diff --git a/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/InfoResponseParser.java b/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/InfoResponseParser.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dfaeb8a33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/InfoResponseParser.java
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+/* $This file is distributed under the terms of the license in /doc/license.txt$ */
+
+package edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.utilities.revisioninfo;
+
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
+/**
+ * Parse the response that we got from SVN info.
+ * 
+ * Not thread-safe.
+ */
+public class InfoResponseParser {
+	private static final Pattern URL_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("URL: (\\S+)");
+	private static final Pattern ROOT_PATTERN = Pattern
+			.compile("Repository Root: (\\S+)");
+
+	private static final String TRUNK_PREFIX = "/trunk";
+	private static final String TAGS_PREFIX = "/tags/";
+	private static final String BRANCHES_PREFIX = "/branches/";
+
+	private final String infoResponse;
+	private String path;
+
+	public InfoResponseParser(String infoResponse) {
+		this.infoResponse = infoResponse;
+	}
+
+	public String parse() {
+		try {
+			path = figurePath();
+			System.err.println("path=" + path);
+
+			if (isTrunkPath()) {
+				return "trunk";
+			} else if (isTagPath()) {
+				return "tag " + getTagName();
+			} else if (isBranchPath()) {
+				return "branch " + getBranchName();
+			} else {
+				return null;
+			}
+		} catch (Exception e) {
+			System.err.println(e); // TODO
+			return null;
+		}
+	}
+
+	private String figurePath() throws Exception {
+		if (infoResponse == null) {
+			throw new Exception("infoResponse is null.");
+		}
+
+		String url = getUrlFromResponse();
+		String root = getRootFromResponse();
+		System.err.println("url=" + url); // TODO
+		System.err.println("root=" + root); // TODO
+
+		if (!url.startsWith(root)) {
+			throw new Exception("url doesn't start with root.");
+		}
+
+		return url.substring(root.length());
+	}
+
+	private String getUrlFromResponse() throws Exception {
+		return findNonEmptyMatch(URL_PATTERN, 1);
+	}
+
+	private String getRootFromResponse() throws Exception {
+		return findNonEmptyMatch(ROOT_PATTERN, 1);
+	}
+
+	private String findNonEmptyMatch(Pattern pattern, int groupIndex)
+			throws Exception {
+		Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(infoResponse);
+		if (!matcher.find()) {
+			throw new Exception("no match with '" + pattern + "'.");
+		}
+
+		String value = matcher.group(groupIndex);
+		if ((value == null) || (value.isEmpty())) {
+			throw new Exception("match with '" + pattern + "' is empty.");
+		}
+
+		return value;
+	}
+
+	private boolean isTrunkPath() {
+		return path.equals(TRUNK_PREFIX);
+	}
+
+	private boolean isTagPath() {
+		return path.startsWith(TAGS_PREFIX);
+	}
+
+	private String getTagName() {
+		return path.substring(TAGS_PREFIX.length());
+	}
+
+	private boolean isBranchPath() {
+		return path.startsWith(BRANCHES_PREFIX);
+	}
+
+	private String getBranchName() {
+		return path.substring(BRANCHES_PREFIX.length());
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/ProcessRunner.java b/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/ProcessRunner.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1e1ffb88b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/ProcessRunner.java
@@ -0,0 +1,161 @@
+/* $This file is distributed under the terms of the license in /doc/license.txt$ */
+
+package edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.utilities.revisioninfo;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.StringWriter;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+/**
+ * A harness that runs a system-level command.
+ * 
+ * No provision is made for standard input.
+ * 
+ * The standard output and standard error streams are asynchronously read, so
+ * the sub-process will not block on full buffers. Warning: if either of these
+ * streams contain more data than can fit into a String, then we will have a
+ * problem.
+ */
+public class ProcessRunner {
+	private int returnCode;
+	private String stdOut = "";
+	private String stdErr = "";
+	private File workingDirectory;
+
+	private final Map<String, String> environmentAdditions = new HashMap<String, String>();
+
+	/** Set the directory that the command will run in. */
+	public void setWorkingDirectory(File workingDirectory) {
+		this.workingDirectory = workingDirectory;
+	}
+
+	/** Add (or replace) any environment variable. */
+	public void setEnvironmentVariable(String key, String value) {
+		this.environmentAdditions.put(key, value);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Run the command.
