diff --git a/.rat-excludes b/.rat-excludes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..64b9932249
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.rat-excludes
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+**/*.avpr
+debian/**
+.classpath
+.rat-excludes
+.project
+CHANGES.txt
+.git/**
+**/*.json
+**/*.patch
+interface/*/gen-*/**
+src/gen-java/**
+build/**
diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 54ef12d8ff..700de25a3b 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -148,6 +148,16 @@
              pattern="${build.dir.lib}/[type]s/[artifact]-[revision].[ext]" />
     </target>
 
+    <target name="ivy-retrieve-build" depends="ivy-init,ivy-retrieve">
+      <ivy:retrieve type="jar,source" conf="build" sync="true"
+             pattern="${build.dir.lib}/[type]s/[artifact]-[revision].[ext]" />
+    </target>
+
+    <target name="ivy-retrieve-qa" depends="ivy-init,ivy-retrieve">
+      <ivy:retrieve type="jar,source" conf="qa" sync="true"
+             pattern="${build.dir.lib}/[type]s/[artifact]-[revision].[ext]" />
+    </target>
+
     <!--
        Generate avro code
     -->
@@ -215,7 +225,7 @@
 	The build target builds all the .class files
     -->
     <target name="build"
-        depends="ivy-retrieve,avro-generate,build-subprojects,build-project"/>
+        depends="ivy-retrieve-build,avro-generate,build-subprojects,build-project"/>
     <target name="build-subprojects"/>
     <target name="codecoverage" depends="cobertura-instrument,test,cobertura-report"/>
     	
@@ -254,7 +264,7 @@
     </target>
 
     <!-- creates a release tarball -->	
-    <target name="release" depends="jar,javadoc">
+    <target name="release" depends="jar,javadoc,rat-init">
       <mkdir dir="${dist.dir}"/>
       <copy todir="${dist.dir}/lib">
         <fileset dir="${build.lib}"/>
@@ -306,6 +316,15 @@
           </not>
         </tarfileset>	
       </tar>
+      <rat:report xmlns:rat="antlib:org.apache.rat.anttasks"
+                  reportFile="${build.dir}/${final.name}-bin.rat.txt">
+        <tarfileset>
+          <gzipresource>
+            <file file="${build.dir}/${final.name}-bin.tar.gz" />
+          </gzipresource>
+        </tarfileset>
+      </rat:report>
+
       <tar compression="gzip" longfile="gnu"
         destfile="${build.dir}/${final.name}-src.tar.gz">
 
@@ -315,8 +334,17 @@
           <exclude name="build/**" />
           <exclude name="src/gen-java/**" />
           <exclude name="interface/avro/**" />
+          <exclude name=".git/**" />
         </tarfileset>
       </tar>
+      <rat:report xmlns:rat="antlib:org.apache.rat.anttasks"
+                  reportFile="${build.dir}/${final.name}-src.rat.txt">
+        <tarfileset>
+          <gzipresource>
+            <file file="${build.dir}/${final.name}-src.tar.gz" />
+          </gzipresource>
+        </tarfileset>
+      </rat:report>
     </target>
 
   <target name="build-test" depends="build" description="Build the Cassandra classes">
@@ -393,7 +421,51 @@
       datafile="${cobertura.datafile}"/>
     <cobertura-report format="xml" destdir="${cobertura.report.dir}" srcdir="${build.src}"
       datafile="${cobertura.datafile}"/>
-  </target>	
+  </target>
+
+  <!--
+    License audit tool
+  -->
+  <target name="rat-init" depends="ivy-retrieve-qa">
+    <typedef resource="org/apache/rat/anttasks/antlib.xml"
+             uri="antlib:org.apache.rat.anttasks">
+      <classpath>
+        <fileset dir="${build.dir.lib}">
+          <include name="**/apache-rat*.jar"/>
+          <include name="**/commons-*.jar"/>
+        </fileset>
+      </classpath>
+    </typedef>
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="rat-check" depends="rat-init">
+    <rat:report xmlns:rat="antlib:org.apache.rat.anttasks"
+                reportFile="${build.dir}/rat-report.log">
+      <fileset dir="."  excludesfile=".rat-excludes" />
+    </rat:report>
+    <condition property="rat.passed">
+      <isfileselected file="${build.dir}/rat-report.log">
+        <containsregexp expression="^0 Unknown Licenses"/>
+      </isfileselected>
+    </condition>
+    <fail unless="rat.passed">Unknown licenses: See build/rat-report.log.</fail>
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="rat-write" depends="rat-init">
+    <echo>RAT: invoking addLicense to write missing headers</echo>
+    <java classname="org.apache.rat.Report" fork="true"
+          output="${build.dir}/rat-report.log">
+      <classpath>
+        <fileset dir="${build.dir.lib}">
+          <include name="**/apache-rat*.jar"/>
+          <include name="**/commons-*.jar"/>
+        </fileset>
+      </classpath>
+      <arg value="-a" />
+      <arg value="--force" />
+      <arg value="." />
+    </java>
+  </target>
 	
   <target name="javadoc" depends="init">
     <tstamp>
diff --git a/ivy.xml b/ivy.xml
index 6f9127b2f8..838f43d1bf 100644
--- a/ivy.xml
+++ b/ivy.xml
@@ -18,6 +18,13 @@
  -->
 <ivy-module version="2.0">
   <info organisation="apache-cassandra" module="cassandra"/>
+
+  <configurations defaultconfmapping="default">
+    <conf name="default"/>
+    <conf name="build" extends="default" />
+    <conf name="qa" extends="default" />
+  </configurations>
+
   <dependencies>
     <!-- for hadoop -->
     <dependency org="commons-logging" name="commons-logging" rev="1.1.1"/>
@@ -26,7 +33,7 @@
 
     <!-- FIXME: paranamer and jackson can be dropped after we're depending
     on avro (since it depends on them). -->
-    <dependency org="com.thoughtworks.paranamer"
+    <dependency org="com.thoughtworks.paranamer" conf="build->default"
                 name="paranamer-ant" rev="2.1"/>
     <dependency org="org.codehaus.jackson"
                 name="jackson-mapper-asl" rev="1.4.0"/>
@@ -41,7 +48,10 @@
     <dependency org="org.slf4j" name="slf4j-api" rev="1.5.8"/>
     <dependency org="org.slf4j" name="slf4j-log4j12" rev="1.5.8"/>
     <dependency org="com.googlecode.json-simple" name="json-simple" rev="1.1"/>
-    <dependency org="junit" name="junit" rev="4.6"/>
+    <dependency org="junit" name="junit" rev="4.6" conf="build->default" />
+
+    <dependency org="org.apache.rat" name="apache-rat" rev="0.6"
+                conf="qa->default"/>
     <dependency org="org.mortbay.jetty" name="jetty" rev="6.1.21"/>
   </dependencies>
 </ivy-module>