs ?: Factory::createRemoteFilesystem($this->io, $config);
         $this->filesystem = $filesystem ?: new Filesystem();
         $this->cache = $cache;
 
diff --git a/src/Composer/Downloader/VcsDownloader.php b/src/Composer/Downloader/VcsDownloader.php
index 4e06d63f8..399029f13 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Downloader/VcsDownloader.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Downloader/VcsDownloader.php
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 namespace Composer\Downloader;
 
 use Composer\Config;
+use Composer\Factory;
 use Composer\Package\PackageInterface;
 use Composer\Package\Version\VersionParser;
 use Composer\Util\ProcessExecutor;
diff --git a/src/Composer/Factory.php b/src/Composer/Factory.php
index 272e8365d..69a40a60a 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Factory.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Factory.php
@@ -195,24 +195,7 @@ class Factory
         if (is_string($localConfig)) {
             $composerFile = $localConfig;
 
-            $rfs = null;
-            if (preg_match("|^https?://|i", $localConfig)) {
-                $disableTls = false;
-                if($input->getOption('disable-tls')) {
-                    //$output->writeln('<warning>You are running Composer with SSL/TLS protection disabled.</warning>'); //TODO
-                    $disableTls = true;
-                } elseif (!extension_loaded('openssl')) {
-                    throw new \RuntimeException('The openssl extension is required for SSL/TLS protection but is not available. '
-                        . 'You can disable this error, at your own risk, by passing the \'--disable-tls\' option to this command.');
-                }
-
-                $rfsOptions = array();
-                if ($disableTls === false && !is_null($input->getOption('cafile'))) {
-                        $rfsOptions = array('ssl'=>array('cafile'=>$input->getOption('cafile')));
-                }
-                $rfs = new RemoteFilesystem($io, $rfsOptions, $disableTls);
-            }
-
+            $rfs = Factory::createRemoteFilesystem($io);
             $file = new JsonFile($localConfig, $rfs);
 
             if (!$file->exists()) {
@@ -468,10 +451,16 @@ class Factory
         return $factory->createComposer($io, $config, $disablePlugins, $input);
     }
 
-    public static function createRemoteFilesystem(IOInterface $io, Config $config, $options = array())
+    /**
+     * @param IOInterface   $io         IO instance
+     * @param Config        $config     Config instance
+     * @param array         $options    Array of options passed directly to RemoteFilesystem constructor
+     * @return RemoteFilesystem
+     */
+    public static function createRemoteFilesystem(IOInterface $io, Config $config = null, $options = array())
     {
         $disableTls = false;
-        if($config->get('disable-tls') === true || $io->getInputOption('disable-tls')) {
+        if((isset($config) && $config->get('disable-tls') === true) || $io->getInputOption('disable-tls')) {
             $io->write('<warning>You are running Composer with SSL/TLS protection disabled.</warning>');
             $disableTls = true;
         } elseif (!extension_loaded('openssl')) {
@@ -480,7 +469,7 @@ class Factory
         }
         $remoteFilesystemOptions = array();
         if ($disableTls === false) {
-            if (!empty($config->get('cafile'))) {
+            if (isset($config) && !empty($config->get('cafile'))) {
                 $remoteFilesystemOptions = array('ssl'=>array('cafile'=>$config->get('cafile')));
             }
             if (!empty($io->getInputOption('cafile'))) {
diff --git a/src/Composer/IO/IOInterface.php b/src/Composer/IO/IOInterface.php
index f117ce974..cd2a6b7f6 100644
--- a/src/Composer/IO/IOInterface.php
+++ b/src/Composer/IO/IOInterface.php
@@ -164,4 +164,22 @@ interface IOInterface
      * @param Config $config
      */
     public function loadConfiguration(Config $config);
+
+    /**
+     * Get the value of an input option
+     *
+     * @param string $optionName    The name of the option whose value is to be retrieved
+     *
+     * @return mixed
+     */
+    public function getInputOption($optionName);
+
+    /**
+     * Get the value of an input argument
+     *
+     * @param string $argumentName  The name of the argument whose value is to be retrieved
+     *
+     * @return mixed
+     */
+    public function getInputArgument($argumentName);
 }
diff --git a/src/Composer/IO/NullIO.php b/src/Composer/IO/NullIO.php
index f3ecde0cb..de5bb52ae 100644
--- a/src/Composer/IO/NullIO.php
+++ b/src/Composer/IO/NullIO.php
@@ -104,4 +104,20 @@ class NullIO extends BaseIO
     {
         return null;
     }
+
+    /**
+     * {@inheritDoc}
+     */
+    public function getInputOption($optionName)
+    {
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * {@inheritDoc}
+     */
+    public function getInputArgument($ArgumentName)
+    {
+        return null;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/ComposerRepository.php b/src/Composer/Repository/ComposerRepository.php
index 1d686cae1..3845f9c39 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/ComposerRepository.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/ComposerRepository.php
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ use Composer\DependencyResolver\Pool;
 use Composer\Json\JsonFile;
 use Composer\Cache;
 use Composer\Config;
+use Composer\Factory;
 use Composer\IO\IOInterface;
 use Composer\Util\RemoteFilesystem;
 use Composer\Plugin\PluginEvents;
@@ -85,7 +86,7 @@ class ComposerRepository extends ArrayRepository implements StreamableRepository
         $this->io = $io;
         $this->cache = new Cache($io, $config->get('cache-repo-dir').'/'.preg_replace('{[^a-z0-9.]}i', '-', $this->url), 'a-z0-9.$');
         $this->loader = new ArrayLoader();
-        $this->rfs = new RemoteFilesystem($this->io, $this->options);
+        $this->rfs = Factory::createRemoteFilesystem($this->io, $this->config, $this->options);
         $this->eventDispatcher = $eventDispatcher;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/PearRepository.php b/src/Composer/Repository/PearRepository.php
index a106385a5..1674b7a0b 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/PearRepository.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/PearRepository.php
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ use Composer\Package\Link;
 use Composer\Package\LinkConstraint\VersionConstraint;
 use Composer\Util\RemoteFilesystem;
 use Composer\Config;
+use Composer\Factory;
 
