diff --git a/repository/plugin.jelly b/repository/plugin.jelly
index ea9e869a..54a201aa 100644
--- a/repository/plugin.jelly
+++ b/repository/plugin.jelly
@@ -80,6 +80,32 @@
       </repository:exec>
     </define:tag>
 
+    <!--
+     ! test if a file exists in the remote repo
+     ! @param name the file to check
+     ! @param var the variable to set to true or false
+     !-->
+    <define:tag name="fileExists">
+       <exec dir="." executable="${maven.ssh.executable}" resultproperty="result">
+         <arg line='-l ${maven.username} ${maven.repo.central} "test -f ${name}"'/>
+       </exec>
+       <ant:echo>Result from ssh is '${result}'</ant:echo>
+       <j:set var="${var}" scope="parent" value="${result == '0'}"/>
+    </define:tag>
+
+    <!--
+     ! test if a directory exists in the remote repo
+     ! @param name the directory to check
+     ! @param var the variable to set to true or false
+     !-->
+    <define:tag name="directoryExists">
+       <exec dir="." executable="${maven.ssh.executable}" resultproperty="result">
+         <arg line='-l ${maven.username} ${maven.repo.central} "test -d ${name}"'/>
+       </exec>
+       <ant:echo>Result from ssh is '${result}'</ant:echo>
+       <j:set var="${var}" scope="parent" value="${result == '0'}"/>
+    </define:tag>
+
     <!--
      ! place the file name portion of a url into a variable
      ! @param url the URL to process
@@ -134,15 +160,26 @@
      ! run ssh to create each <groupId>/licenses directory.
      !-->
     <repository:required name="directoryName" value="${directoryName}" />
-
     <repository:parseAudit var="audit"/>
+    <!-- see if the user specified a starting project -->
+    <j:set var="processing" value="true" />
+    <j:if test="${!empty(startProject)}">
+      <j:set var="processing" value="false"/>
+    </j:if>
     
     <x:forEach var="group" select="$audit/licenses/project/groupId">
-      <j:set var="directory" 
-        value="${maven.repo.central.directory}/${group.text}/${directoryName}" />
-      <echo>Ensuring directory '${directory}' exists</echo>
-      <repository:exec 
-        command="mkdir -p ${directory};chmod g+ws ${directory};chgrp ${maven.repository.group} ${directory};" />
+      <echo>Processing project ${group.text}</echo>
+      <j:if test="${!processing and group.text.equals(startProject)}">
+        <j:set var="processing" value="true"/>
+      </j:if>
+
+      <j:if test="${processing}">
+        <j:set var="directory" 
+          value="${maven.repo.central.directory}/${group.text}/${directoryName}" />
+        <echo>Ensuring directory '${directory}' exists</echo>
+        <repository:exec 
+          command="mkdir -p ${directory};chmod g+ws ${directory};chgrp ${maven.repository.group} ${directory};" />
+      </j:if>
     </x:forEach>
   </goal>
   
@@ -257,6 +294,24 @@
      </x:forEach>
   </goal>
 
+  <goal name="repository:audit-copy-poms" 
+    description="">
+    
+    <repository:directoryExists var="central"
+      name="${maven.repo.central.directory}" />
+    <ant:echo>central = '${central}'</ant:echo>
+    <repository:fileExists var="ant151"
+      name="${maven.repo.central.directory}/ant/jars/ant-1.5.1.jar" />
+    <ant:echo>ant151 = '${ant151}'</ant:echo>
+    <repository:directoryExists var="badcentral"
+      name="${maven.repo.central.directory}/grunk" />
+    <ant:echo>badcentral = '${badcentral}'</ant:echo>
+    <repository:fileExists var="ant171"
+      name="${maven.repo.central.directory}/ant/jars/ant-1.7.1.jar" />
+    <ant:echo>ant171 = '${ant171}'</ant:echo>
+
+  </goal>
+   
   <goal name="repository:audit-generate-poms"
     description="generate a pom for all the groupId's in the audit file">