diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 8677ae6e..1f0c2518 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
   <!-- import some targets to enumerate library dependencies -->
   <property name="libs.dir" value="lib"/>
   <import file="libs-incl.xml"/>
+  <import file="depends-incl.xml"/>
 
   <!-- declare our classpath business -->
   <path id="classpath">
@@ -101,30 +102,6 @@
     </genscript>
   </target>
 
-  <!-- checks the availability of certain libraries -->
-  <target name="check-available">
-    <available property="lwjgl.present"
-     classname="org.lwjgl.LWJGLException" classpathref="classpath"/>
-    <available property="jme.present"
-     classname="com.jme.scene.Node" classpathref="classpath"/>
-    <available property="jme-bui.present"
-     classname="com.jmex.bui.BWindow" classpathref="classpath"/>
-    <available property="jme-sound.present"
-     classname="com.jmex.sound.openAL.SoundSystem" classpathref="classpath"/>
-    <condition property="build.jme">
-      <and>
-        <isset property="jme.present"/>
-        <isset property="jme-bui.present"/>
-      </and>
-    </condition>
-    <condition property="build.openal">
-      <and>
-        <isset property="lwjgl.present"/>
-        <isset property="jme-sound.present"/>
-      </and>
-    </condition>
-  </target>
-
   <!-- prepares the application directories -->
   <target name="prepare">
     <mkdir dir="${deploy.dir}"/>
@@ -162,12 +139,9 @@
            debug="on" optimize="{$build.optimize}" deprecation="on"
            source="1.5" target="1.5">
       <classpath refid="classpath"/>
-      <exclude name="com/threerings/jme/**" unless="build.jme"/>
-      <exclude name="com/threerings/openal/**" unless="build.openal"/>
-      <exclude name="**/OggPlayer.java"/>
-      <exclude name="**/ModPlayer.java"/>
-      <exclude name="**/MidiPlayer.java"/>
-      <exclude name="**/Mp3Player.java"/>
+      <exclude name="com/threerings/**/tools/xml/**" unless="build.xml"/>
+      <exclude name="com/threerings/**/tools/editor/**" unless="build.xml"/>
+      <exclude name="com/threerings/**/tools/viewer/**" unless="build.xml"/>
       <compilerarg value="-Xlint"/>
       <compilerarg value="-Xlint:-serial"/>
       <compilerarg value="-Xlint:-unchecked"/> <!-- TODO: fix -->
diff --git a/depends-incl.xml b/depends-incl.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a408660e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/depends-incl.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+
+<!-- build configuration -->
+<project name="vilya-checks" basedir=".">
+
+  <!-- checks the availability of certain libraries -->
+  <target name="check-available">
+    <available property="xml-writer.present"
+     classname="com.megginson.sax.DataWriter" classpathref="classpath"/>
+    <echo message="Have XML Writer: ${xml-writer.present}"/>
+
+    <condition property="build.xml">
+      <isset property="xml-writer.present"/>
+    </condition>
+  </target>
+
+</project>
diff --git a/tests/build.xml b/tests/build.xml
index f5daf7cd..6a76a00f 100644
--- a/tests/build.xml
+++ b/tests/build.xml
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@
   <property name="src.dir"    value="src/java"/>
   <property name="deploy.dir" value="dist"/>
 
+  <!-- import some targets to check dependency availability -->
+  <import file="../depends-incl.xml"/>
+
   <!-- declare our classpath -->
   <property name="classes.dir" value="${deploy.dir}/classes"/>
   <property name="vilya.classes.dir" value="../${deploy.dir}/classes"/>
@@ -95,6 +98,7 @@
     <javac srcdir="${src.dir}" destdir="${classes.dir}"
       debug="on" optimize="off" deprecation="off">
       <classpath refid="classpath"/>
+      <exclude name="com/threerings/**/tools/xml/**" unless="build.xml"/>
     </javac>
   </target>