diff --git a/plugin/sql/build.gradle b/plugin/sql/build.gradle
index dcbbbcb50ac..941ca2a293c 100644
--- a/plugin/sql/build.gradle
+++ b/plugin/sql/build.gradle
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-evaluationDependsOn(':x-pack-elasticsearch:plugin:core')
+evaluationDependsOn(xpackModule('core'))
 
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.esplugin'
 esplugin {
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@ esplugin {
     classname 'org.elasticsearch.xpack.sql.plugin.SqlPlugin'
     requiresKeystore true
     extendedPlugins = ['x-pack-core']
-    licenseFile project(':x-pack-elasticsearch').file('LICENSE.txt')
-    noticeFile project(':x-pack-elasticsearch').file('NOTICE.txt')
 }
 
 configurations {
diff --git a/plugin/sql/jdbc/build.gradle b/plugin/sql/jdbc/build.gradle
index 56cbf9a2f8a..7bc76b6bc20 100644
--- a/plugin/sql/jdbc/build.gradle
+++ b/plugin/sql/jdbc/build.gradle
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ dependencies {
      * don't shadow properly.
      *
      * Note: we've temporarily disabled shading. */
-    compile project(':x-pack-elasticsearch:plugin:sql:sql-shared-client')
-    compile project(':x-pack-elasticsearch:plugin:sql:sql-proto')
+    compile xpackProject('plugin:sql:sql-shared-client')
+    compile xpackProject('plugin:sql:sql-proto')
     runtime "com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core:${versions.jackson}"
     testCompile "org.elasticsearch.test:framework:${version}"
 }
diff --git a/plugin/sql/sql-cli/build.gradle b/plugin/sql/sql-cli/build.gradle
index f131bccfef7..700ba34264b 100644
--- a/plugin/sql/sql-cli/build.gradle
+++ b/plugin/sql/sql-cli/build.gradle
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ description = 'Command line interface to Elasticsearch that speaks SQL'
 
 dependencies {
     compile "org.jline:jline:3.3.1"
-    compile project(':x-pack-elasticsearch:plugin:sql:sql-shared-client')
-    compile project(':x-pack-elasticsearch:plugin:sql:sql-proto')
+    compile xpackProject('plugin:sql:sql-shared-client')
+    compile xpackProject('plugin:sql:sql-proto')
     compile "org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch-cli:${version}"
 
     runtime "org.fusesource.jansi:jansi:1.16"
diff --git a/plugin/sql/sql-shared-client/build.gradle b/plugin/sql/sql-shared-client/build.gradle
index 4edd7ad25c1..896cccb8aa3 100644
--- a/plugin/sql/sql-shared-client/build.gradle
+++ b/plugin/sql/sql-shared-client/build.gradle
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.build'
 description = 'Code shared between jdbc and cli'
 
 dependencies {
-    compile project(':x-pack-elasticsearch:plugin:sql:sql-proto')
+    compile xpackProject('plugin:sql:sql-proto')
     compile "com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core:${versions.jackson}"
     testCompile "org.elasticsearch.test:framework:${version}"
 }
diff --git a/qa/saml-idp-tests/build.gradle b/qa/saml-idp-tests/build.gradle
index 2570cd6cc9b..309ca65285a 100644
--- a/qa/saml-idp-tests/build.gradle
+++ b/qa/saml-idp-tests/build.gradle
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ if (project.rootProject.vagrantSupported) {
 }
 
 integTestCluster {
-  plugin ':x-pack-elasticsearch:plugin'
+  plugin xpackProject('plugin').path
 
   setting 'xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled', 'false'
   setting 'xpack.security.authc.token.enabled', 'true'
diff --git a/qa/sql/build.gradle b/qa/sql/build.gradle
index 85b6c9fd067..81ae67ed51e 100644
--- a/qa/sql/build.gradle
+++ b/qa/sql/build.gradle
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ dependencies {
   compile "org.elasticsearch.test:framework:${version}"
 
 // TODO: Restore shading when https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/pull/27955 gets in
-  compile(project(':x-pack-elasticsearch:plugin:sql:jdbc'))
+    testCompile "org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core:${version}"
+  compile xpackProject('plugin:sql:jdbc')
   compile "net.sourceforge.csvjdbc:csvjdbc:1.0.34"
   runtime "com.h2database:h2:1.4.194"
   // used for running debug tests
@@ -62,13 +63,13 @@ subprojects {
      * dependencies but we don't really want them because they cause
      * all kinds of trouble with the jar hell checks. So we suppress
      * them explicitly for non-es projects. */
-    testCompile(project(':x-pack-elasticsearch:qa:sql')) {
+    testCompile(xpackProject('qa:sql')) {
       transitive = false
     }
     testCompile "org.elasticsearch.test:framework:${version}"
 
     // JDBC testing dependencies
-    testRuntime(project(':x-pack-elasticsearch:plugin:sql:jdbc'))
+    testRuntime(xpackProject('plugin:sql:jdbc'))
     // TODO: Restore shading when https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/pull/27955 gets in
     testRuntime("net.sourceforge.csvjdbc:csvjdbc:1.0.34") {
       transitive = false
@@ -80,8 +81,8 @@ subprojects {
       transitive = false
     }
 
-    cliFixture project(':x-pack-elasticsearch:test:sql-cli-fixture')
-    cliJar(project(':x-pack-elasticsearch:plugin:sql:sql-cli')) {
+    cliFixture xpackProject('test:sql-cli-fixture')
+    cliJar(xpackProject('plugin:sql:sql-cli')) {
       // We only need the jar file because it bundles all of its dependencies
       transitive = false
     }
@@ -92,7 +93,7 @@ subprojects {
     apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.rest-test'
 
     task cliFixture(type: org.elasticsearch.gradle.test.AntFixture) {
-      Project cli = project(':x-pack-elasticsearch:plugin:sql:sql-cli')
+      Project cli = xpackProject('plugin:sql:sql-cli')
       dependsOn project.configurations.cliFixture
       dependsOn project.configurations.cliJar
       executable = new File(project.runtimeJavaHome, 'bin/java')
@@ -103,7 +104,7 @@ subprojects {
 
     integTestCluster {
       distribution = 'zip'
-      plugin project(':x-pack-elasticsearch:plugin').path
+      plugin xpackProject('plugin').path
       setting 'xpack.monitoring.enabled', 'false'
       setting 'xpack.ml.enabled', 'false'
       setting 'xpack.watcher.enabled', 'false'
@@ -118,7 +119,7 @@ subprojects {
 
     task runqa(type: RunTask) {
       distribution = 'zip'
-      plugin project(':x-pack-elasticsearch:plugin').path
+      plugin xpackProject('plugin').path
       setting 'xpack.monitoring.enabled', 'false'
       setting 'xpack.ml.enabled', 'false'
       setting 'xpack.watcher.enabled', 'false'
diff --git a/qa/sql/security/build.gradle b/qa/sql/security/build.gradle
index 228115bcbf4..dbccc4c2710 100644
--- a/qa/sql/security/build.gradle
+++ b/qa/sql/security/build.gradle
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 dependencies {
-  testCompile project(path: ':x-pack-elasticsearch:plugin:core', configuration: 'runtime')
+  testCompile "org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core:${version}"
 }
 
 Project mainProject = project
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ subprojects {
   }
 
   dependencies {
-    testCompile project(path: ':x-pack-elasticsearch:plugin:core', configuration: 'runtime')
+    testCompile "org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core:${version}"
   }
 
   integTestCluster {