diff --git a/common.ant.xml b/common.ant.xml
index c8ab767..160faa1 100755
--- a/common.ant.xml
+++ b/common.ant.xml
@@ -199,10 +199,7 @@
     </sequential>
   </macrodef>
 
-  <macrodef name="gwt.revfilter" description="Filters files for versioning">
-    <attribute name="todir" description="Destination for the filtered copy"/>
-    <element name="src.fileset" implicit="true" 
-      description="Source for the filtered copy"/>
+  <macrodef name="gwt.getsvninfo" description="Identifies the SVN info of a workspace">
     <sequential>
       <exec outputproperty="svn.info" executable="svn" 
           failifexecutionfails="false" logError="true">
@@ -227,7 +224,31 @@
         casesensitive="false" />
       <property name="gwt.svnrev" 
         value="${gwt.svn.branch}@${gwt.svn.version}"/>
+      <!-- Windows NTFS and FAT don't like ':' or '@', and we need a sentinel file to test
+           for out-of-dateness, so this is a filename-acceptable equivalent to svnrev -->
+      <propertyregex property="gwt.svnrev.filename"
+        input="${gwt.svnrev}"
+        regexp="[:@]"
+        replace="-"
+        defaultValue="${gwt.svnrev}"/>
+      <!-- Generally, filtering requires a sentinel file so that changes to svn rev will
+         be noticed as invalidating the previously-generated filter output.  This property
+         names where such a sentinel lives; it is tested with <available/> and created
+         with <touch/> -->
+      <mkdir dir="${project.build}/sentinels" /> 
+      <property name="filter.sentinel" 
+          location="${project.build}/sentinels/gwt-${gwt.version}-svn-${gwt.svnrev.filename}" /> 
+    </sequential>
+  </macrodef>
+  
+  <macrodef name="gwt.revfilter" description="Filters files for versioning">
+    <attribute name="todir" description="Destination for the filtered copy"/>
+    
+    <element name="src.fileset" implicit="true" 
+      description="Source for the filtered copy"/>
+    <sequential>
       <!-- These files must be filtered for versioning -->
+      <echo message="Branding as GWT version ${gwt.version}, SVN rev ${gwt.svnrev}"/>
       <mkdir dir="@{todir}" />
       <copy todir="@{todir}" overwrite="true">
         <src.fileset/>
@@ -236,7 +257,6 @@
           <filter token="GWT_SVNREV" value="${gwt.svnrev}" />
         </filterset>
       </copy>
-      <echo message="Branding as GWT version ${gwt.version}, SVN rev ${gwt.svnrev}"/>
     </sequential>
   </macrodef>
 
diff --git a/dev/common.ant.xml b/dev/common.ant.xml
index 58266be..4353204 100755
--- a/dev/common.ant.xml
+++ b/dev/common.ant.xml
@@ -19,8 +19,11 @@
   <target name="build" depends="compile" description="Build and package this project">
     <mkdir dir="${gwt.build.lib}" />
     <gwt.jar>
-      <fileset dir="src" excludes="**/package.html" />
-      <fileset dir="${gwt.core.root}/src" excludes="**/package.html" />
+      <fileset dir="src" excludes="**/package.html"/>
+      <fileset dir="${gwt.core.root}/src">
+        <exclude name="**/package.html"/>
+        <exclude name="com/google/gwt/dev/About.properties"/>
+      </fileset>
       <fileset dir="${gwt.core.root}/super" excludes="**/package.html" />
       <fileset dir="${javac.out}" />
       <fileset dir="${gwt.core.build}/bin" />
diff --git a/dev/core/build.xml b/dev/core/build.xml
index 5b6a713..bcc6f13 100755
--- a/dev/core/build.xml
+++ b/dev/core/build.xml
@@ -57,12 +57,12 @@
 
   <property name="filter.pattern" value="com/google/gwt/dev/About.properties" />
 
-  <target name="-filter.src" description="Creates filtered copies of source files" unless="filter.uptodate">
-    <delete dir="${src.filtered}" failonerror="false" />
-    <gwt.revfilter todir="${src.filtered}" >
+  <target name="-filter.props" description="Creates filtered About.properties with version info"
+     unless="filter.uptodate">
+    <gwt.revfilter todir="${javac.out}">
       <fileset dir="src" includes="${filter.pattern}" />
     </gwt.revfilter>
-    <touch file="${src.filtered}/gwt.version-${gwt.version}" />
+    <touch file="${filter.sentinel}" />
   </target>
 
   <target name="build" depends="build.alldeps.jar" description="Compiles this project">
@@ -76,22 +76,8 @@
     <mkdir dir="${javac.out-dummy}" />
     <gwt.javac srcdir="src-dummy" destdir="${javac.out-dummy}" />
 
