diff --git a/IPython/kernel/scripts/ipcluster.py b/IPython/kernel/scripts/ipcluster.py
index b76a6db..aa0edf2 100644
--- a/IPython/kernel/scripts/ipcluster.py
+++ b/IPython/kernel/scripts/ipcluster.py
@@ -256,6 +256,24 @@ def clusterLocal(opt,arg):
 def clusterRemote(opt,arg):
     """Start a remote cluster over SSH"""
 
+    # B. Granger, 9/3/08
+    # The launching of a remote cluster using SSH and a clusterfile
+    # is broken.  Because it won't be fixed before the 0.9 release, 
+    # we are removing it.  For now, we just print a message to the 
+    # user and abort.
+    
+    print """The launching of a remote IPython cluster using SSL
+and a clusterfile has been removed in this release.  
+It has been broken for a while and we are in the process 
+of building a new process management system that will be 
+used to provide a more robust way of starting an IPython
+cluster.
+
+For now remote clusters have to be launched using ipcontroller
+and ipengine separately.
+    """
+    sys.exit(1)
+
     # Load the remote cluster configuration
     clConfig = {}
     execfile(opt.clusterfile,clConfig)