diff --git a/core/pom.xml b/core/pom.xml
index b507a36707d..def0b5e14f0 100644
--- a/core/pom.xml
+++ b/core/pom.xml
@@ -438,26 +438,6 @@
                     </execution>
                 </executions>
             </plugin>
-            <!-- execution and integration tests -->
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
-                <executions>
-                    <!-- start up elasticsearch in foreground -->
-                    <execution>
-                        <id>execute</id>
-                        <phase>package</phase>
-                        <goals>
-                            <goal>run</goal>
-                        </goals>
-                        <configuration>
-                            <target if="${run}">
-                                <ant antfile="${elasticsearch.integ.antfile}" target="start-foreground"/>
-                            </target>
-                        </configuration>
-                    </execution>
-                </executions>
-            </plugin>
         </plugins>
       <pluginManagement>
         <plugins>
diff --git a/dev-tools/src/main/resources/ant/integration-tests.xml b/dev-tools/src/main/resources/ant/integration-tests.xml
index 0c67009dbdb..b190bca7476 100644
--- a/dev-tools/src/main/resources/ant/integration-tests.xml
+++ b/dev-tools/src/main/resources/ant/integration-tests.xml
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@
   <!-- TODO: doesn't belong here, but we will figure it out -->
   <target name="start-foreground" depends="stop-external-cluster">
       <delete dir="${integ.scratch}"/>
-      <unzip src="${project.build.directory}/releases/${project.artifactId}-${project.version}.zip" dest="${integ.scratch}"/>
+      <unzip src="${project.build.directory}/releases/elasticsearch-${project.version}.zip" dest="${integ.scratch}"/>
       <local name="home"/>
       <property name="home" location="${integ.scratch}/elasticsearch-${elasticsearch.version}"/>
       <run-script dir="${home}" script="bin/elasticsearch" spawn="false"
diff --git a/distribution/zip/pom.xml b/distribution/zip/pom.xml
index 1ca8ed117c0..462b967b380 100644
--- a/distribution/zip/pom.xml
+++ b/distribution/zip/pom.xml
@@ -98,6 +98,19 @@
                         </configuration>
                     </execution>
                     <!-- execution and integration tests -->
+                    <!-- start up elasticsearch in foreground -->
+                    <execution>
+                        <id>execute</id>
+                        <phase>package</phase>
+                        <goals>
+                            <goal>run</goal>
+                        </goals>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <target if="${run}">
+                                <ant antfile="${elasticsearch.integ.antfile}" target="start-foreground"/>
+                            </target>
+                        </configuration>
+                    </execution>
                     <!-- start up external cluster -->
                     <execution>
                         <id>integ-setup</id>
diff --git a/run.sh b/run.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..4e8ac0dad08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/run.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# build zip package, but ensuring its from the current source
+# turn off tests and other validation to speed it up
+# TODO: can be sped up more, if shading is moved out of core/
+# TODO: this will work on windows too. feel free to make a .bat
+mvn -am -pl dev-tools,distribution/zip package -DskipTests -Drun -Pdev