diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 887719422..ffd63fc5e 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -53,22 +53,22 @@
 
 	<!-- PHP CodeSniffer -->
 	<target name="phpcbf">
-		<exec command="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpcbf --standard=${srcdir}/phpcs.xml" escape="false" passthru="true" checkreturn="true" />
+		<exec executable="bash" line="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpcbf --standard=${srcdir}/phpcs.xml" escape="false" passthru="true" checkreturn="true" />
 	</target>
 	<target name="phpcs">
-		<exec command="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpcs --standard=${srcdir}/phpcs.xml --report=checkstyle &gt; ${builddir}/reports/checkstyle.xml" escape="false" />
+		<exec executable="bash" line="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpcs --standard=${srcdir}/phpcs.xml --report=checkstyle &gt; ${builddir}/reports/checkstyle.xml" escape="false" />
 	</target>
 	<target name="phpcs-console">
-		<exec command="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpcs --standard=${srcdir}/phpcs.xml" escape="false" passthru="true" checkreturn="true" />
+		<exec executable="bash" line="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpcs --standard=${srcdir}/phpcs.xml" escape="false" passthru="true" checkreturn="true" />
 	</target>
 
 	<target name="php-cs-fixer-dryrun">
-		<exec command="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer fix --dry-run -vvv --diff ${srcdir}/inc" passthru="true" escape="false" checkreturn="true" />
+		<exec executable="bash" line="${srcdir}/vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer fix --dry-run -vvv --diff ${srcdir}/inc" passthru="true" escape="false" checkreturn="true" />
 	</target>
 
 	<!-- PHPUnit -->
 	<target name="phpunitfast" description="Run tests">
-		<exec dir="${srcdir}/SeedDMS_Core" command="XDEBUG_MODE=coverage SEEDDMS_CORE_SQL=../install/create_tables-sqlite3.sql ${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpunit --bootstrap ${srcdir}/SeedDMS_Core/bootstrap-${majorversion}.php --coverage-html ${srcdir}/coverage/" passthru="true" checkreturn="true" />
+		<exec dir="${srcdir}/SeedDMS_Core" executable="bash" line="XDEBUG_MODE=coverage SEEDDMS_CORE_SQL=../install/create_tables-sqlite3.sql ${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpunit --bootstrap ${srcdir}/SeedDMS_Core/bootstrap-${majorversion}.php --coverage-html ${srcdir}/coverage/" passthru="true" checkreturn="true" />
 		<!-- exec dir="${srcdir}/tests" command="SEEDDMS_URL=${seeddmsurl} SEEDDMS_MINK_DRIVER=${mink_driver} SEEDDMS_SNOOZE_MULTIPLIER=${snooze_multiplier} ${srcdir}/vendor/bin/phpunit" passthru="true" checkreturn="true" / -->
 	</target>
 
@@ -88,7 +88,10 @@
 			</else>
 		</if>
 		<echo message="Installing dependencies..." />
-		<exec command="${composer_env} php ${srcdir}/composer.phar install ${composer_extra_params}" passthru="true" checkreturn="true" />
+		<exec executable="php" passthru="false">
+			<arg line="${srcdir}/composer.phar install ${composer_extra_params}"/>
+			<!-- arg line="${composer_env} php ${srcdir}/composer.phar install ${composer_extra_params}"/ -->
+		</exec>
 	</target>
 
