diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 10b94fd2..d4a63c15 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -1,103 +1,81 @@
 <?xml version="1.0"?>
-<project name="samskivert" default="compile" basedir=".">
+<project name="samskivert" default="compile" basedir="." xmlns:artifact="urn:maven-artifact-ant">
   <!-- various configurations -->
   <property name="lib.name"    value="samskivert"/>
   <property name="src.dir"     value="src/main/java"/>
   <property name="test.dir"    value="src/test/java"/>
-  <property name="libs.dir"    value="lib"/> <!-- used in libs-incl.xml -->
   <property name="deploy.dir"  value="dist"/>
   <property name="classes.dir" value="${deploy.dir}/classes"/>
   <property name="tclasses.dir" value="${deploy.dir}/test-classes"/>
   <property name="javadoc.dir" value="${deploy.dir}/docs"/>
   <property name="gwtjar.dir"  value="${deploy.dir}/gwt-jar"/>
 
-  <!-- declare our classpath business -->
-  <path id="classpath">
-    <pathelement location="${classes.dir}"/>
-    <fileset dir="${deploy.dir}/lib" includes="*.jar"/>
-  </path>
-
-  <!-- import some targets to enumerate and check dependency availability -->
-  <import file="etc/libs-incl.xml"/>
-  <import file="etc/depends-incl.xml"/>
-
-  <!-- prepares the application directories -->
-  <target name="prepare">
-    <tstamp><format property="year" pattern="yyyy" /></tstamp>
-    <mkdir dir="${deploy.dir}"/>
-    <mkdir dir="${deploy.dir}/lib"/>
-    <mkdir dir="${classes.dir}"/>
-    <mkdir dir="${tclasses.dir}"/>
-    <mkdir dir="${javadoc.dir}"/>
-    <copy todir="${classes.dir}"><fileset dir="src/main/resources" includes="**"/></copy>
-    <copy todir="${tclasses.dir}"><fileset dir="src/test/resources" includes="**"/></copy>
-    <copy todir="${deploy.dir}/lib" flatten="true">
-      <fileset refid="${lib.name}.libs"/>
-    </copy>
-    <!-- make sure we have our minimum required dependencies -->
-    <property name="deps.root" value="http://samskivert.googlecode.com/files"/>
-    <property name="deps.url" value="${deps.root}/samskivert-depends-1.0.zip"/>
-    <fail message="Missing jar dependencies. Download ${deps.url} and unzip it here.">
-      <condition><not><available file="${deploy.dir}/lib/junit4.jar"/></not></condition>
-    </fail>
+  <property name="maven-ant.vers" value="2.1.1"/>
+  <property name="maven-ant.dir" value="${user.home}/.m2/ant-support"/>
+  <property name="maven-ant.jar" value="${maven-ant.dir}/maven-ant-tasks-${maven-ant.vers}.jar"/>
+  <property name="maven-ant.url" value="http://mirrors.ibiblio.org/pub/mirrors/apache/maven/binaries"/>
+  <condition property="maven-ant.exists"><available file="${maven-ant.jar}"/></condition>
+  <target name="-download-maven-ant" unless="maven-ant.exists">
+    <mkdir dir="${maven-ant.dir}"/>
+    <get src="${maven-ant.url}/maven-ant-tasks-${maven-ant.vers}.jar" 
+         dest="${maven-ant.jar}" usetimestamp="true"/>
   </target>
 
-  <!-- cleans out the intermediate build files -->
-  <target name="clean">
+  <target name="-init-maven-ant" depends="-download-maven-ant">
+    <taskdef resource="org/apache/maven/artifact/ant/antlib.xml"
+             uri="urn:maven-artifact-ant" classpath="${maven-ant.jar}"/>
+    <artifact:pom id="pom" file="pom.xml"/>
+    <artifact:dependencies pathId="classpath" pomRefId="pom"/>
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="-prepare" depends="-init-maven-ant">
+    <mkdir dir="${deploy.dir}"/>
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="clean" description="Cleans out compiled classes and docs.">
     <delete dir="${classes.dir}"/>
     <delete dir="${tclasses.dir}"/>
     <delete dir="${deploy.dir}/docs"/>
     <delete dir="${gwtjar.dir}"/>
-    <delete failonerror="false"><fileset dir="${deploy.dir}" includes="*.jar"/></delete>
   </target>
 
-  <!-- wipes the entire build directory clean -->
-  <target name="distclean">
+  <target name="distclean" description="Cleans out all build resultss.">
     <delete dir="${deploy.dir}"/>
   </target>
 
