diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 22111dda8..0294d2197 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -149,40 +149,39 @@ jar {
 
 shadowJar.zip64 = true // saw build error: Execution failed for task ':shadowJar'. shadow.org.apache.tools.zip.Zip64RequiredException: archive contains more than 65535 entries.
 
-
-// runs the support tool which creates gitbuildnumber.properties from info of local git repository
-task runGitComInf(type: JavaExec) {
-    classpath = files('libbuild/GitComInf-all.jar')
-    args = [project.projectDir.getPath(), project.projectDir.getPath() + "/build/tmp/gitbuildnumber.properties"]
-    mainClass = 'GitComInf'
-}
-
 // prepare yacyBuildProperties.java from template (needed after commits or new versions)
 // read values from property file generated by GitComInf tool
 import org.apache.tools.ant.filters.ReplaceTokens
-task prepYaCyProperties (type: Copy, dependsOn : ['runGitComInf']) {
-    mustRunAfter runGitComInf
+task prepYaCyProperties (type: Copy) {
 
-    def propfile = "build/tmp/gitbuildnumber.properties";
+    def propfile = "gitbuildnumber.properties";
     if (project.file(propfile).exists()) { // must check otherwise any action may stop after clean on this error
-        file("build/tmp/gitbuildnumber.properties").withReader { 
+        file("gitbuildnumber.properties").withReader { 
             Properties props = new Properties()
             props.load(it)
             project.ext.filterTokens.putAll(props)
         }
-    } else 
+    } else { // on missing properties file use generic data
         logger.error("prepYaCyProperties: file " + propfile + " is missing, you should re-run runGitComInf")
+        Properties props = new Properties()
+        String Dstr = new Date().format("yyyyMMDD")
+        String Tstr = new Date().format("yyyyMMDD-HHmmss")
+        props.put("branch","-dev")
+        props.put ("DSTAMP",Dstr )
+        props.put ("REPL_DATE",Dstr)
+        props.put ("REPL_REVISION_NR",Tstr)
+        props.put ("releaseNr",Tstr)
+        project.ext.filterTokens.putAll(props)
+    }
     
     String fdirname = sourceSets.main.java.srcDirs[0].name + '/net/yacy/peers/operation'
-    copy {
-        from fdirname
-        include('yacyBuildProperties.java.template')
-        rename 'yacyBuildProperties.java.template', 'yacyBuildProperties.java'
-        into (fdirname)
-
-        filter(org.apache.tools.ant.filters.ReplaceTokens, tokens: project.ext.filterTokens)
-        filter(ReplaceTokens, tokens: [REPL_VERSION: version, REPL_PKGMANAGER:"false", REPL_RESTARTCMD: "/etc/init.d/yacy restart"]) // gradle.project.version + some defaults from ant
-    }
+    from fdirname
+    include('yacyBuildProperties.java.template')
+    rename 'yacyBuildProperties.java.template', 'yacyBuildProperties.java'
+    filter(org.apache.tools.ant.filters.ReplaceTokens, tokens: project.ext.filterTokens)
+    filter(ReplaceTokens, tokens: [REPL_VERSION: version, REPL_PKGMANAGER:"false", REPL_RESTARTCMD: "/etc/init.d/yacy restart"]) // gradle.project.version + some defaults from ant
+    into (fdirname)
+    
 }
 compileJava.dependsOn(prepYaCyProperties) // must be executed before compile (due to source template filtering)
 
@@ -448,3 +447,22 @@ task distWinInstaller (dependsOn:['copyFilesToDistDir','copyDependenciesForDistr
     tasks.findByName('createInstaller').mustRunAfter 'prepNsis'
 }
 
+// runs the support tool which creates gitbuildnumber.properties from info of local git repository
+task storeGitComInf(type: JavaExec) {
+    mustRunAfter(build)
+    classpath = files('libbuild/GitComInf-all.jar')
+    args = [project.projectDir.getPath(), project.projectDir.getPath() + "/gitbuildnumber.properties"]
+    mainClass = 'GitComInf'
+}
+
+//--- build aliases : define a synonym here if you want a shortcut to run multiple targets
+// workaround to run storeGitComInf after a build without adding arbitray dependencies 
+// this makes sure gitbuildnumber.properties is availabel and up-to-date
+def buildAliases = [
+   'build' : ['build','storeGitComInf']
+    ]
+def expandedTaskList = []
+gradle.startParameter.taskNames.each {
+    expandedTaskList << (buildAliases[it] ? buildAliases[it] : it)
+}
+gradle.startParameter.taskNames = expandedTaskList.flatten()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/gitbuildnumber.properties b/gitbuildnumber.properties
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..05ee0c4c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gitbuildnumber.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#
+#Wed Jan 26 14:44:44 CET 2022
+DSTAMP=20220126
+branch=
+REPL_REVISION_NR=10210
+releaseNr=10210
+REPL_DATE=20220126