Index: lucene/common-build.xml
===================================================================
--- lucene/common-build.xml	(revision 1309019)
+++ lucene/common-build.xml	(working copy)
@@ -265,8 +265,14 @@
     <ivy:retrieve type="jar,bundle" log="download-only"/>
   </target>
   <target name="ivy-availability-check" unless="ivy.available">
+    <!-- can't find a better way to get the classpath readable -->
+    <path id="classpath.ref" path="${java.class.path}" />
+    <pathconvert pathsep="${line.separator}       "
+                 property="classpath.converted"
+                 refid="classpath.ref">
+    </pathconvert>
    <echo>
-     This build requires Ivy and Ivy could not be found in your ant classpath
+     This build requires Ivy and Ivy could not be found in your ant classpath.
 
      (Due to classpath issues and the recursive nature of the Lucene/Solr 
      build system, a local copy of Ivy can not be used an loaded dynamically 
@@ -292,6 +298,14 @@
        ant -lib /some/path/you/choose clean compile
        ...
        ant -lib /some/path/you/choose clean compile
+
+     If you have already run ivy-bootstrap, and still get this message, please 
+     try using the "--noconfig" option when running ant, or editing your global
+     ant config to allow the user lib to be loaded.  See the wiki for more details:
+       http://wiki.apache.org/lucene-java/HowToContribute#antivy
+
+     Current Classpath:
+       ${classpath.converted}
     </echo>
   </target>
   <target name="ivy-fail" unless="ivy.available">