diff --git a/.cvsignore b/.cvsignore
index be68aa8ce..543a6dd13 100644
--- a/.cvsignore
+++ b/.cvsignore
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
 checkstyle.ipr
 checkstyle.iws
-classes
-dist
-testreports
+target
diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 4a263eb09..69dc2bf3f 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@
 
   <property name="checkstyle.dir"
             value="src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle" />
-  <property name="testreport.dir" value="testreports"/>
+  <property name="testreport.dir" value="target/testreports"/>
+  <property name="dist.dir" value="target/dist"/>
 
   <property name="version" value="2.3beta" />
 
@@ -24,7 +25,7 @@
   </path>
 
   <path id="run.classpath">
-    <pathelement location="classes/checkstyle" />
+    <pathelement location="target/checkstyle" />
     <path refid="build.classpath" />
   </path>
 
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@
   </path>
 
   <path id="tests.runpath">
-    <pathelement location="classes/tests" />
+    <pathelement location="target/tests" />
     <path refid="tests.buildpath" />
   </path>
 
@@ -58,8 +59,7 @@
       <fileset dir="src/checkstyle" includes="**/Generated*.java" />
       <fileset dir="src/checkstyle" includes="**/Generated*.txt" />
     </delete>
-    <delete dir="classes" />
-    <delete dir="dist" />
+    <delete dir="target" />
     <delete includeemptydirs="true">
       <fileset dir="docs/api" includes="**" excludes=".cvsignore,CVS/**"/>
     </delete>
@@ -102,29 +102,29 @@
   <!-- COMPILE TARGETS -->
   <!-- -->
   <target name="compile.checkstyle" depends="build.antlr">
-    <mkdir dir="classes/checkstyle" />
+    <mkdir dir="target/checkstyle" />
     <depend srcdir="src/checkstyle"
-            destdir="classes/checkstyle" closure="yes"/>
+            destdir="target/checkstyle" closure="yes"/>
     <javac srcdir="src/checkstyle"
-           destdir="classes/checkstyle"
+           destdir="target/checkstyle"
            deprecation="on" debug="on"
            classpathref="build.classpath" />
     <copy file="src/checkstyle/checkstyletask.properties"
-          todir="classes/checkstyle"/>
+          todir="target/checkstyle"/>
   </target>
 
   <!-- Compiles only the test code. Input files are excluded from
        compilation, they contain code like assert statements
        that does not compile on all JDKs -->
   <target name="compile.tests" depends="compile.checkstyle">
-    <mkdir dir="classes/tests" />
-    <depend srcdir="src/tests" destdir="classes/tests" closure="yes"/>
+    <mkdir dir="target/tests" />
+    <depend srcdir="src/tests" destdir="target/tests" closure="yes"/>
     <!-- start of a change to turn on compilation of all input files -->
     <!-- under JDK1.4. -->
     <property name="testExcludes"
               value="**/InputWhitespace.java,**/InputImport.java"/>
     <javac srcdir="src/tests"
-           destdir="classes/tests"
+           destdir="target/tests"
            deprecation="on" debug="on"
            excludes="${testExcludes}"
            classpathref="tests.buildpath" />
@@ -175,10 +175,10 @@
              classname="com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.CheckStyleTask">
       <classpath refid="run.classpath"/>
     </taskdef>
-    <delete file="classes/cachefile" />
+    <delete file="target/cachefile" />
     <checkstyle headerfile="docs/java.header"
                 ignorebraces="false"
-                cachefile="classes/cachefile"
+                cachefile="target/cachefile"
                 memberPattern="^m[A-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*$"
                 staticPattern="^s[A-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*$"
                 paramPattern="^a[A-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*$"
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@
                includes="**/*.java"
                excludes="**/Generated*.java"/>
       <formatter type="plain"/>
-      <formatter type="xml" toFile="classes/cs_errors.xml"/>
+      <formatter type="xml" toFile="target/cs_errors.xml"/>
       <classpath refid="build.classpath"/>
     </checkstyle>
   </target>
@@ -222,27 +222,27 @@
              classname="com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.CheckStyleTask">
       <classpath refid="run.classpath"/>
     </taskdef>
-    <mkdir dir="classes/style/frames"/>
-    <mkdir dir="classes/style/noframes"/>
-    <mkdir dir="classes/style/simple"/>
+    <mkdir dir="target/style/frames"/>
+    <mkdir dir="target/style/noframes"/>
+    <mkdir dir="target/style/simple"/>
     <checkstyle failOnViolation="false"
                 basedir=".">
       <fileset dir="src/checkstyle"
                includes="**/*.java"
                excludes="**/Generated*.java"/>
-      <formatter type="xml" toFile="classes/style/cs_errors.xml"/>
+      <formatter type="xml" toFile="target/style/cs_errors.xml"/>
       <classpath refid="build.classpath"/>
     </checkstyle>
-    <style basedir="classes/style"
-           destdir="classes/style/noframes"
+    <style basedir="target/style"
+           destdir="target/style/noframes"
            includes="cs_errors.xml"
            style="contrib/checkstyle-noframes.xsl"/>
-    <style basedir="classes/style"
-           destdir="classes/style/frames"
+    <style basedir="target/style"
+           destdir="target/style/frames"
            includes="cs_errors.xml"
            style="contrib/checkstyle-frames.xsl"/>
-    <style basedir="classes/style"
-           destdir="classes/style/simple"
+    <style basedir="target/style"
+           destdir="target/style/simple"
            includes="cs_errors.xml"
            style="contrib/checkstyle-simple.xsl"/>
 