 /**
  * Builds list of package from PEAR channel.
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ class PearRepository extends ArrayRepository
 
         $this->url = rtrim($repoConfig['url'], '/');
         $this->io = $io;
-        $this->rfs = $rfs ?: new RemoteFilesystem($this->io);
+        $this->rfs = $rfs ?: Factory::createRemoteFilesystem($this->io, $config);
         $this->vendorAlias = isset($repoConfig['vendor-alias']) ? $repoConfig['vendor-alias'] : null;
         $this->versionParser = new VersionParser();
     }
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/VcsDriver.php b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/VcsDriver.php
index f1112074e..34297f81b 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/VcsDriver.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/Vcs/VcsDriver.php
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ namespace Composer\Repository\Vcs;
 
 use Composer\Downloader\TransportException;
 use Composer\Config;
+use Composer\Factory;
 use Composer\IO\IOInterface;
 use Composer\Util\ProcessExecutor;
 use Composer\Util\RemoteFilesystem;
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ abstract class VcsDriver implements VcsDriverInterface
         $this->io = $io;
         $this->config = $config;
         $this->process = $process ?: new ProcessExecutor($io);
-        $this->remoteFilesystem = $remoteFilesystem ?: new RemoteFilesystem($io);
+        $this->remoteFilesystem = $remoteFilesystem ?: Factory::createRemoteFilesystem($this->io, $config);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/Composer/Util/ConfigValidator.php b/src/Composer/Util/ConfigValidator.php
index 408342940..9308028b7 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Util/ConfigValidator.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Util/ConfigValidator.php
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ class ConfigValidator
         // validate json schema
         $laxValid = false;
         try {
-            $json = new JsonFile($file, new RemoteFilesystem($this->io)); //TODO
+            $json = new JsonFile($file, Factory::createRemoteFilesystem($this->io)); //TODO
             $manifest = $json->read();
 
             $json->validateSchema(JsonFile::LAX_SCHEMA);
diff --git a/src/Composer/Util/GitHub.php b/src/Composer/Util/GitHub.php
index b69073d13..0cba17027 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Util/GitHub.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Util/GitHub.php
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ class GitHub
         $this->io = $io;
         $this->config = $config;
         $this->process = $process ?: new ProcessExecutor;
-        $this->remoteFilesystem = $remoteFilesystem ?: new RemoteFilesystem($io);
+        $this->remoteFilesystem = $remoteFilesystem ?: Factory::createRemoteFilesystem($this->io, $config);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Downloader/ZipDownloaderTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Downloader/ZipDownloaderTest.php
index bbe77d7ee..a7d4cde68 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Downloader/ZipDownloaderTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Downloader/ZipDownloaderTest.php
@@ -33,7 +33,15 @@ class ZipDownloaderTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 
         $io = $this->getMock('Composer\IO\IOInterface');
         $config = $this->getMock('Composer\Config');
-        $config->expects($this->any())
+        $config->expects($this->at(0))
+            ->method('get')
+            ->with('disable-tls')
+            ->will($this->returnValue(false));
+        $config->expects($this->at(1))
+            ->method('get')
+            ->with('cafile')
+            ->will($this->returnValue(null));
+        $config->expects($this->at(2))
             ->method('get')
             ->with('vendor-dir')
             ->will($this->returnValue(sys_get_temp_dir().'/composer-zip-test-vendor'));