diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 692b92f3cbd..21090ce901d 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -90,10 +90,9 @@ allprojects {
     sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
     targetCompatibility = sourceCompatibility
 
-    luceneSnapshotRevision = '1710880'
     // dependency versions that are used in more than one place
     versions = [
-      lucene:             "5.4.0-snapshot-${luceneSnapshotRevision}",
+      lucene:             "${luceneVersion}",
       randomizedrunner:   '2.2.0',
       httpclient:         '4.3.6'
     ]
@@ -107,9 +106,12 @@ subprojects {
       name 'sonatype-snapshots'
       url 'http://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/'
     }
-    maven {
-      name 'lucene-snapshots'
-      url "http://s3.amazonaws.com/download.elasticsearch.org/lucenesnapshots/${luceneSnapshotRevision}"
+    if (versions.lucene.contains('-snapshot')) {
+      String revision = (luceneVersion =~ /\d\.\d\.\d-snapshot-(\d+)/)[0][1]
+      maven {
+        name 'lucene-snapshots'
+        url "http://s3.amazonaws.com/download.elasticsearch.org/lucenesnapshots/${revision}"
+      }
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/buildSrc/build.gradle b/buildSrc/build.gradle
index 9346843a915..e987a173bae 100644
--- a/buildSrc/build.gradle
+++ b/buildSrc/build.gradle
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ repositories {
     name 'sonatype-snapshots'
     url "https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/"
   }
+  jcenter()
 }
 
 dependencies {
@@ -34,6 +35,9 @@ dependencies {
     transitive = false
   }
   compile 'com.netflix.nebula:gradle-extra-configurations-plugin:3.0.3'
+  compile 'com.netflix.nebula:gradle-info-plugin:3.0.3'
+  compile 'org.eclipse.jgit:org.eclipse.jgit:3.2.0.201312181205-r'
+  compile 'com.perforce:p4java:2012.3.551082' // THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE OPTIONAL IN THE FUTURE....
   compile 'de.thetaphi:forbiddenapis:2.0'
 }
 
@@ -44,7 +48,8 @@ version = props.getProperty('version')
 processResources {
     inputs.file('../gradle.properties')
     filter ReplaceTokens, tokens: [
-        'version': props.getProperty('version')
+        'version': props.getProperty('version'),
+        'luceneVersion': props.getProperty('luceneVersion')
     ]
 }
 
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/BuildPlugin.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/BuildPlugin.groovy
index 46c92741e8c..4b550acc9e4 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/BuildPlugin.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/BuildPlugin.groovy
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import org.gradle.api.JavaVersion
 import org.gradle.api.Plugin
 import org.gradle.api.Project
 import org.gradle.api.Task
+import org.gradle.api.tasks.bundling.Jar
 import org.gradle.api.tasks.compile.JavaCompile
 
 /**
@@ -34,8 +35,15 @@ class BuildPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
     void apply(Project project) {
         project.pluginManager.apply('java')
         project.pluginManager.apply('carrotsearch.randomizedtesting')
+        // these plugins add lots of info to our jars
+        project.pluginManager.apply('nebula.info-broker')
+        project.pluginManager.apply('nebula.info-basic')
+        project.pluginManager.apply('nebula.info-java')
+        project.pluginManager.apply('nebula.info-scm')
+        project.pluginManager.apply('nebula.info-jar')
 
         configureCompile(project)
+        configureJarManifest(project)
         configureTest(project)
         PrecommitTasks.configure(project)
     }
@@ -51,6 +59,18 @@ class BuildPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
         }
     }
 
+    /** Adds additional manifest info to jars */
+    static void configureJarManifest(Project project) {
+        project.afterEvaluate {
+            project.tasks.withType(Jar) { Jar jarTask ->
+                manifest {
+                    attributes('X-Compile-Elasticsearch-Version': ElasticsearchProperties.version,
+                               'X-Compile-Lucene-Version': ElasticsearchProperties.luceneVersion)
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     /** Returns a closure of common configuration shared by unit and integration tests. */
     static Closure commonTestConfig(Project project) {
         return {
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/ElasticsearchProperties.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/ElasticsearchProperties.groovy
index 333db47f566..8628387e3dc 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/ElasticsearchProperties.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/ElasticsearchProperties.groovy
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ package org.elasticsearch.gradle
  */
 class ElasticsearchProperties {
     static final String version
+    static final String luceneVersion
     static {
         Properties props = new Properties()
         InputStream propsStream = ElasticsearchProperties.class.getResourceAsStream('/elasticsearch.properties')
@@ -31,5 +32,6 @@ class ElasticsearchProperties {
         }
         props.load(propsStream)
         version = props.getProperty('version')
+        luceneVersion = props.getProperty('luceneVersion')
     }
 }
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/resources/elasticsearch.properties b/buildSrc/src/main/resources/elasticsearch.properties
index 5bbcd306c72..773b5439a2a 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/resources/elasticsearch.properties
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/resources/elasticsearch.properties
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 version=@version@
+luceneVersion=@luceneVersion@
diff --git a/gradle.properties b/gradle.properties
index ecff8f3fb67..58dc97027e9 100644
--- a/gradle.properties
+++ b/gradle.properties
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 group=org.elasticsearch
 version=3.0.0-SNAPSHOT
+luceneVersion=5.4.0-snapshot-1710880