diff --git a/src/etc/performance/build.xml b/src/etc/performance/build.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..969446f9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/etc/performance/build.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+<project default="all" xmlns:ac="antlib:net.sf.antcontrib">
+  <description>
+    This build file is designed to report the performance
+    of ant from various releases.
+    to use:
+    * install ant-contrib.jar to ($ANT_HOME|$HOME/.ant)/lib
+    * install beanshell jar and bsf jar
+    * use unix (with bash) or install cygwin
+    * set the env variables {whichever needs testing}
+      ANT_HOME
+      ANT_HOME_6_5 (the directory containing ant 1.6.5)
+      ANT_HOME_6_4
+      ANT_HOME_5_4
+    
+    * run ant
+    For example:
+       export ANT_HOME="c:/cygwin/home/me/svn/trunk/dist"
+       export ANT_HOME_5_4="l:/apps/apache-ant-1.5.4"
+       ant.bat
+
+    TODO: more build files.
+  </description>
+  <property environment="env"/>
+
+  <target name="all" depends="gen,do-times"/>
+
+  <target name="clean">
+    <delete quiet="yes" dir="build"/>
+  </target>
+
+  <macrodef name="run-ant-files">
+    <attribute name="env-ant"/>
+    <sequential>
+      <ac:if>
+        <isset property="@{env-ant}"/>
+        <then>
+          <ac:shellscript shell="bash">
+            export ANT_HOME=${@{env-ant}}
+            echo $ANT_HOME
+            echo -n "--  props.xml     --: "
+            $ANT_HOME/bin/ant -f build/gen/props.xml | grep time
+            echo -n "-- ant-call.xml   --: "
+            $ANT_HOME/bin/ant -f build/gen/ant-call.xml | grep time
+          </ac:shellscript>
+        </then>
+      </ac:if>
+    </sequential>
+  </macrodef>
+  
+  <target name="do-times">
+    <run-ant-files env-ant="env.ANT_HOME"/>
+    <run-ant-files env-ant="env.ANT_HOME_6_5"/>
+    <run-ant-files env-ant="env.ANT_HOME_6_2"/>
+    <run-ant-files env-ant="env.ANT_HOME_5_4"/>
+  </target>
+
+
+  <target name="gen-dirs">
+    <mkdir dir="build/gen"/>
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="avail">
+    <available property="avail.props.xml"
+               file="props.xml" filepath="build/gen"/>
+    <available property="avail.ant-call.xml"
+               file="ant-call.xml" filepath="build/gen"/>
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="gen-props" depends="gen-dirs,avail" unless="avail.props.xml">
+    <script language="beanshell">
+      import java.io.*;
+      out = new PrintWriter(new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(
+          "build/gen/props.xml")));
+      out.println("&lt;project name='props' default='props'&gt;");
+      out.println("  &lt;target name='props'&gt;");
+      for (int i = 0; i &lt; 20000; ++i) {
+          out.println(
+              "    &lt;property name='prop" + i + "' value='val'/&gt;");
+      }
+      out.println("  &lt;/target&gt;");
+      out.println("&lt;/project&gt;");
+      out.close();
+      self.log("Created build/gen/props.xml");
+    </script>
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="gen-ant-call" depends="gen-dirs,avail"
+          unless="avail.ant-call.xml">
+    <script language="beanshell">
+      import java.io.*;
+      out = new PrintWriter(new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(
+          "build/gen/ant-call.xml")));
+      out.println("&lt;project name='ant-call' default='call'&gt;");
+      out.println("  &lt;target name='me'/&gt;");
+      out.println("  &lt;target name='call'&gt;");
+      for (int i = 0; i &lt; 1000; ++i) {
+          out.println("    &lt;antcall target='me'/&gt;");
+      }
+      out.println("  &lt;/target&gt;");
+      out.println("&lt;/project&gt;");
+      out.close();
+      self.log("Created build/gen/ant-call.xml");
+    </script>
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="gen" depends="gen-ant-call,gen-props"/>
+</project>