diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9f30a35..2d74f5a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 pkg/*
 *.gem
 .bundle
+.rvmrc
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index d737a66..fa7a7cd 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-source "http://rubygems.org"
+source :rubygems
 
-# Specify your gem's dependencies in hudson.war.gemspec
-gemspec
+gem "rake"
+gem "rest-client"
+gem "json"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d2f6fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+GEM
+  remote: http://rubygems.org/
+  specs:
+    json (1.4.6)
+    mime-types (1.16)
+    rake (0.8.7)
+    rest-client (1.6.1)
+      mime-types (>= 1.16)
+
+PLATFORMS
+  ruby
+
+DEPENDENCIES
+  json
+  rake
+  rest-client
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5093550
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+## Hudson Wargemmer
+
+#### What?
+
+The hudson wargemmer consists of two parts: a Rake task for turning a hudson war file
+(__W.__eb __A.__ __R.__chive for those not familiar with java lingo) into a distributable rubygem, and a cron task for creating
+a new version of the gem, whenever a new hudson version comes out.
+
+The script polls the hudson update center and checks to see if there is a newer version of the hudson distribution that
+has not yet been gemmed up and if not, then bundles it and pushes it to [rubygems.org](http://rubygems.org) as a gem named
+hudson-war.
+
+The generated gem has the same version number as the hudson distribution itself. So if you want the 1.386 distribution, then you would do a
+
+    gem install hudson-war --version 1.386
+
+#### How?
+
+In addition to the war file  long with the The hudson-war gem comes with an executable script `hudson.war` to help you leverage your hudson distribution. 
+
+Without any arguments, it returns the location of the hudson warfile itself:
+
+    $ hudson.war location
+    /path/to/hudson.war
+
+It can unpack itself to a given directory. This is useful if you want to extract certain assets such as classfiles, annotations, configurations from it.
+
+    $ hudson.war unpack /tmp/hudson.war.exploded
+    
+It can copy itself anywhere
+
+    legolas: cowboyd$ hudson.war cp tmp
+    copied /Users/cowboyd/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p174@hudson.war/gems/hudson-war-1.391/lib/hudson/hudson.war -> tmp
+
+Or if you want the classpath:
+
+    $ hudson.war classpath
+    legolas:hudson.war cowboyd$ hudson.war classpath
+    /Users/cowboyd/.hudson/wars/1.391/WEB-INF/lib/hudson-core-1.391.jar
+
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 14cfe0b..83a64d9 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -1,2 +1,73 @@
-require 'bundler'
-Bundler::GemHelper.install_tasks
+require 'bundler/setup'
+require 'erb'
+
+INS = FileList['template/**/*.in']
+
+def render(src, dest, use_binding = binding)
+  File.open(dest, "w", File.stat(src).mode) do |output|
+    result = ERB.new(File.read(src)).result(use_binding)
+    output.write(result)
+  end
+end
+
+task :gem, :version do |t, options|
+  hudson_version = options.version
+  raise "invalid version number: #{options.version}" unless hudson_version.to_f > 0
+  directory gem_dir = "pkg/#{hudson_version}"
+  outs = INS.map do |f|
+    filename = File.join(f.split('/')[1..-1])
+    directory dest_dir = File.join(gem_dir, File.dirname(filename))
+    file(File.join(dest_dir, File.basename(filename, '.in')) => [f, dest_dir]) do |out|
+      render f, out.name, binding
+    end
+  end
+  directory war_dir = "#{gem_dir}/lib/hudson"
+  warfile = file("#{war_dir}/hudson.war" => war_dir) do |f|
+    Dir.chdir(File.dirname(f.name)) do
+      sh "wget http://updates.hudson-labs.org/download/war/#{hudson_version}/hudson.war"
+    end
+  end
+  
+  gemspec = file("#{gem_dir}/hudson-war.gemspec" => outs + [warfile]) do |f|
