diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 43aea5908..73e662eac 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -84,13 +84,14 @@
   <property name="build.junit.xml" location="${build.tests}/xml"/>
   <property name="build.junit.tmpdir" location="${build.tests}/tmp"/>
   <property name="build.junit.reports" location="${build.tests}/reports"/>
+  <property name="build.pkg.dir" value="${build.dir}/pkg"/>
   <property name="antunit.xml" location="${build.dir}/antunit/xml"/>
   <property name="antunit.tmpdir" location="${build.dir}/antunit/tmp"/>
   <property name="antunit.reports" location="${build.dir}/antunit/reports"/>
   <property name="antunit.loglevel" value="none"/>
   <!-- the absolute path -->
+  <property name="build.classes.value" location="${build.classes}"/>
   <property name="build.tests.value" location="${build.tests}"/>
-  <property name="build.pkg.dir" value="${build.dir}/pkg"/>
 
   <!--
        ===================================================================
@@ -1704,7 +1705,7 @@ ${antunit.reports}
                errorproperty="junit.failed"
                filtertrace="${junit.filtertrace}">
           <sysproperty key="ant.home" value="${ant.home}"/>
-          <sysproperty key="build.tests" file="${build.tests}"/>
+          <sysproperty key="build.classes.value" value="${build.classes.value}"/>
           <sysproperty key="build.tests.value" value="${build.tests.value}"/>
           <sysproperty key="offline" value="${offline}"/>
           <sysproperty key="tests-classpath.value"
diff --git a/src/etc/poms/ant/pom.xml b/src/etc/poms/ant/pom.xml
index a501d6563..3acd17c67 100644
--- a/src/etc/poms/ant/pom.xml
+++ b/src/etc/poms/ant/pom.xml
@@ -228,12 +228,12 @@
               <value>${env.ANT_HOME}</value>
             </property>
             <property>
-              <name>build.tests</name>
-              <value>target/${project.artifactId}/testcases</value>
+              <name>build.classes.value</name>
+              <value>${project.basedir}/../../../../target/${project.artifactId}/classes</value>
             </property>
             <property>
               <name>build.tests.value</name>
-              <value>${project.basedir}/target/${project.artifactId}/testcases</value>
+              <value>${project.basedir}/../../../../target/${project.artifactId}/testcases</value>
             </property>
             <property>
               <name>offline</name>
diff --git a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/signjar.xml b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/signjar.xml
index 38a13592c..93a2abe83 100644
--- a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/signjar.xml
+++ b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/signjar.xml
@@ -20,42 +20,38 @@
   <import file="../buildfiletest-base.xml"/>
 
   <target name="setUp">
-    <mkdir dir="${output}" />
-    <property name="subdir" location="${output}/subdir" />
-    <property name="classes.dir" value="../../../build/classes"/>
-    <property name="test.jar" location="${output}/signtest.jar" />
-    <property name="subdirtest.jar" location="${subdir}/signtest.jar" />
-
+    <mkdir dir="${output}"/>
+    <property name="subdir" location="${output}/subdir"/>
+    <property name="test.jar" location="${output}/signtest.jar"/>
+    <property name="subdirtest.jar" location="${subdir}/signtest.jar"/>
   </target>
 
 
   <macrodef name="assertSigned">
-    <attribute name="jar" default="${test.jar}" />
+    <attribute name="jar" default="${test.jar}"/>
     <sequential>
-      <fail message="not signed: @{jar}" >
+      <fail message="not signed: @{jar}">
         <condition>
-          <not><issigned file="@{jar}" /></not>
+          <not><issigned file="@{jar}"/></not>
         </condition>
       </fail>
     </sequential>
   </macrodef>
 
   <presetdef name="sign-base">
-    <signjar alias="testonly" keystore="testkeystore"
-           storepass="apacheant"/>
+    <signjar alias="testonly" keystore="testkeystore" storepass="apacheant"/>
   </presetdef>
 
   <presetdef name="verify-base">
-    <verifyjar keystore="testkeystore"
-           storepass="apacheant"/>
+    <verifyjar keystore="testkeystore" storepass="apacheant"/>
   </presetdef>
 
   <presetdef name="sign">
-    <sign-base jar="${test.jar}" />
+    <sign-base jar="${test.jar}"/>
   </presetdef>
 
   <target name="jar" depends="setUp">
-    <jar jarfile="${test.jar}" basedir="${classes.dir}" includes="**/Task.class"/>
+    <jar jarfile="${test.jar}" basedir="${build.classes.value}" includes="**/Task.class"/>
   </target>
 