-  <!-- build the java class files -->
-  <target name="compile" depends="prepare,compute-builds">
+  <target name="compile" depends="-prepare" description="Compiles main and test sources.">
+    <mkdir dir="${classes.dir}"/>
+    <copy todir="${classes.dir}"><fileset dir="src/main/resources" includes="**"/></copy>
     <javac srcdir="${src.dir}" destdir="${classes.dir}" includeAntRuntime="false"
            debug="on" optimize="${build.optimize}" source="1.5" target="1.5" encoding="utf-8">
       <classpath refid="classpath"/>
-      <exclude name="com/samskivert/net/MailUtil*" unless="build.mail"/>
-      <exclude name="com/samskivert/servlet/**" unless="build.servlet"/>
-      <exclude name="com/samskivert/util/Log4JLogger*" unless="log4j.present"/>
-      <exclude name="com/samskivert/velocity/**" unless="build.velocity"/>
-      <exclude name="com/samskivert/xml/**" unless="build.xml"/>
       <compilerarg value="-Xlint"/>
       <compilerarg value="-Xlint:-serial"/>
     </javac>
+
+    <mkdir dir="${tclasses.dir}"/>
+    <copy todir="${tclasses.dir}"><fileset dir="src/test/resources" includes="**"/></copy>
     <javac srcdir="${test.dir}" destdir="${tclasses.dir}" includeAntRuntime="false"
            debug="on" optimize="${build.optimize}" source="1.5" target="1.5" encoding="utf-8">
       <classpath>
         <path refid="classpath"/>
        <pathelement location="${classes.dir}"/>
       </classpath>
-      <exclude name="com/samskivert/net/MailUtil*" unless="build.mail"/>
-      <exclude name="com/samskivert/servlet/**" unless="build.servlet"/>
-      <exclude name="com/samskivert/util/Log4JLogger*" unless="log4j.present"/>
-      <exclude name="com/samskivert/velocity/**" unless="build.velocity"/>
-      <exclude name="com/samskivert/xml/**" unless="build.xml"/>
       <compilerarg value="-Xlint"/>
       <compilerarg value="-Xlint:-serial"/>
     </javac>
   </target>
 
-  <!-- build the javadoc documentation -->
-  <target name="javadoc" depends="prepare,compute-builds">
+  <target name="javadoc" depends="-prepare" description="Builds javadocs.">
+    <tstamp><format property="year" pattern="yyyy"/></tstamp>
+    <mkdir dir="${javadoc.dir}"/>
     <javadoc windowtitle="${lib.name} API"
              doctitle="${lib.name} API"
              overview="src/main/javadoc/overview.html"
              destdir="${javadoc.dir}"
              additionalparam="-breakiterator"
              link="http://samskivert.com/code/samskivert/samskivert/docs/api/">
-      <packageset dir="${src.dir}">
-        <exclude name="com/samskivert/servlet/**" unless="build.servlet"/>
-        <exclude name="com/samskivert/velocity/**" unless="build.velocity"/>
-        <exclude name="com/samskivert/xml/**" unless="build.xml"/>
-      </packageset>
+      <packageset dir="${src.dir}"/>
       <bottom>Copyright &#169; 2000-${year} Michael Bayne, et al. All Rights Reserved.</bottom>
       <classpath refid="classpath"/>
       <link href="http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/docs/api/"/>
@@ -105,9 +83,9 @@
   </target>
 
   <!-- a target for rebuilding everything -->
-  <target name="all" depends="clean,compile,javadoc,dist"/>
+  <target name="all" depends="clean,compile,javadoc,dist"
+          description="Cleans and rebuilds everything."/>
 
-  <!-- runs our unit tests -->
   <property name="test" value=""/>
   <target name="tests" depends="compile" 
           description="Runs unit tests. Use -Dtest=Foo to run only FooTest.">
@@ -117,24 +95,18 @@
       <classpath>
         <pathelement location="${classes.dir}"/>
         <pathelement location="${tclasses.dir}"/>
-        <fileset dir="${deploy.dir}/lib" includes="*.jar"/>
+        <path refid="classpath"/>
         <fileset dir="lib/test" includes="*.jar"/>
       </classpath>
       <sysproperty key="test_dir" value="${tclasses.dir}"/>
       <formatter type="brief" usefile="false"/>
       <batchtest>
-        <fileset dir="${test.dir}">
-          <include name="**/*${test}*Test.java"/>
-          <exclude name="com/samskivert/servlet/**" unless="build.servlet"/>
-          <exclude name="com/samskivert/velocity/**" unless="build.velocity"/>
-          <exclude name="com/samskivert/xml/**" unless="build.xml"/>
-        </fileset>
+        <fileset dir="${test.dir}" includes="**/*${test}*Test.java"/>
       </batchtest>
     </unit>
   </target>
 
