diff --git a/xwords4/android/scripts/common_targets.xml b/xwords4/android/scripts/common_targets.xml
index 949df12b3..b9b671916 100644
--- a/xwords4/android/scripts/common_targets.xml
+++ b/xwords4/android/scripts/common_targets.xml
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@
     </target>
 
     <target name="my-pre-build">
-        <exec dir="." executable="../scripts/ndksetup.sh" output="/dev/null">
+        <exec dir="." executable="../scripts/ndksetup.sh" output="/dev/null"
+              failonerror="true">
             <arg value="${build.target}"/>
         </exec>
 
@@ -53,8 +54,8 @@
               >
           <arg value="${VARIANT_NAME}"/>
           </exec>
-        <exec dir=".." executable="./scripts/genvers.sh" output="ant_out.txt">
-          <arg value="${APP_NAME}"/>
+        <exec dir="." executable="../scripts/genvers.sh" output="ant_out.txt" 
+              failonerror="true">
           <arg value="${VARIANT_NAME}"/>
           <arg value="${INITIAL_CLIENT_VERS}" />
           <arg value="${CHAT_ENABLED}" />
diff --git a/xwords4/android/scripts/genvers.sh b/xwords4/android/scripts/genvers.sh
index 8a79def85..29c92f738 100755
--- a/xwords4/android/scripts/genvers.sh
+++ b/xwords4/android/scripts/genvers.sh
@@ -2,21 +2,21 @@
 
 set -e -u
 
-DIR=$1
-VARIANT=$2
-CLIENT_VERS_RELAY=$3
-CHAT_SUPPORTED=$4
-THUMBNAIL_SUPPORTED=$5
+VARIANT=$1
+CLIENT_VERS_RELAY=$2
+CHAT_SUPPORTED=$3
+THUMBNAIL_SUPPORTED=$4
 
+BUILD_DIR=$(basename $(pwd))
 cd $(dirname $0)
-cd ../../
+cd ../
 
-GITVERSION=$(scripts/gitversion.sh)
+GITVERSION=$(../scripts/gitversion.sh)
 
 # TODO: deal with case where there's no hash available -- exported
 # code maybe?  Better: gitversion.sh does that.
 
-cat <<EOF > android/${DIR}/res/values/git_string.xml
+cat <<EOF > ${BUILD_DIR}/res/values/git_string.xml
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <!-- auto-generated; do not edit -->
 
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ EOF
 # the way to mark a release
 SHORTVERS="$(git describe --always $GITVERSION 2>/dev/null || echo unknown)"
 
-cat <<EOF > android/${DIR}/src/org/eehouse/android/${VARIANT}/BuildConstants.java
+cat <<EOF > ${BUILD_DIR}/src/org/eehouse/android/${VARIANT}/BuildConstants.java
 // auto-generated; do not edit
 package org.eehouse.android.${VARIANT};
 class BuildConstants {
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ EOF
 # touch the files that depend on git_string.xml.  (I'm not sure that
 # this list is complete or if ant and java always get dependencies
 # right.  Clean builds are the safest.)
-touch android/${DIR}/res/xml/xwprefs.xml 
-touch android/${DIR}/gen/org/eehouse/android/${VARIANT}/R.java
-touch android/${DIR}/src/org/eehouse/android/${VARIANT}/Utils.java
+touch ${BUILD_DIR}/res/xml/xwprefs.xml 
+echo "touched ${BUILD_DIR}/res/xml/xwprefs.xml"
+mkdir -p ${BUILD_DIR}/gen/org/eehouse/android/${VARIANT}
+touch ${BUILD_DIR}/gen/org/eehouse/android/${VARIANT}/R.java
+touch ${BUILD_DIR}/src/org/eehouse/android/${VARIANT}/Utils.java