   <target name="help">
@@ -63,7 +59,7 @@
   </target>
 
   <target name="basic" depends="jar">
-    <sign />
+    <sign/>
     <assertSigned/>
   </target>
 
@@ -84,14 +80,12 @@
   </target>
 
   <target name="urlKeystoreHTTP" depends="jar">
-    <sign
-      keystore="http://ant.apache.org/webtest/testkeystore"
-      />
+    <sign keystore="http://ant.apache.org/webtest/testkeystore"/>
     <assertSigned/>
   </target>
 
   <target name="testTsaLocalhost" depends="jar">
-    <sign tsaurl="http://localhost:0/" />
+    <sign tsaurl="http://localhost:0/"/>
   </target>
 
 </project>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/junit/JUnitTask.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/junit/JUnitTask.java
index 53f36b8ab..70c619889 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/junit/JUnitTask.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/junit/JUnitTask.java
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ import org.apache.tools.ant.util.StringUtils;
  *   &lt;junit printsummary="no" haltonfailure="yes" fork="${junit.fork}"&gt;
  *     &lt;jvmarg value="-classic"/&gt;
  *     &lt;classpath refid="tests-classpath"/&gt;
- *     &lt;sysproperty key="build.tests" value="${build.tests}"/&gt;
+ *     &lt;sysproperty key="build.tests.value" value="${build.tests.value}"/&gt;
  *     &lt;formatter type="brief" usefile="false" /&gt;
  *     &lt;batchtest&gt;
  *       &lt;fileset dir="${tests.dir}"&gt;
diff --git a/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/AntClassLoaderDelegationTest.java b/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/AntClassLoaderDelegationTest.java
index fcaf5cbf3..a5d09412b 100644
--- a/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/AntClassLoaderDelegationTest.java
+++ b/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/AntClassLoaderDelegationTest.java
@@ -58,8 +58,8 @@ public class AntClassLoaderDelegationTest {
     @Test
     public void testFindResources() throws Exception {
         // This path should contain the class files for these testcases:
-        String buildTestcases = System.getProperty("build.tests");
-        assertNotNull("defined ${build.tests}", buildTestcases);
+        String buildTestcases = System.getProperty("build.tests.value");
+        assertNotNull("defined ${build.tests.value}", buildTestcases);
         assertTrue("have a dir " + buildTestcases,
                    new File(buildTestcases).isDirectory());
         Path path = new Path(p, buildTestcases + "/org");
@@ -84,8 +84,8 @@ public class AntClassLoaderDelegationTest {
     @SuppressWarnings("resource")
     @Test
     public void testFindIsolateResources() throws Exception {
-        String buildTestcases = System.getProperty("build.tests");
-        assertNotNull("defined ${build.tests}", buildTestcases);
+        String buildTestcases = System.getProperty("build.tests.value");
+        assertNotNull("defined ${build.tests.value}", buildTestcases);
         assertTrue("have a dir " + buildTestcases,
                    new File(buildTestcases).isDirectory());
         Path path = new Path(p, buildTestcases + "/org");
diff --git a/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ExecuteJavaTest.java b/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ExecuteJavaTest.java
index 747e44d4e..256b0bc9a 100644
--- a/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ExecuteJavaTest.java
+++ b/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ExecuteJavaTest.java
@@ -119,9 +119,9 @@ public class ExecuteJavaTest {
      * This is severely dependent on the build.xml properties.
      */
     private static String getTestClassPath() {
-        String classpath = System.getProperty("build.tests");
+        String classpath = System.getProperty("build.tests.value");
         if (classpath == null) {
-            System.err.println("WARNING: 'build.tests' property is not available!");
+            System.err.println("WARNING: 'build.tests.value' property is not available!");
             classpath = System.getProperty("java.class.path");
         }
 
diff --git a/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ExecuteWatchdogTest.java b/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ExecuteWatchdogTest.java
index 994f7af4a..3a4e7af83 100644
--- a/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ExecuteWatchdogTest.java
+++ b/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ExecuteWatchdogTest.java
@@ -56,9 +56,9 @@ public class ExecuteWatchdogTest {
      * severely tied to the build.xml properties.
      */
     private static String getTestClassPath() {
-        String classpath = System.getProperty("build.tests");
+        String classpath = System.getProperty("build.tests.value");
         if (classpath == null) {
-            System.err.println("WARNING: 'build.tests' property is not available!");
+            System.err.println("WARNING: 'build.tests.value' property is not available!");
             classpath = System.getProperty("java.class.path");
         }