diff --git a/build.properties b/build.properties
index 60606d95..d13a796e 100644
--- a/build.properties
+++ b/build.properties
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ ivy.install.version=1.4.1
 
 #status=integration
 
+# Comment out to fail builds if Checkstyle fails
+#ignore.checkstyle=
+
 test.class.pattern = *Test
 
 source.. = src/java/
diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 95f17678..69a39cd5 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -558,7 +558,7 @@
     </target>
 
     <target name="init-checkstyle" depends="jar">
-        <ivy:cachepath organisation="com.puppycrawl.tools" module="checkstyle" revision="7.8.2"
+        <ivy:cachepath organisation="com.puppycrawl.tools" module="checkstyle" revision="6.19"
                        inline="true" conf="default" pathid="checkstyle.classpath" log="download-only"/>
         <taskdef uri="antlib:com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.ant"
                  resource="com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/ant/antlib.xml" classpathref="checkstyle.classpath"/>
@@ -585,7 +585,7 @@
 
     <target name="checkstyle" depends="checkstyle-internal"
             description="checks Ivy codebase according to ${checkstyle.src.dir}/checkstyle-config">
-        <fail if="checkstyle.failed"
+        <fail if="checkstyle.failed" unless="ignore.checkstyle"
             message="Checkstyle has errors. See report in ${checkstyle.report.dir}"/>
     </target>
 
diff --git a/src/etc/checkstyle/checkstyle-config b/src/etc/checkstyle/checkstyle-config
index a4bce65d..2e2da7cc 100644
--- a/src/etc/checkstyle/checkstyle-config
+++ b/src/etc/checkstyle/checkstyle-config
@@ -19,8 +19,7 @@
    under the License.
 -->
 <module name="Checker">
-
-  <!-- required license file -->
+  <!-- required licence file -->
   <module name="Header">
     <property name="headerFile" value="${checkstyle.src.dir}/RequiredHeader.txt"/>
     <property name="ignoreLines" value="2"/>
@@ -91,7 +90,6 @@
     <module name="NeedBraces"/>
     <module name="RightCurly"/>
 
-
     <!-- Checks for common coding problems -->
     <!-- <module name="AvoidInlineConditionals"/> -->
     <!-- <module name="DoubleCheckedLocking"/> --> <!-- removed in checkstyle 5.6 -->
@@ -147,7 +145,7 @@
   </module>
 
   <module name="SuppressionFilter">
-    <property name="file" value="${basedir}/src/etc/checkstyle/checkstyle-suppress.xml"/>
+    <property name="file" value="${checkstyle.src.dir}/checkstyle-suppress.xml"/>
   </module>
 
 </module>