diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 9f9b0799..157bf3b5 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -77,11 +77,17 @@
         <property name="optimize" value="on"/>
         <property name="deprecation" value="on"/>
 
-        <!-- get the current svn revision (needed by version.properties) -->
+        <!-- get the current svn revision (needed by version.properties) - if repository is unavailable, this will be zero -->
         <macro_svn_revision repository="https://svn2.assembla.com/svn/romraider" property="svn.revision"/>
 
-        <!-- version properties are set in this file, both for the product itself and
-		    for some of the external dependencies (jar files and such) -->
+        <!-- Set the buildnumber to be the revision fetched from the repository, but default to zero for 
+                offline work -->
+    	<condition property="buildnumber" value="${svn.revision}" else="0">
+    		<isset property="svn.revision"/>
+    	</condition>
+
+    	<!-- version properties are set in this file, both for the product itself and
+		        for some of the external dependencies (jar files and such) -->
         <property file="version.properties"/>
 
         <!-- basic project properties -->
@@ -240,7 +246,7 @@
         <attribute name="property"/>
         <sequential>
             <tempfile property="svninfo.log"/>
-            <exec executable="svn" output="${svninfo.log}">
+            <exec executable="svn" output="${svninfo.log}" failonerror="false">
                 <arg line="info @{repository}"/>
             </exec>
             <loadfile property="@{property}" srcFile="${svninfo.log}">
diff --git a/version.properties b/version.properties
index 5e38edff..a806467d 100644
--- a/version.properties
+++ b/version.properties
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ release_notes=release_notes.txt
 version.major=0
 version.minor=5
 version.patch=1
-version.buildnumber=${svn.revision}
+version.buildnumber=${buildnumber}
 version.extra=Beta
 version.extra1=