diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index e69822b5..1f402c97 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@
   <property name="javadoc.home"   value="${deploy.dir}/docs"/>
   <property name="classes.dir"    value="${deploy.dir}/classes"/>
 
+  <!-- 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 business -->
   <path id="classpath">
     <pathelement location="${classes.dir}"/>
@@ -62,17 +67,23 @@
     <copy todir="${classes.dir}/rsrc">
       <fileset dir="rsrc" includes="**/*"/>
     </copy>
-    <copy todir="${deploy.dir}/lib">
-      <fileset dir="lib" includes="**/*.jar"/>
+    <copy todir="${deploy.dir}/lib" flatten="true">
+      <fileset refid="${app.name}.libs"/>
     </copy>
   </target>
 
-  <!-- cleans out the installed application -->
+  <!-- cleans out the intermediate build files -->
   <target name="clean">
-    <delete dir="${deploy.dir}"/>
+    <delete dir="${deploy.dir}/classes"/>
+    <delete dir="${deploy.dir}/docs"/>
     <ant dir="tests" target="clean"/>
   </target>
 
+  <!-- wipes the entire build directory clean -->
+  <target name="distclean" depends="clean">
+    <delete dir="${deploy.dir}"/>
+  </target>
+
   <!-- build the java class files -->
   <target name="compile" depends="check-available,prepare">
     <javac srcdir="src/java" destdir="${classes.dir}"
diff --git a/lib/LIBS b/lib/LIBS
deleted file mode 100644
index a29eb07e..00000000
--- a/lib/LIBS
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
-commons-collections.jar
-commons-digester.jar
-commons-io.jar
-jme-awt.jar
-jme-bui.jar
-jme-effects.jar
-jme-model.jar
-jme-sound.jar
-jme-terrain.jar
-jme.jar
-junit-3.7.jar
-lwjgl.jar
-lwjgl_util.jar
-narya-base.jar
-narya-distrib.jar
-retroweaver-all-1.2.2.jar
-samskivert.jar
-xml-writer.jar
diff --git a/libs-incl.xml b/libs-incl.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f6f82006
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libs-incl.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<!-- declares the libraries needed to build nenya -->
+<project name="library-dependencies">
+  <fileset dir="${projects.root}" id="nenya.libs">
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/commons-collections.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/commons-digester.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/commons-io.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/junit-3.7.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/retroweaver-all-1.2.2.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/xml-writer.jar"/>
+    <!-- these might come from lib/ -->
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/samskivert.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/narya-base.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/narya-distrib.jar"/>
+    <!-- or from the build directories of the actual projects -->
+    <include name="${samskivert.dir}/dist/samskivert.jar"/>
+    <include name="${narya.dir}/dist/narya-base.jar"/>
+    <include name="${narya.dir}/dist/narya-distrib.jar"/>
+    <!-- these LWJGL and JME libraries are optional -->
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/lwjgl.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/lwjgl_util.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/jme-awt.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/jme-effects.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/jme-model.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/jme-sound.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/jme-terrain.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/jme.jar"/>
+    <include name="${libs.dir}/jme-bui.jar"/>
+    <include name="${bui.dir}/dist/jme-bui.jar"/>
+  </fileset>
+</project>