diff --git a/core/pom.xml b/core/pom.xml
index 858742a9b9..cfa23c60f5 100644
--- a/core/pom.xml
+++ b/core/pom.xml
@@ -106,6 +106,11 @@
       <artifactId>auto-service</artifactId>
       <optional>true</optional>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.gaul</groupId>
+      <artifactId>modernizer-maven-annotations</artifactId>
+      <optional>true</optional>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
 
   <build>
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/functions/ExpandProperties.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/functions/ExpandProperties.java
index 7b3c1f32ea..54b14f5400 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/functions/ExpandProperties.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/functions/ExpandProperties.java
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ import com.google.common.base.Optional;
 import com.google.common.base.Predicate;
 import com.google.common.collect.Maps;
 
+import org.gaul.modernizer_maven_annotations.SuppressModernizer;
+
 /**
  * Resolves the values of the properties so they can be inferred from other
  * properties.
@@ -82,6 +84,7 @@ public class ExpandProperties implements Function<Properties, Properties> {
       });
    }
 
+   @SuppressModernizer  // for Matcher.appendReplacement(StringBuffer, String)
    private boolean resolveProperties(Map<String, String> properties, Map<String, String> variables) {
       boolean anyReplacementDone = false;
       for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : properties.entrySet()) {
diff --git a/project/pom.xml b/project/pom.xml
index e152285dce..924520407e 100644
--- a/project/pom.xml
+++ b/project/pom.xml
@@ -110,6 +110,13 @@
         <enabled>true</enabled>
       </snapshots>
     </pluginRepository>
+    <pluginRepository>
+      <id>ossrh</id>
+      <url>https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots</url>
+      <snapshots>
+        <enabled>true</enabled>
+      </snapshots>
+    </pluginRepository>
   </pluginRepositories>
 
   <distributionManagement>
@@ -294,6 +301,11 @@
         <artifactId>mockwebserver</artifactId>
         <version>${okhttp.version}</version>
       </dependency>
+      <dependency>
+        <groupId>org.gaul</groupId>
+        <artifactId>modernizer-maven-annotations</artifactId>
+        <version>1.8.0</version>
+      </dependency>
       <dependency>
         <groupId>org.testng</groupId>
         <artifactId>testng</artifactId>
@@ -941,7 +953,7 @@
       <plugin>
         <groupId>org.gaul</groupId>
         <artifactId>modernizer-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-        <version>1.6.0</version>
+        <version>1.8.0</version>
         <!-- configuration and dependencies set via profiles -->
         <executions>
           <execution>
diff --git a/resources/modernizer_exclusions.txt b/resources/modernizer_exclusions.txt
index 24b9220325..a62f2acd26 100644
--- a/resources/modernizer_exclusions.txt
+++ b/resources/modernizer_exclusions.txt
@@ -19,5 +19,3 @@ com/google/common/primitives/Ints.compare:(II)I
 com/google/common/primitives/Longs.compare:(JJ)I
 com/google/inject/Inject
 com/google/inject/Provider
-java/lang/StringBuffer."<init>":()V
-java/util/Hashtable."<init>":(I)V
diff --git a/scriptbuilder/pom.xml b/scriptbuilder/pom.xml
index b7a50dd643..7d8888bf07 100644
--- a/scriptbuilder/pom.xml
+++ b/scriptbuilder/pom.xml
@@ -56,6 +56,11 @@
       <artifactId>jclouds-core</artifactId>
       <version>${project.version}</version>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.gaul</groupId>
+      <artifactId>modernizer-maven-annotations</artifactId>
+      <optional>true</optional>
+    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.osgi</groupId>
       <artifactId>org.osgi.core</artifactId>
diff --git a/scriptbuilder/src/main/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/functionloader/osgi/BundleFunctionLoader.java b/scriptbuilder/src/main/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/functionloader/osgi/BundleFunctionLoader.java
index de5db8e0f0..f10c376e53 100644
--- a/scriptbuilder/src/main/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/functionloader/osgi/BundleFunctionLoader.java
+++ b/scriptbuilder/src/main/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/functionloader/osgi/BundleFunctionLoader.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import java.util.Dictionary;
 import java.util.Enumeration;
 import java.util.Hashtable;
 
+import org.gaul.modernizer_maven_annotations.SuppressModernizer;
 import org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.domain.OsFamily;
 import org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.domain.ShellToken;
 import org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.functionloader.FunctionLoader;
@@ -98,6 +99,7 @@ public class BundleFunctionLoader implements FunctionLoader {
       }
    }
 
+   @SuppressModernizer  // for BundleContext.registerService(String, Object, Dictionary)
    private void registerFunction(String functions) {
       String[] className = { FunctionLoader.class.getName() };
       Dictionary<String, Object> dictionary = new Hashtable<String, Object>(1);