diff --git a/project/AkkaBuild.scala b/project/AkkaBuild.scala
index 753192abae..2c66c95d93 100644
--- a/project/AkkaBuild.scala
+++ b/project/AkkaBuild.scala
@@ -701,10 +701,22 @@ object AkkaBuild extends Build {
     (if (useOnlyTestTags.isEmpty) Seq.empty else Seq("-n", if (multiNodeEnabled) useOnlyTestTags.mkString("\"", " ", "\"") else useOnlyTestTags.mkString(" ")))
   }
 
+  val (mavenLocalResolver, mavenLocalResolverSettings) =
+    System.getProperty("akka.build.M2Dir") match {
+      case null => (Resolver.mavenLocal, Seq.empty)
+      case path =>
+        // Maven resolver settings
+        val resolver = Resolver.file("user-publish-m2-local", new File(path))
+        (resolver, Seq(
+          otherResolvers := resolver:: publishTo.value.toList,
+          publishM2Configuration := Classpaths.publishConfig(packagedArtifacts.value, None, resolverName = resolver.name, checksums = checksums.in(publishM2).value, logging = ivyLoggingLevel.value)
+        ))
+    }
+
   lazy val resolverSettings = {
     // should we be allowed to use artifacts published to the local maven repository
     if(System.getProperty("akka.build.useLocalMavenResolver", "false").toBoolean)
-      Seq(resolvers += Resolver.mavenLocal)
+      Seq(resolvers += mavenLocalResolver)
     else Seq.empty
   } ++ {
     // should we be allowed to use artifacts from sonatype snapshots
@@ -773,16 +785,7 @@ object AkkaBuild extends Build {
 
     // don't save test output to a file
     testListeners in (Test, test) := Seq(TestLogger(streams.value.log, {_ => streams.value.log }, logBuffered.value))
-  ) ++ (System.getProperty("akka.build.M2Dir") match {
-    case null => Seq.empty
-    case path =>
-      // Maven resolver settings
-      Seq(
-        otherResolvers :=
-          Resolver.file("user-publish-m2-local", new File(path)) :: publishTo.value.toList,
-        publishM2Configuration := Classpaths.publishConfig(packagedArtifacts.value, None, resolverName = "user-publish-m2-local", checksums = checksums.in(publishM2).value, logging = ivyLoggingLevel.value)
-      )
-  })
+  ) ++ mavenLocalResolverSettings
 
   val validatePullRequest = TaskKey[Unit]("validate-pull-request", "Additional tasks for pull request validation")
 
diff --git a/scripts/build/extra-build-steps.sh b/scripts/build/extra-build-steps.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..161c7fab58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build/extra-build-steps.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# defaults
+declare -r default_java_home="/usr/local/share/java/jdk6"
+declare -r default_java8_home="/usr/local/share/java/jdk8"
+
+# get the source location for this script; handles symlinks
+function get_script_path {
+  local source="${BASH_SOURCE[0]}"
+  while [ -h "${source}" ] ; do
+    source="$(readlink "${source}")";
+  done
+  echo ${source}
+}
+
+# path, name, and dir for this script
+declare -r script_path=$(get_script_path)
+declare -r script_name=$(basename "${script_path}")
+declare -r script_dir="$(cd -P "$(dirname "${script_path}")" && pwd)"
+
+# print usage info
+function usage {
+  cat <<EOM
+Usage: ${script_name} [options] VERSION
+  -h | --help        Print this usage message
+  --java_home PATH   Set the path to the "standard" java version
+  --java8_home PATH  Set the path to the java 8 version
+
+This script assumes that the mvn command is in your path.
+EOM
+}
+
+# echo a log message
+function echolog {
+  echo "[${script_name}] $@"
+}
+
+# echo an error message
+function echoerr {
+  echo "[${script_name}] $@" 1>&2
+}
+
+# fail the script with an error message
+function fail {
+  echoerr "$@"
+  exit 1
+}
+
+# try to run a command or otherwise fail with a message
+function try {
+  "${@:1:$#-1}" || fail "${@:$#}"
+}
+
+# try to run a command or otherwise fail
+function check {
+  type -P "$@" &> /dev/null || fail "command not found: $@"
+}
+
+# initialize variables with defaults and override from environment
+declare java_home="$default_java_home"
+if [ $AKKA_BUILD_JAVA_HOME ]; then
+  java_home="$AKKA_BUILD_JAVA_HOME"
+fi
+
+declare java8_home="$default_java8_home"
+if [ $AKKA_BUILD_JAVA8_HOME ]; then
+  java8_home="$AKKA_BUILD_JAVA8_HOME"
+fi
+
+# process options and set flags
+while true; do
+  case "$1" in
+    -h | --help ) usage; exit 1 ;;
+    --java_home ) java_home=$2; shift 2 ;;
+    --java8_home ) java8_home=$2; shift 2 ;;
+    * ) break ;;
+  esac
+done
+
+declare -r java_path="$java_home/bin/java"
+declare -r java8_path="$java8_home/bin/java"
+
+# check that java paths work
+check "$java_path"
+check "$java8_path"
+
+# check for a mvn command
+check mvn
+
+# now do some work
+tmp="$script_dir/../../akka-samples/akka-sample-java8"
+try cd  "$tmp" "can't step into project directory: $tmp"
+export JAVA_HOME="$java8_home"
+try mvn clean test "mvn execution in akka-sample-java8 failed"