+	 * 
+	 * @param command
+	 *            a list containing the operating system program and its
+	 *            arguments. See
+	 *            {@link java.lang.ProcessBuilder#ProcessBuilder(List)}.
+	 */
+	public void run(List<String> command) throws ProcessException {
+		try {
+			ProcessBuilder builder = new ProcessBuilder(command);
+
+			if (workingDirectory != null) {
+				builder.directory(workingDirectory);
+			}
+
+			if (!environmentAdditions.isEmpty()) {
+				builder.environment().putAll(this.environmentAdditions);
+			}
+
+			Process process = builder.start();
+			StreamEater outputEater = new StreamEater(process.getInputStream());
+			StreamEater errorEater = new StreamEater(process.getErrorStream());
+
+			this.returnCode = process.waitFor();
+
+			outputEater.join();
+			this.stdOut = outputEater.getContents();
+
+			errorEater.join();
+			this.stdErr = errorEater.getContents();
+		} catch (IOException e) {
+			throw new ProcessException("Exception when handling sub-process:",
+					e);
+		} catch (InterruptedException e) {
+			throw new ProcessException("Exception when handling sub-process:",
+					e);
+		}
+	}
+
+	public int getReturnCode() {
+		return returnCode;
+	}
+
+	public String getStdErr() {
+		return stdErr;
+	}
+
+	public String getStdOut() {
+		return stdOut;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * A thread that reads an InputStream until it reaches end of file, then
+	 * closes the stream.
+	 */
+	private static class StreamEater extends Thread {
+		private final InputStream stream;
+
+		private final StringWriter contents = new StringWriter();
+
+		private final byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
+
+		public StreamEater(InputStream stream) {
+			this.stream = stream;
+			this.start();
+		}
+
+		@Override
+		public void run() {
+			try {
+				int howMany = 0;
+				while (true) {
+					howMany = stream.read(buffer);
+					if (howMany > 0) {
+						contents.write(new String(buffer, 0, howMany));
+					} else if (howMany == 0) {
+						Thread.yield();
+					} else {
+						break;
+					}
+				}
+			} catch (IOException e) {
+				e.printStackTrace();
+			} finally {
+				try {
+					stream.close();
+				} catch (IOException e) {
+					e.printStackTrace();
+				}
+			}
+		}
+
+		public String getContents() {
+			return contents.toString();
+		}
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Indicates a problem when dealing with a spawned sub-process.
+	 */
+	public static class ProcessException extends Exception {
+
+		public ProcessException() {
+		}
+
+		public ProcessException(String message) {
+			super(message);
+		}
+
+		public ProcessException(Throwable cause) {
+			super(cause);
+		}
+
+		public ProcessException(String message, Throwable cause) {
+			super(message, cause);
+		}
+
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/RevisionInfoBuilder.java b/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/RevisionInfoBuilder.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5940a44c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utilities/buildutils/revisioninfo/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/utilities/revisioninfo/RevisionInfoBuilder.java
@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+/* $This file is distributed under the terms of the license in /doc/license.txt$ */
+
+package edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.utilities.revisioninfo;
+
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
+import java.io.EOFException;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileReader;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.utilities.revisioninfo.ProcessRunner.ProcessException;
+
+/**
+ * Get release and revision information to display on screen.
+ * 
+ * Ask Subversion for the information. If Subversion is available, and if this
+ * is a working directory, then we can build the info from the responses we get
+ * from "svn info" and "svnversion".
+ * 
+ * If that doesn't work, read the information from the ".revisionInfo" file in
+ * the product directory. Presumably, that file was created when the source was
+ * exported from Subversion.
