Create a build.properties file (e.g. copy from the build.properties.SAMPLE). This file will be cvs-ignored, you'll keep your settings. Note that you can create a directory developer/${user.name} in which you can add * custom.properties (property file for ant, e.g. to set nscArgs) * build-nsc-excludes.xml (list of elements, to be used for &userExclude; in build-nsc.xml) * test-nsc-excludes.xml (list of elements, to be used for &userExclude; in test-nsc.xml) Have a look at developer/emir/... for examples. Building nsc: sh ant-build-sh [target] calls ant on file build-nsc.xml (after setting classpath). Testing nsc: sh ant-test-sh [target] calls ant on file test-nsc.xml (after setting classpath) The scripts check that some mandatory files are present, and do some replacement on ...-nsc.xml to handle userExcludes.