diff --git a/tools/build/build_asf.sh b/tools/build/build_asf.sh
index 44441566553..dfa552c586c 100755
--- a/tools/build/build_asf.sh
+++ b/tools/build/build_asf.sh
@@ -81,20 +81,24 @@ fi
 
 cd $sourcedir
 
-echo 'checking out correct branch and pulling in any changes that may be staged'
+echo 'checking out correct branch'
 git checkout $branch
-git pull origin $branch
+
+echo 'determining current mvn version'
+export currentversion=`mvn org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-help-plugin:2.1.1:evaluate -Dexpression=project.version | grep -v '\['`
+echo "found $currentversion"
 
 echo 'setting version numbers'
 mvn versions:set -DnewVersion=$version -P vmware -P developer
 mv deps/XenServerJava/pom.xml.versionsBackup deps/XenServerJava/pom.xml
+perl -pi -e 's/$ENV{'currentversion'}/$ENV{'version'}/' deps/XenServerJava/pom.xml
 git clean -f
 
 echo 'commit changes'
 git commit -a -s -m "Updating pom.xml version numbers for release $version"
-COMMITSH=`git show HEAD | head -n 1 | cut -d ' ' -f 2`
+export commitsh=`git show HEAD | head -n 1 | cut -d ' ' -f 2`
 
-echo 'committed as $COMMITSH'
+echo "committed as $commitsh"
 
 echo 'archiving'
 git archive --format=tar --prefix=apache-cloudstack-$version-src/ $branch > $outputdir/apache-cloudstack-$version-src.tar
@@ -123,4 +127,4 @@ if [ $tag == 'yes' ]; then
   fi
 fi
 
-echo 'completed.  use commit-sh of $COMMITSH when starting the VOTE thread'
+echo "completed.  use commit-sh of $commitsh when starting the VOTE thread"
diff --git a/tools/build/setnextversion.sh b/tools/build/setnextversion.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..621ccc36e0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/build/setnextversion.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+# or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+# distributed with this work for additional information
+# regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+# to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+# "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+# with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+# 
+#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+# 
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+# software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+# KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+# specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+
+version='TESTBUILD'
+sourcedir=~/cloudstack/
+branch='master'
+
+usage(){
+    echo "usage: $0 -v version [-b branch] [-s source dir] [-h]"
+    echo "  -v sets the version"
+    echo "  -b sets the branch (defaults to 'master')"
+    echo "  -s sets the source directory (defaults to $sourcedir)"
+    echo "  -h"
+}
+
+while getopts v:s:b:h opt
+do
+    case "$opt" in
+      v)  version="$OPTARG";;
+      s)  sourcedir="$OPTARG";;
+      b)  branch="$OPTARG";;
+      h)  usage
+          exit 0;;
+      /?)       # unknown flag
+          usage
+          exit 1;;
+    esac
+done
+shift `expr $OPTIND - 1`
+
+if [ $version == 'TESTBUILD' ]; then
+    echo >&2 "A version must be specified with the -v option: $0 -v 4.0.0.RC1"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "Using version: $version"
+echo "Using source directory: $sourcedir"
+echo "Using branch: $branch"
+
+cd $sourcedir
+
+echo 'checking out correct branch'
+git checkout $branch
+
+echo 'determining current mvn version'
+export currentversion=`mvn org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-help-plugin:2.1.1:evaluate -Dexpression=project.version | grep -v '\['`
+echo "found $currentversion"
+
+echo 'setting version numbers'
+mvn versions:set -DnewVersion=$version -P vmware -P developer
+mv deps/XenServerJava/pom.xml.versionsBackup deps/XenServerJava/pom.xml
+perl -pi -e 's/$ENV{'currentversion'}/$ENV{'version'}/' deps/XenServerJava/pom.xml
+git clean -f
+
+echo 'commit changes'
+git commit -a -s -m "Updating pom.xml version numbers for release $version"
+export commitsh=`git show HEAD | head -n 1 | cut -d ' ' -f 2`
+
+echo "committed as $commitsh"