+ * 
+ * If that doesn't work either, return something like this:
+ * "productName ~ unknown ~ unknown"
+ */
+public class RevisionInfoBuilder {
+	private static final String SVN_DIRECTORY_NAME = ".svn";
+	private static final String[] SVNVERSION_COMMAND = { "svnversion" };
+	private static final String[] SVN_INFO_COMMAND = { "svn", "info" };
+	private static final String INFO_LINE_DELIMITER = " ~ ";
+	private static final String REVISION_INFO_FILENAME = ".revisionInfo";
+
+	private final String productName;
+	private final File productDirectory;
+
+	public RevisionInfoBuilder(String[] args) {
+		if (args.length != 2) {
+			throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+					"RevisionInfoBuilder requires 2 arguments, not "
+							+ args.length);
+		}
+
+		productName = args[0];
+		productDirectory = new File(args[1]);
+
+		if (!productDirectory.isDirectory()) {
+			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Directory '"
+					+ productDirectory.getAbsolutePath() + "' does not exist.");
+		}
+	}
+
+	private String buildInfo() {
+		String infoLine;
+		infoLine = buildInfoFromSubversion();
+		if (infoLine == null) {
+			infoLine = buildInfoFromFile();
+		}
+		if (infoLine == null) {
+			infoLine = buildDummyInfo();
+		}
+		return infoLine;
+	}
+
+	private String buildInfoFromSubversion() {
+		if (!isThisASubversionWorkspace()) {
+			return null;
+		}
+
+		String release = assembleReleaseNameFromSubversion();
+		String revision = obtainRevisionLevelFromSubversion();
+		System.err.println("release=" + release); // TODO
+		System.err.println("revision=" + revision); // TODO
+		return buildLine(release, revision);
+	}
+
+	private boolean isThisASubversionWorkspace() {
+		File svnDirectory = new File(productDirectory, SVN_DIRECTORY_NAME);
+		return svnDirectory.isDirectory();
+	}
+
+	private String assembleReleaseNameFromSubversion() {
+		String infoResponse = runSubProcess(SVN_INFO_COMMAND);
+		return new InfoResponseParser(infoResponse).parse();
+	}
+
+	private String obtainRevisionLevelFromSubversion() {
+		String response = runSubProcess(SVNVERSION_COMMAND);
+		return (response == null) ? null : response.trim();
+	}
+
+	private String runSubProcess(String[] cmdArray) {
+		List<String> command = Arrays.asList(cmdArray);
+		try {
+			ProcessRunner runner = new ProcessRunner();
+			runner.setWorkingDirectory(productDirectory);
+
+			runner.run(command);
+
+			int rc = runner.getReturnCode();
+			if (rc != 0) {
+				throw new ProcessRunner.ProcessException("Return code from "
+						+ command + " was " + rc);
+			}
+
+			String output = runner.getStdOut();
+			// System.err.println(command + " response was '" + output + "'");
+			return output;
+		} catch (ProcessException e) {
+			return null;
+		}
+	}
+
+	private String buildInfoFromFile() {
+		try {
+			File revisionInfoFile = new File(productDirectory,
+					REVISION_INFO_FILENAME);
+			BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(
+					revisionInfoFile));
+
+			String release = reader.readLine();
+			if (release == null) {
+				throw new EOFException("No release line in file.");
+			}
+
+			String revision = reader.readLine();
+			if (revision == null) {
+				throw new EOFException("No revision line in file.");
+			}
+
+			return buildLine(release, revision);
+		} catch (IOException e) {
+			return null;
+		}
+	}
+
+	private String buildDummyInfo() {
+		return buildLine("unknown", "unknown");
+	}
+
+	private String buildLine(String release, String revision) {
+		return productName + INFO_LINE_DELIMITER + release.trim()
+				+ INFO_LINE_DELIMITER + revision.trim();
+	}
+
+	public static void main(String[] args) {
+		try {
+			System.out.println(new RevisionInfoBuilder(args).buildInfo());
+		} catch (Exception e) {
+			e.printStackTrace(System.err);
+			System.err.println("usage: RevisionInfoBuilder [product_name] "
+					+ "[product_directory] [supplied_values]");
+			System.exit(1);
+		}
+	}
+
+}