preparing for cord onos app publishing.
diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b05758e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2012 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import org.opencord.gradle.rules.*
+import org.yaml.snakeyaml.Yaml
+
+allprojects {
+    apply plugin: 'base'
+    apply plugin: 'de.gesellix.docker'
+    //apply plugin: 'com.tmiyamon.config'
+
+    docker {
+        // dockerHost = System.env.DOCKER_HOST ?: 'unix:///var/run/docker.sock'
+        // dockerHost = System.env.DOCKER_HOST ?: 'https://192.168.99.100:2376'
+        // certPath = System.getProperty('docker.cert.path') ?: "${System.getProperty('user.home')}/.docker/machine/machines/default"
+        // authConfigPlain = [
+        //   "username"       : "joe",
+        //   "password"       : "some-pw-as-needed",
+        //   "email"          : "joe@acme.com",
+        //   "serveraddress"  : "https://index.docker.io/v1/"
+        //  ]
+    }
+}
+
+ext {
+
+    appVersion = null
+
+    // Target registry to be used to publish docker images needed for deployment
+    targetReg = project.hasProperty('targetReg') ? project.getProperty('targetReg') : 'localhost:5000'
+
+    // The tag used to tag the docker images push to the target registry
+    targetTag = project.hasProperty('targetTag') ? project.getProperty('targetTag') : 'candidate'
+
+    comps = [
+            'aaa' : [
+                    'type':     'gitmodule',
+                    'upstream': 'https://gerrit.opencord.org/aaa',
+                    'branch' : 'master',
+                    'tag' : appVersion,
+                    'componentDir': './apps/aaa'
+            ],
+            'vtn' : [
+                    'type':     'gitmodule',
+                    'upstream': 'https://gerrit.opencord.org/vtn',
+                    'branch' : 'master',
+                    'tag' : appVersion,
+                    'componentDir': './apps/vtn'
+            ],
+            'mcast' : [
+                    'type':     'gitmodule',
+                    'upstream': 'https://gerrit.opencord.org/mcast',
+                    'branch' : 'master',
+                    'tag' : appVersion,
+                    'componentDir': './apps/mcast'
+            ],
+            'igmp' : [
+                    'type':     'gitmodule',
+                    'upstream': 'https://gerrit.opencord.org/igmp',
+                    'branch' : 'master',
+                    'tag' : appVersion,
+                    'componentDir': './apps/igmp'
+            ],
+            'olt' : [
+                    'type':     'gitmodule',
+                    'upstream': 'https://gerrit.opencord.org/olt',
+                    'branch' : 'master',
+                    'tag' : appVersion,
+                    'componentDir': './apps/olt'
+            ],
+            'config' : [
+                    'type':     'gitmodule',
+                    'upstream': 'https://gerrit.opencord.org/config',
+                    'branch' : 'master',
+                    'tag' : appVersion,
+                    'componentDir': './apps/config'
+            ]
+    ]
+}
+
+// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Global tasks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+task fetchGitSubmodules {
+    comps.each { name, spec -> if (spec.type == 'gitmodule') { dependsOn "gitupdate" + name } }
+}
+
+task fetch {
+    dependsOn fetchGitSubmodules
+}
+
+// To be used to generate all needed binaries that need to be present on the target
+// as docker images in the local docker runner.
+task buildImages (dependsOn: fetch, type: Exec){
+    workingDir './apps'
+    commandLine 'mvn', 'clean', 'install'
+}
+
+// Publish image(s) built during the build step into targetReg registry using the targetTag
+// tag. See maas subproject for examples on how to do this.
+task publish {
+    // ...
+}
+
+tasks.addRule(new GitSubmoduleUpdateRule(project))