diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 0dd521141..fe4785618 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@
     <target name="extracthelp" depends="compile" 
 	    description="Extract help key/value pair file from the JavaDoc tags."
 	    unless="disable.help">
-      <exec executable="svnversion" outputproperty="svn.version" failonerror="true">
+      <exec executable="svnversion" outputproperty="svn.version">
           <arg value="--no-newline" />
       </exec>
       <javadoc doclet="org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.help.ResourceBundleExtractorDoclet"