diff --git a/repository/plugin.jelly b/repository/plugin.jelly
index bd0cca64..3a76d3d5 100644
--- a/repository/plugin.jelly
+++ b/repository/plugin.jelly
@@ -90,6 +90,21 @@
        <u:tokenize var="slashes" delim="/">${preHash[0]}</u:tokenize>
        <j:set var="${var}" scope="parent" value="${slashes[size(slashes)-1]}" />
      </define:tag>
+     
+	  <!--
+	   ! @name     the name of the value being checked
+	   ! @value    the value that musn't be empty
+	   ! @message  the message to be displayed when value is empty
+	   !-->
+      <define:tag name="required">
+        <j:if test="${empty(message)}">
+          <j:set var="message">'${name}' must be specified</j:set>
+        </j:if>
+        <j:if test="${empty(value)}">
+          <fail>${message}</fail>
+        </j:if>
+      </define:tag>
+
   </define:taglib>
 
   <goal name="repository:audit-create-licenses"
@@ -178,9 +193,7 @@
   <!-- expects groupId to be set -->
   <goal name="repository:audit-copy-license"
     description="copy the license for the specified groupId to the repository">
-    <j:if test="${empty(groupId)}">
-      <fail>groupId must be specified</fail>
-    </j:if>
+    <repository:required name="groupId" value="${groupId}" />
 
     <!--
      ! parse audit file
@@ -208,9 +221,7 @@
   <!-- expects groupId to be set -->
   <goal name="repository:create-project"
     description="create a project, specified by groupId, in the repository">
-    <j:if test="${empty(groupId)}">
-      <fail>groupId must be specified</fail>
-    </j:if>
+    <repository:required name="groupId" value="${groupId}" />
     <repository:exec>
       cd ${maven.repo.central.directory};
       mkdir ${groupId};
@@ -229,9 +240,8 @@
   <!-- expects groupId to be set -->
   <goal name="repository:delete-project"
     description="delete a project, specified by groupId, in the repository">
-    <j:if test="${empty(groupId)}">
-      <fail>groupId must be specified</fail>
-    </j:if>
+    
+    <repository:required name="groupId" value="${groupId}" />
     <repository:exec>
       cd ${maven.repo.central.directory};
       rm -rf ${groupId};
@@ -245,12 +255,8 @@
   <goal name="repository:copy-snapshot-jar"
     description="copy a snapshot jar, specified by groupId and artifact, to the repository">
     
-    <j:if test="${empty(artifact)}">
-      <fail>artifact must be specified</fail>
-    </j:if>
-    <j:if test="${empty(groupId)}">
-      <fail>groupId must be specified</fail>
-    </j:if>
+    <repository:required name="artifact" value="${artifact}" />
+    <repository:required name="groupId" value="${groupId}" />
     <j:if test="${empty(artifactId)}">
       <j:set var="artifactId">${groupId}</j:set>
     </j:if>
@@ -269,10 +275,10 @@
 
     <repository:exec>
       cd ${directory};
-      md5sum ${artifactName} | sed 's/ .*$//' > ${artifactName}.md5;
+      md5sum ${artifactName} | sed 's/ .*$//' | tee ${artifactName}.md5;
       ln -sf ${artifactName} ${artifactId}-SNAPSHOT.jar;
       ln -sf ${artifactName}.md5 ${artifactId}-SNAPSHOT.jar.md5;
-      echo ${snapshotVersion} > ${artifactId}-snapshot-version;
+      echo ${snapshotVersion} | tee ${artifactId}-snapshot-version;
       chgrp ${maven.repository.group} *;
       chmod g+w *;
       chmod a+r *;
@@ -284,12 +290,9 @@
    !-->
   <goal name="repository:copy-jar"
     description="copy a jar, specified by groupId and artifact, to the repository">
-    <j:if test="${empty(artifact)}">
-      <fail>artifact must be specified</fail>
-    </j:if>
-    <j:if test="${empty(groupId)}">
-      <fail>groupId must be specified</fail>
-    </j:if>
+
+    <repository:required name="artifact" value="${artifact}" />
+    <repository:required name="groupId" value="${groupId}" />
 
     <j:set var="directory" value="${maven.repo.central.directory}/${groupId}/jars/" />
     <repository:copy from="${artifact}" toFileOrDir="${directory}" />
@@ -299,10 +302,10 @@
 
     <repository:exec>
       cd ${directory};
-      md5sum ${artifactName} | sed 's/ .*$//' > ${artifactName}.md5;
-      chgrp ${maven.repository.group};
-      chmod g+w;
-      chmod a+r
+      md5sum ${artifactName} | sed 's/ .*$//' | tee ${artifactName}.md5;
+      chgrp ${maven.repository.group} *;
+      chmod g+w *;
+      chmod a+r *;
     </repository:exec>
   </goal>