@@ -319,26 +319,26 @@
   <!-- DIST TARGETS -->
   <!-- -->
   <target name="build.bindist" depends="compile.checkstyle, javadoc">
-    <delete dir="dist/checkstyle-${version}" />
-    <mkdir dir="dist/checkstyle-${version}" />
-    <jar jarfile="dist/checkstyle-${version}/checkstyle-${version}.jar"
-         basedir="classes/checkstyle" />
+    <delete dir="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}" />
+    <mkdir dir="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}" />
+    <jar jarfile="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}/checkstyle-${version}.jar"
+         basedir="target/checkstyle" />
     <!-- copy the JARS and make a mega JAR out of them -->
-    <copy file="${regexp.jar}" todir="dist/checkstyle-${version}" />
-    <copy file="${antlr.jar}" todir="dist/checkstyle-${version}" />
-    <mkdir dir="dist/checkstyle-${version}/tmp" />
-    <unjar src="dist/checkstyle-${version}/antlr.jar"
-           dest="dist/checkstyle-${version}/tmp" />
-    <unjar src="dist/checkstyle-${version}/jakarta-regexp-1.2.jar"
-           dest="dist/checkstyle-${version}/tmp" />
-    <unjar src="dist/checkstyle-${version}/checkstyle-${version}.jar"
-           dest="dist/checkstyle-${version}/tmp" />
-    <delete dir="dist/checkstyle-${version}/tmp/META-INF" />
-    <jar jarfile="dist/checkstyle-${version}/checkstyle-all-${version}.jar"
-         basedir="dist/checkstyle-${version}/tmp" />
-    <delete dir="dist/checkstyle-${version}/tmp" />
+    <copy file="${regexp.jar}" todir="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}" />
+    <copy file="${antlr.jar}" todir="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}" />
+    <mkdir dir="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}/tmp" />
+    <unjar src="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}/antlr.jar"
+           dest="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}/tmp" />
+    <unjar src="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}/jakarta-regexp-1.2.jar"
+           dest="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}/tmp" />
+    <unjar src="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}/checkstyle-${version}.jar"
+           dest="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}/tmp" />
+    <delete dir="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}/tmp/META-INF" />
+    <jar jarfile="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}/checkstyle-all-${version}.jar"
+         basedir="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}/tmp" />
+    <delete dir="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}/tmp" />
     <!-- copy documentation -->
-    <copy todir="dist/checkstyle-${version}">
+    <copy todir="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}">
       <fileset dir=".">
         <include name="LICENSE*"/>
         <include name="README"/>
@@ -354,21 +354,21 @@
       </filterset>
     </copy>
     <!-- create the final zip & tar/gzip files -->
-    <zip zipfile="dist/checkstyle-${version}.zip">
-      <fileset dir="dist">
+    <zip zipfile="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}.zip">
+      <fileset dir="${dist.dir}">
         <include name="checkstyle-${version}/**"/>
       </fileset>
     </zip>
-    <tar tarfile="dist/checkstyle-${version}.tar"
-         basedir="dist" includes="checkstyle-${version}/**" />
-    <gzip zipfile="dist/checkstyle-${version}.tar.gz"
-          src="dist/checkstyle-${version}.tar" />
+    <tar tarfile="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}.tar"
+         basedir="${dist.dir}" includes="checkstyle-${version}/**" />
+    <gzip zipfile="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}.tar.gz"
+          src="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-${version}.tar" />
   </target>
 
   <target name="build.srcdist" depends="checkstyle.checkstyle">
-    <delete dir="dist/checkstyle-src-${version}" />
-    <mkdir dir="dist/checkstyle-src-${version}" />
-    <copy todir="dist/checkstyle-src-${version}">
+    <delete dir="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-src-${version}" />
+    <mkdir dir="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-src-${version}" />
+    <copy todir="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-src-${version}">
       <fileset dir=".">
         <include name="LICENSE*"/>
         <include name="README"/>
@@ -382,15 +382,15 @@
       </fileset>
     </copy>
     <!-- Produce the final distributions -->
-    <zip zipfile="dist/checkstyle-src-${version}.zip">
-      <fileset dir="dist">
+    <zip zipfile="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-src-${version}.zip">
+      <fileset dir="${dist.dir}">
         <include name="checkstyle-src-${version}/**"/>
       </fileset>
     </zip>
-    <tar tarfile="dist/checkstyle-src-${version}.tar"
-         basedir="dist" includes="checkstyle-src-${version}/**" />
-    <gzip zipfile="dist/checkstyle-src-${version}.tar.gz"
-          src="dist/checkstyle-src-${version}.tar" />
+    <tar tarfile="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-src-${version}.tar"
+         basedir="${dist.dir}" includes="checkstyle-src-${version}/**" />
+    <gzip zipfile="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-src-${version}.tar.gz"
+          src="${dist.dir}/checkstyle-src-${version}.tar" />
   </target>
 
   <target name="javadoc" depends="compile.checkstyle">