diff --git a/sigil/bldcommon/build.properties b/sigil/bldcommon/build.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad4583b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sigil/bldcommon/build.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# common properties
+# easier to set here than in xml file
+
+# set common.dir when used without ant (e.g. IvyDE)
+common.dir	= ${ivy.settings.dir}
+
+ivy.jar		= ${common.dir}/../bld-ivy/lib/compile/ivy-2.0.0-rc1.jar
+sigil-ivy-plugin.jar = ${common.dir}/../bld-ivy/target/sigil-ivy-plugin.jar
+
+build.dir	= ${basedir}/build
+build_xml	= build.xml
+classes.dir	= ${build.dir}/classes
+deps.dir	= ${build.dir}/deps
+composite.dir	= ${basedir}/xml
+src.dir		= ${basedir}/src
+ivy.file	= ${basedir}/ivy.xml
+
+_build.dir	= ${build.dir}
+build.lib.dir	= ${_build.dir}/lib
+build.etc.dir	= ${_build.dir}/etc
+
+top-build.dir	= ${common.dir}/../build
+dist.dir	= ${top-build.dir}/dist
+install.dir	= ${top-build.dir}/install
+cache.dir	= ${top-build.dir}/ivy-cache
+repository.dir	= ${top-build.dir}/repository
+# note: clean-local task assumes repository.pattern starts with ${ivy.module}
+repository.pattern = [module]/[revision]/[type]s/[artifact].[ext]
+
+community.version = 1.4.0.SNAPSHOT
+jini.version	= 2.1
+paremus.version	= ${default.version}
+bundle.version	= ${paremus.version}
+resolve.log	= download-only
+
+# over-ridden by hudson
+buildVersion	= 0.8.0-dev
+
+# end
+