-  <!-- builds our jar file -->
-  <target name="dist" depends="compile">
+  <target name="dist" depends="compile" description="Builds jar files.">
     <jar destfile="${deploy.dir}/${lib.name}.jar" basedir="${classes.dir}"/>
     <!-- we export a small selection of classes for use by GWT -->
     <mkdir dir="${gwtjar.dir}"/>
diff --git a/etc/depends-incl.xml b/etc/depends-incl.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index e6df8714..00000000
--- a/etc/depends-incl.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,74 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0"?>
-
-<!-- build configuration -->
-<project name="samskivert-checks" basedir=".">
-
-  <!-- checks to see which packages are available -->
-  <target name="check-available">
-    <echo level="info">The packages required for building are listed below. A package</echo>
-    <echo level="info">followed by 'true' indicates that the package is present.</echo>
-    <echo level="info"></echo>
-
-    <available property="servlet2.3.present" classpathref="classpath"
-     classname="javax.servlet.Servlet"/>
-    <echo level="info">Servlet 2.3: ${servlet2.3.present}</echo>
-    <available property="mail.present" classpathref="classpath"
-     classname="javax.mail.Transport"/>
-    <echo level="info">Java Mail: ${mail.present}</echo>
-    <available property="jakarta.commons-colls.present" classpathref="classpath"
-     classname="org.apache.commons.collections.CollectionUtils"/>
-    <echo level="info">Commons Collections: ${jakarta.commons-colls.present}</echo>
-    <available property="jakarta.commons-logging.present" classpathref="classpath"
-     classname="org.apache.commons.logging.Log"/>
-    <echo level="info">Commons Logging: ${jakarta.commons-logging.present}</echo>
-    <available property="jakarta.commons-digester.present" classpathref="classpath"
-     classname="org.apache.commons.digester.Digester"/>
-    <echo level="info">Commons Digester: ${jakarta.commons-digester.present}</echo>
-    <available property="jakarta.velocity.present" classpathref="classpath"
-     classname="org.apache.velocity.Template"/>
-    <echo level="info">Velocity: ${jakarta.velocity.present}</echo>
-    <available property="log4j.present" classpathref="classpath"
-     classname="org.apache.log4j.Logger"/>
-    <echo level="info">log4j: ${log4j.present}</echo>
-  </target>
-
-  <!-- combines package availability into build controls -->
-  <target name="compute-builds" depends="check-available">
-    <echo level="info">The packages that will be built are listed below. One followed</echo>
-    <echo level="info">by 'true' indicates that it will be built.</echo>
-    <echo level="info"></echo>
-
-    <condition property="build.servlet">
-      <and>
-        <isset property="servlet2.3.present"/>
-      </and>
-    </condition>
-    <echo level="info">com.samskivert.servlet: ${build.servlet}</echo>
-
-    <condition property="build.velocity">
-      <and>
-        <isset property="build.servlet"/>
-        <isset property="jakarta.commons-colls.present"/>
-        <isset property="jakarta.velocity.present"/>
-        <isset property="servlet2.3.present"/>
-      </and>
-    </condition>
-    <echo level="info">com.samskivert.velocity: ${build.velocity}</echo>
-
-    <condition property="build.xml">
-      <and>
-        <isset property="jakarta.commons-logging.present"/>
-        <isset property="jakarta.commons-digester.present"/>
-      </and>
-    </condition>
-    <echo level="info">com.samskivert.xml: ${build.xml}</echo>
-
-    <condition property="build.mail">
-      <and>
-        <isset property="mail.present"/>
-      </and>
-    </condition>
-    <echo level="info">com.samskivert.net.MailUtil: ${build.mail}</echo>
-  </target>
-
-</project>
diff --git a/etc/libs-incl.xml b/etc/libs-incl.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 6fd247fd..00000000
--- a/etc/libs-incl.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0"?>
-<!-- declares the libraries needed to build samskivert -->
-<project name="library-dependencies">
-  <fileset dir="${libs.dir}" id="samskivert.libs">
-    <include name="ant.jar"/>
-    <include name="commons-collections.jar"/>
-    <include name="commons-digester.jar"/>
-    <include name="commons-logging.jar"/>
-    <include name="junit4.jar"/>
-    <include name="log4j.jar"/>
-    <include name="mail.jar"/>
-    <include name="servlet-api.jar"/>
-    <include name="velocity-1.5-dev.jar"/>
-  </fileset>
-</project>