diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e80a0dfaa..be15e091e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ yacy.log
 /test/DATA/
 /javadoc/
 /build/
-source/net/yacy/peers/operation/yacyBuildProperties.java
+/defaults/yacyBuild.properties
 /.idea/
 .idea/
 *.iws
diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 16b358107..781b54e58 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -105,8 +105,8 @@
     <filter token="REPL_REVISION_NR" value="${releaseNr}"/>
 
     <!-- apply replacments -->
-    <copy file="${src}/net/yacy/peers/operation/yacyBuildProperties.java.template" tofile="${src}/net/yacy/peers/operation/yacyBuildProperties.java" overwrite="true" filtering="true" />
-    
+  	<copy file="${defaults}/yacyBuild.properties.template" tofile="${defaults}/yacyBuild.properties" overwrite="true" filtering="true" />
+  	
     <!-- copy log4j config file -->
     <copy file="${src}/log4j.properties" tofile="${build}/log4j.properties" overwrite="true" filtering="false" /> <!-- @TODO: obsolete, contains no replace/filter pattern -->
 
diff --git a/defaults/yacyBuild.properties.template b/defaults/yacyBuild.properties.template
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e3b0017f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/defaults/yacyBuild.properties.template
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+SVNRevision = @REPL_REVISION_NR@
+Version = @REPL_VERSION@
+
diff --git a/source/net/yacy/peers/operation/yacyBuildProperties.java b/source/net/yacy/peers/operation/yacyBuildProperties.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a4b21cec9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/source/net/yacy/peers/operation/yacyBuildProperties.java
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+package net.yacy.peers.operation;
+
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Locale;
+import java.util.Properties;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
+
+public final class yacyBuildProperties {
+    
+    private static Properties props = new Properties();
+    
+    static {
+        try {
+            props.load(new FileInputStream("defaults/yacyBuild.properties"));
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+        	e.printStackTrace();
+            props = null;
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static String getSVNRevision() {
+        if (props == null) return "0";
+        final String revision = props.getProperty("SVNRevision");
+        return revision.contains("@") || revision.contains("$") ? "0" : revision;
+    }
+
+    public static String getVersion() {
+        if (props == null) return "0.1";
+        final String version = props.getProperty("Version");
+        return version.contains("@") ? "0.1" : version;
+    }
+
+    public static final Pattern versionMatcher = Pattern.compile("\\A(\\d+\\.\\d{1,3})(\\d{0,5})\\z"); 
+    
+    public static String getLongVersion() {
+        return String.format(Locale.US, "%.3f%05d", Float.valueOf(getVersion()), Integer.valueOf(getSVNRevision()));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/source/net/yacy/peers/operation/yacyBuildProperties.java.template b/source/net/yacy/peers/operation/yacyBuildProperties.java.template
deleted file mode 100644
index 0304159d9..000000000
--- a/source/net/yacy/peers/operation/yacyBuildProperties.java.template
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,43 +0,0 @@
-package net.yacy.peers.operation;
-
-import java.util.Locale;
-import java.util.regex.Pattern;
-
-
-/**
- * Properties set when compiling this release/version
- */
-public final class yacyBuildProperties {
-	private yacyBuildProperties() {
-	}
-
-	/**
-	 * returns the SVN-Revision Number as a String
-	 */
-	public static String getSVNRevision() {
-		final String revision = "@REPL_REVISION_NR@";
-		if (revision.contains("@") || revision.contains("$")) {
-			return "0";
-		}
-		return revision;
-	}
-
-	/**
-	 * returns the version String (e. g. 0.9)
-	 */
-	public static String getVersion() {
-		if ("@REPL_VERSION@".contains("@") ) {
-			return "0.1";
-		}
-		return "@REPL_VERSION@";
-	}
-
-    public static final Pattern versionMatcher = Pattern.compile("\\A(\\d+\\.\\d{1,3})(\\d{0,5})\\z"); 
-    
-	/**
-	 * returns the long version String (e. g. 0.9106712)
-	 */
-	public static String getLongVersion() {
-		return String.format(Locale.US, "%.3f%05d", Float.valueOf(getVersion()), Integer.valueOf(getSVNRevision()));
-	}
-}