-    <!-- Files with hardcoded version information must be filtered -->
-    <property name="src.filtered" location="${project.build}/src-filtered" />
-    <condition property="filter.uptodate">
-      <and>
-        <available file="${src.filtered}/gwt.version-${gwt.version}" />
-        <uptodate>
-          <srcfiles dir="src" includes="${filter.pattern}" />
-          <globmapper from="*" to="${src.filtered}/*" />
-        </uptodate>
-      </and>
-    </condition>
-    <antcall target="-filter.src" />
-
     <mkdir dir="${javac.out}" />
     <gwt.javac srcdir="super" excludes="com/google/gwt/dev/jjs/intrinsic/"/>
-    <gwt.javac srcdir="${src.filtered}" />
     <gwt.javac srcdir="src" excludes="${filter.pattern}">
       <classpath>
         <pathelement location="${javac.out-dummy}" />
@@ -102,8 +88,21 @@
       </classpath>
     </gwt.javac>
     <copy todir="${javac.out}">
-      <fileset dir="src" includes="**/*.properties"/>
-                </copy>
+      <fileset dir="src" includes="**/*.properties" excludes="${filter.pattern}"/>
+    </copy>
+
+    <!-- Files with hardcoded version information must be filtered -->
+    <gwt.getsvninfo />
+    <condition property="filter.uptodate">
+      <and>
+        <available file="${filter.sentinel}" />
+        <uptodate>
+          <srcfiles dir="src" includes="${filter.pattern}" />
+          <globmapper from="*" to="${javac.out}/*" />
+        </uptodate>
+      </and>
+    </condition>
+    <antcall target="-filter.props" />
   </target>
 
   <target name="checkstyle" description="Static analysis of source">
diff --git a/dev/core/src/com/google/gwt/dev/About.java b/dev/core/src/com/google/gwt/dev/About.java
index 98d15f1..b64eb5a 100644
--- a/dev/core/src/com/google/gwt/dev/About.java
+++ b/dev/core/src/com/google/gwt/dev/About.java
@@ -32,13 +32,10 @@
 
   public static String GWT_VERSION;
 
-  {
-    Class<? extends About> myClass = this.getClass();
-    String propsPath = myClass.getName().replace('.', '/').concat(".properties");
+  static {
     Properties props = new Properties();
     try {
-      InputStream instream = myClass.getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream(
-          propsPath);
+      InputStream instream = About.class.getResourceAsStream("About.properties");
       props.load(instream);
     } catch (IOException iox) {
       // okay... we use default values, then.
diff --git a/distro-source/common.ant.xml b/distro-source/common.ant.xml
index a1c24cf..4657d66 100755
--- a/distro-source/common.ant.xml
+++ b/distro-source/common.ant.xml
@@ -17,9 +17,24 @@
   </patternset>
 
   <target name="filter" description="Filters distro files for versioning">
+    <gwt.getsvninfo />
+    <condition property="filter.uptodate">
+      <and>
+        <available file="${filter.sentinel}" />
+        <uptodate>
+          <srcfiles dir="../core/src" />
+          <globmapper from="*" to="${project.build}/*" />
+        </uptodate>
+      </and>
+    </condition>
+    <antcall target="-filter.props" />
+  </target>
+ 
+  <target name="-filter.props" unless="filter.uptodate">
     <gwt.revfilter todir="${project.build}" >
       <fileset dir="../core/src" />
     </gwt.revfilter>
+    <touch file="${filter.sentinel}" />
   </target>
 
   <target name="clean" description="Cleans this project's intermediate and output files">
diff --git a/distro-source/linux/build.xml b/distro-source/linux/build.xml
index dc0aa37..c3739a3 100755
--- a/distro-source/linux/build.xml
+++ b/distro-source/linux/build.xml
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
       </tarfileset>
       <tarfileset dir="${project.build}" prefix="${project.distname}">
         <patternset refid="chmod.not.executables" />
+        <exclude name="sentinels/**"/>
       </tarfileset>
       <tarfileset dir="src" prefix="${project.distname}" mode="755">
         <patternset refid="chmod.executables" />
diff --git a/distro-source/mac/build.xml b/distro-source/mac/build.xml
index 338d8f7..f6c86c9 100755
--- a/distro-source/mac/build.xml
+++ b/distro-source/mac/build.xml
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
       </tarfileset>
       <tarfileset dir="${project.build}" prefix="${project.distname}">
         <patternset refid="chmod.not.executables" />
+        <exclude name="sentinels/**"/>
       </tarfileset>
       <tarfileset dir="src" prefix="${project.distname}" mode="755">
         <patternset refid="chmod.executables" />
diff --git a/distro-source/windows/build.xml b/distro-source/windows/build.xml
index 015ec56..8f3c813 100755
--- a/distro-source/windows/build.xml
+++ b/distro-source/windows/build.xml
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@
       </zipfileset>
 
       <!-- raw files -->
-      <zipfileset dir="${project.build}" prefix="${project.distname}" />
+      <zipfileset dir="${project.build}" prefix="${project.distname}">
+        <exclude name="sentinels/**"/>
+      </zipfileset>
       <zipfileset dir="src" prefix="${project.distname}" />
 
       <!-- doc -->