 	<target name="dist" description="build SeedDMS tar archive">
@@ -131,9 +134,15 @@
 		<mkdir dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/data/1048576" />
 		<mkdir dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/data/log" />
 		<mkdir dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/data/cache" />
-		<exec command="echo 'Signature: 8a477f597d28d172789f06886806bc55' &gt; ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/data/cache/CACHEDIR.TAG" />
-		<exec command="echo '# This file is a cache directory tag created by seeddms.' &gt;&gt; ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/data/cache/CACHEDIR.TAG" />
-		<exec command="echo '# For information about cache directory tags, see: http://www.brynosaurus.com/cachedir/' &gt;&gt; ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/data/cache/CACHEDIR.TAG" />
+		<exec executable="echo" passthru="true" checkreturn="true">
+			<arg line="'Signature: 8a477f597d28d172789f06886806bc55' &gt; ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/data/cache/CACHEDIR.TAG" />
+		</exec>
+		<exec executable="echo" passthru="true" checkreturn="true">
+			<arg line="'# This file is a cache directory tag created by seeddms.' &gt;&gt; ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/data/cache/CACHEDIR.TAG" />
+		</exec>
+		<exec executable="echo" passthru="true" checkreturn="true">
+			<arg line="echo '# For information about cache directory tags, see: http://www.brynosaurus.com/cachedir/' &gt;&gt; ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/data/cache/CACHEDIR.TAG" />
+		</exec>
 		<mkdir dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/data/backup" />
 		<mkdir dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/data/lucene" />
 		<mkdir dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/data/staging" />
@@ -164,6 +173,7 @@
 			<filterchain>
 				<replaceregexp>
 					<regexp pattern="/home/cvs/seeddms-ext/" replace="${srcdir}/../"/>
+					<regexp pattern="__CORE_BRANCH__" replace="seeddms-${majorversion}.${minorversion}.x"/>
 				</replaceregexp>
 			</filterchain>
 		</copy>
@@ -171,26 +181,61 @@
 			<property name="composer_extra_params" value="--working-dir=${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/" />
 			<property name="composer_envv" value="COMPOSER=${srcdir}/composer-dist.json" />
 		</phingcall>
-		<exec command="cd ${builddir}/export/${shortversion} &amp;&amp; ln -s seeddms-${version} seeddms" />
-		<exec command="cd ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www &amp;&amp; ln -s ../seeddms/op" />
-		<exec command="cd ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www &amp;&amp; ln -s ../seeddms/out" />
-		<exec command="cd ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www &amp;&amp; ln -s ../seeddms/inc" />
-		<exec command="cd ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www &amp;&amp; ln -s ../seeddms/controllers" />
-		<exec command="cd ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www &amp;&amp; ln -s ../seeddms/languages" />
-		<exec command="cd ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www &amp;&amp; ln -s ../seeddms/views" />
-		<exec command="cd ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www &amp;&amp; ln -s ../seeddms/restapi" />
-		<exec command="cd ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www &amp;&amp; ln -s ../seeddms/styles" />
-		<exec command="cd ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www &amp;&amp; ln -s ../seeddms/pdfviewer" />
-		<exec command="cd ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www &amp;&amp; ln -s ../seeddms/install" />
-		<exec command="cd ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www &amp;&amp; ln -s ../seeddms/webdav" />
-		<exec command="cd ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www &amp;&amp; ln -s ../seeddms/index.php" />
-		<exec command="cd ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www &amp;&amp; ln -s ../seeddms/.htaccess" />
+		<exec executable="ln" passthru="true" dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}">
+			<arg line="-s seeddms-${version} seeddms" />
+		</exec>
+		<exec executable="ln" passthru="true" dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www">
+			<arg line="-s ../seeddms/op" />
+		</exec>
+		<exec executable="ln" passthru="true" dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www">
+			<arg line="-s ../seeddms/out" />
+		</exec>
+		<exec executable="ln" passthru="true" dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www">
+			<arg line="-s ../seeddms/inc" />
+		</exec>
+		<exec executable="ln" passthru="true" dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www">
+			<arg line="-s ../seeddms/controllers" />
+		</exec>
+		<exec executable="ln" passthru="true" dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www">
+			<arg line="-s ../seeddms/languages" />
+		</exec>
+		<exec executable="ln" passthru="true" dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www">
+			<arg line="-s ../seeddms/views" />
+		</exec>
+		<exec executable="ln" passthru="true" dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www">
+			<arg line="-s ../seeddms/restapi" />
+		</exec>
+		<exec executable="ln" passthru="true" dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www">
+			<arg line="-s ../seeddms/styles" />
+		</exec>
+		<exec executable="ln" passthru="true" dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www">
+			<arg line="-s ../seeddms/pdfviewer" />
+		</exec>
+		<exec executable="ln" passthru="true" dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www">
+			<arg line="-s ../seeddms/install" />
+		</exec>
+		<exec executable="ln" passthru="true" dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www">
+			<arg line="-s ../seeddms/webdav" />
+		</exec>
+		<exec executable="ln" passthru="true" dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www">
+			<arg line="-s ../seeddms/index.php" />
+		</exec>
+		<exec executable="ln" passthru="true" dir="${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/www">
+			<arg line="-s ../seeddms/.htaccess" />
+		</exec>
 
-		<exec command="cat ${srcdir}/install/create_tables-sqlite3.sql | sqlite3 ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/data/content.db" />
+		<!-- create initial empty database -->
+		<echo message="Create sqlite3 database ..." />
+		<exec executable="bash" passthru="true">
+			<arg value="-c"/>
+			<arg line='"cat ${srcdir}/install/create_tables-sqlite3.sql | sqlite3 ${builddir}/export/${shortversion}/data/content.db"' />
+		</exec>
 
 		<!-- build the standard tar.gz archive -->
-		<echo message="Building .tar.gz...." />
-		<exec command="cd ${builddir}/export ; tar czf ${builddir}/packages/seeddms-quickstart-${version}.tar.gz ${shortversion}" checkreturn="true" />
+		<echo message="Building .tar.gz ..." />
+		<exec executable="tar" passthru="true" checkreturn="true" dir="${builddir}/export">
+			<arg line="czf ../packages/seeddms-quickstart-${version}.tar.gz ${shortversion}" />
+		</exec>
 		<echo message="Built in ${builddir}/packages/seeddms-quickstart-${version}.tar.gz" />
 	</target>
 </project>