+    Gem::Specification.new do |s|
+      s.name        = "hudson-war"
+      s.version     = hudson_version
+      s.platform    = Gem::Platform::RUBY
+      s.authors     = ["Charles Lowell"]
+      s.email       = ["cowboyd@thefrontside.net"]
+      s.homepage    = "http://rubygems.org/gems/hudson-war"
+      s.summary     = "fetch and use a specific hudson version with rubygems"
+      s.description = "download and install a specific version of the hudson war file which can be used for either running a server, or for plugin development"
+      s.rubyforge_project = "hudson-war"
+
+      # s.files         = `git ls-files`.split("\n")
+      # s.test_files    = `git ls-files -- {test,spec,features}/*`.split("\n")
+      s.executables   = ['hudson.war']
+      s.require_paths = ["lib"]
+      sh "touch #{f.name}"
+      sh "rm -rf #{gem_dir}/*.gem"
+      Dir.chdir(gem_dir) do
+        s.files = FileList['**/*'].to_a
+        File.open("#{s.name}.gemspec", "w") do |f|
+          f.write(s.to_ruby)
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+  
+  gem = file "#{gem_dir}/hudson-war-#{hudson_version}.gem" => gemspec do
+    Dir.chdir(gem_dir) do
+      Gem::Builder.new(eval(File.read(File.basename(gemspec.name)))).build
+    end
+  end
+  gem.invoke
+end
+
+task :install, :version do |t, options|
+  Rake::Task["gem"].invoke(options.version)
+  sh "gem install pkg/#{options.version}/hudson-war-#{options.version}.gem"
+end
+
+task :clean do
+  sh "rm -rf pkg"
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hudson.war.gemspec b/hudson.war.gemspec
deleted file mode 100644
index 6e3dde2..0000000
--- a/hudson.war.gemspec
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
-# -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-
-$:.push File.expand_path("../lib", __FILE__)
-require "hudson/war/version"
-
-Gem::Specification.new do |s|
-  s.name        = "hudson.war"
-  s.version     = Hudson::War::VERSION
-  s.platform    = Gem::Platform::RUBY
-  s.authors     = ["Charles Lowell"]
-  s.email       = ["cowboyd@thefrontside.net"]
-  s.homepage    = "http://rubygems.org/gems/hudson.war"
-  s.summary     = "get a specific hudson version with rubygems"
-  s.description = "this installs a known version of hudson. It also comes with a cron task to bundle versions of itself when a new version of hudson comes out"
-
-  s.rubyforge_project = "hudson.war"
-
-  s.files         = `git ls-files`.split("\n")
-  s.test_files    = `git ls-files -- {test,spec,features}/*`.split("\n")
-  s.executables   = `git ls-files -- bin/*`.split("\n").map{ |f| File.basename(f) }
-  s.require_paths = ["lib"]
-end
diff --git a/lib/hudson/war/version.rb b/lib/hudson/war/version.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 2fbed2e..0000000
--- a/lib/hudson/war/version.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-module Hudson
-  module War
-    VERSION = "1.386"
-  end
-end
-
diff --git a/template/bin/hudson.war.in b/template/bin/hudson.war.in
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..2fb91b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/template/bin/hudson.war.in
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env ruby
+
+require 'optparse'
+require File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../lib/hudson/war')
+
+
+war = Hudson::War
+parser = OptionParser.new
+
+parser.on("-v", "--version", String, "Use this version of hudson") do |version|
+  puts war::VERSION
+  exit(1)
+end
+
+parser.parse(ARGV)
+
+case cmd = ARGV.shift
+when 'unpack'
+  dest = ARGV.first
+  war.unpack(dest)
+when 'classpath'
+  puts war.classpath
+when 'cp'
+  dest = ARGV.first
+  war.cp dest
+else
+  puts war::LOCATION
+end
+
diff --git a/template/lib/hudson/war.rb.in b/template/lib/hudson/war.rb.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a0b3798
