diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 33f4e55c..6f7251e4 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -2,3 +2,6 @@ source 'https://rubygems.org'
 
 # Specify your gem's dependencies in the gemspec
 gemspec
+
+# for the rake task
+gem 'ruby-maven', '~> 3.3.8'
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 9e9b83af..bd441d81 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #-*- mode: ruby -*-
 
 begin
-  require 'maven/ruby/tasks'
+  require 'ruby-maven'
 rescue LoadError
   warn "ruby-maven not available - some tasks will not work " <<
        "either `gem install ruby-maven' or use mvn instead of rake"
@@ -16,20 +16,22 @@ rescue LoadError
     end
   end
 else
-  Rake::Task[:jar].clear
+  #Rake::Task[:jar].clear rescue nil
   desc "Package jopenssl.jar with the compiled classes"
-  task :jar => :maven do
-    maven.prepare_package '-Dmaven.test.skip=true'
+  task :jar do
+    RubyMaven.exec( 'prepare_package -Dmaven.test.skip=true' )
   end
   namespace :jar do
     desc "Package jopenssl.jar file (and dependendent jars)"
-    task :all => :maven do
-      maven.package '-Dmaven.test.skip=true'
+    task :all do
+      RubyMaven.exec( 'package -Dmaven.test.skip=true' )
     end
   end
 end
 
-# the actual build configuration is inside the Mavenfile
+task :build do
+  RubyMaven.exec('package -Dmaven.test.skip')
+end
 
 task :default => :build
 
@@ -64,4 +66,4 @@ namespace :integration do
     lib = [ 'lib', 'src/test/integration' ]
     ruby "-I#{lib.join(':')} -e \"#{loader}\" #{test_files.map { |f| "\"#{f}\"" }.join(' ')}"
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end
diff --git a/src/test/ruby/test_helper.rb b/src/test/ruby/test_helper.rb
index 0257f896..2138dd38 100644
--- a/src/test/ruby/test_helper.rb
+++ b/src/test/ruby/test_helper.rb
@@ -11,7 +11,10 @@
   puts Java::OrgBouncycastleJceProvider::BouncyCastleProvider.new.info
 else
   base_dir = File.expand_path('../../..', File.dirname(__FILE__))
-  $CLASSPATH << File.join(base_dir, 'pkg/classes')
+
+  jar = File.join(base_dir, 'lib/jopenssl.jar')
+  raise "jopenssl.jar jar not found" unless jar; $CLASSPATH << jar
+
   jar = Dir[File.join(base_dir, 'lib/org/bouncycastle/**/bcprov-*.jar')].first
   raise "bcprov jar not found" unless jar; $CLASSPATH << jar
   jar = Dir[File.join(base_dir, 'lib/org/bouncycastle/**/bcpkix-*.jar')].first
@@ -205,4 +208,4 @@ def issue_crl(revoke_info, serial, lastup, nextup, extensions,
   Dir.glob("#{File.join(base, sub)}/**/test_*.rb").each do |test|
     require test
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end