diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index a15ec65..82e6835 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -18,6 +18,11 @@
   <property name="copyright.holder" value="Three Rings Design, Inc."/>
   <property name="copy.post"    value="All Rights Reserved."/>
 
+  <!-- import some targets to enumerate library dependencies -->
+  <property name="projects.root" value="."/>
+  <property name="libs.dir" value="lib"/>
+  <import file="libs-incl.xml"/>
+
   <!-- declare our classpath -->
   <path id="clazzpath">
     <pathelement location="${deploy.dir}/classes"/>
@@ -25,7 +30,7 @@
   </path>
 
   <!-- checks the availability of certain libraries -->
-  <target name="check-available">
+  <target name="check-available" depends="prepare">
     <available property="snark.present"
      classname="org.klomp.snark.Snark" classpathref="clazzpath"/>
     <echo message="Have Snark: ${snark.present}"/>
@@ -35,7 +40,7 @@
   </target>
 
   <!-- prepares the application directories -->
-  <target name="prepare" depends="check-available">
+  <target name="prepare">
     <mkdir dir="${deploy.dir}/lib"/>
     <mkdir dir="${deploy.dir}/classes"/>
     <mkdir dir="${javadoc.dir}"/>
@@ -48,6 +53,9 @@
     <copy todir="${deploy.dir}/lib">
       <fileset dir="lib" includes="**/*.jar"/>
     </copy>
+    <copy todir="${deploy.dir}/lib" flatten="true">
+      <fileset refid="${app.name}.libs"/>
+    </copy>
   </target>
 
   <!-- cleans out the intermediate build files -->
@@ -62,7 +70,7 @@
   </target>
 
   <!-- build the java class files -->
-  <target name="compile" depends="prepare">
+  <target name="compile" depends="check-available">
     <javac srcdir="${src.dir}" destdir="${deploy.dir}/classes"
            debug="on" optimize="off" deprecation="on"
            classpathref="clazzpath" includeAntRuntime="no"
@@ -88,10 +96,10 @@
   </target>
 
   <!-- a target for rebuilding everything -->
-  <target name="all" depends="clean,prepare,compile,javadoc,dist"/>
+  <target name="all" depends="clean,check-available,compile,javadoc,dist"/>
 
   <!-- builds our distribution files -->
-  <target name="dist" depends="prepare,compile">
+  <target name="dist" depends="check-available,compile">
     <jar destfile="${deploy.dir}/${app.name}.jar" manifest="lib/manifest.mf"
          basedir="${deploy.dir}/classes"/>
   </target>
diff --git a/libs-incl.xml b/libs-incl.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c9630d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libs-incl.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<!-- declares the libraries needed to build getdown -->
+<project name="library-dependencies">
+  <fileset dir="${projects.root}" id="getdown.libs">
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/ant.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/commons-codec.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/commons-io.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/proguard.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/retroweaver-all-1.2.2.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/retroweaver-rt-1.2.2.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/samskivert.jar"/>
+    <include name="${project.dir}/samskivert/dist/samskivert.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/snark.jar"/>
+    <include name="${project.dir}/snark/dist/snark.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/javaws.jar"/>
+    <include name="lib/javaws.jar"/>
+  </fileset>
+</project>