--- /dev/null
+++ b/template/lib/hudson/war.rb.in
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+require 'fileutils'
+module Hudson
+  module War
+    VERSION = '<%= hudson_version %>'
+    LOCATION = File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), "hudson.war"))
+
+    module_function
+
+    def unpack(dest_dir, output = $stdout)
+      target = File.dirname(dest_dir).tap do |dir_of_dest_dir|
+        raise "'#{dir_of_dest_dir}' is not a directory" unless File.directory?(dir_of_dest_dir)
+      end
+      FileUtils.mkdir_p dest_dir
+      Dir.chdir(dest_dir) do
+        sh "jar xvf #{LOCATION}", output
+      end
+    end
+
+    def cp(dest, output = $stdout)
+      FileUtils.cp(LOCATION, dest)
+      output << "copied #{LOCATION} -> #{dest}\n"
+    end
+
+    # desc "server [options]", "run a hudson server"
+    # method_option :home, :desc    => "use this directory to store server data", :type => :string, :default => File.join(ENV['HOME'], ".hudson", "server"), :banner => "PATH"
+    # method_option :port, :desc    => "run hudson server on this port", :type => :numeric, :default => 3001, :aliases => "-p"
+    # method_option :control, :desc => "set the shutdown/control port", :type => :numeric, :default => 3002, :aliases => "-c"
+    # method_option :daemon, :desc  => "fork into background and run as a daemon", :type => :boolean, :default => false
+    # method_option :kill, :desc    => "send shutdown signal to control port", :type => :boolean, :aliases => "-k"
+    # method_option :logfile, :desc => "redirect log messages to this file", :type => :string, :banner => "PATH"
+
+    def server(output, options)
+      home = options.home || File.join(ENV['HOME'], ".hudson", "server")
+      port = options.port.to_i || 3001
+      control = options.control.to_i || 3002
+      daemon = options.daemon
+      kill = options.kill
+      logfile = options.logfile
+
+      if kill
+        require 'socket'
+        TCPSocket.open("localhost", control) do |sock|
+          sock.write("0")
+        end
+      else
+        javatmp = File.join(home, "javatmp")
+        FileUtils.mkdir_p javatmp
+        ENV['HUDSON_HOME'] = serverhome
+        cmd = ["java", "-Djava.io.tmpdir=#{javatmp}", "-jar", LOCATION]
+        cmd << "--daemon" if daemon
+        cmd << "--logfile=#{File.expand_path(logfile)}" if logfile
+        cmd << "--httpPort=#{port}"
+        cmd << "--controlPort=#{control}"
+        output << cmd.join(" ")
+        exec(*cmd)
+      end
+    end
+
+    def classpath
+      dest_dir = File.join(ENV['HOME'], '.hudson', 'wars', VERSION)
+      if File.directory?(dest_dir)
+        "#{dest_dir}/WEB-INF/lib/hudson-core-#{VERSION}.jar"
+      else
+        FileUtils.mkdir_p(dest_dir)
+        unpack(dest_dir, [])
+        classpath
+      end
+    end
+
+    def sh(command, output = $stdout)
+      output << command + "\n"
+      output << result = `#{command}`
+      raise result unless $?.success?
+    end    
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/wargemmer b/wargemmer
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..44f0eed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wargemmer
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env ruby
+
+require 'bundler/setup'
+
+require 'restclient'
+require 'json'
+
+print "latest hudson version..."
+hudson_metadata = JSON.parse RestClient.get("http://updates.hudson-labs.org/update-center.json").split("\n")[1..-2].join("\n")
+
+puts current_hudson_version = hudson_metadata['core']['version']
+
+print "latest gem version..."
+
+gem_metadata = JSON.parse RestClient.get("http://rubygems.org/api/v1/gems/hudson-war.json")
+
+puts current_gem_version = gem_metadata['version']
+
+if current_hudson_version > current_gem_version
+  puts "upgrading..."
+  exec "rake clean version[#{current_hudson_version}] gem"
+end
+
+
+