diff --git a/antbuild.xml b/antbuild.xml
index 4a04e135829..9b0254df440 100644
--- a/antbuild.xml
+++ b/antbuild.xml
@@ -210,6 +210,7 @@
         <pathelement path="${eclipselink.plugins}/${wsdl.jar}"/>
         <pathelement path="${eclipselink.plugins}/${wsrs-api.jar}"/>
         <pathelement path="${eclipselink.plugins}/${slf4j-api.jar}"/>
+        <pathelement path="${eclipselink.plugins}/org.eclipse.persistence.jpa.jpql_${version.string}.jar"/>
         <pathelement path="${eclipselink.plugins}/org.eclipse.persistence.nosql_${version.string}.jar"/>
         <pathelement path="${eclipselink.plugins}/org.eclipse.persistence.extension_${version.string}.jar"/>
         <pathelement path="${eclipselink.util.plugins}/org.eclipse.persistence.oracleddlparser_1.0.0.v201807030954.jar"/>
diff --git a/autobuild.xml b/autobuild.xml
index 41274abb296..6c985834116 100644
--- a/autobuild.xml
+++ b/autobuild.xml
@@ -72,7 +72,8 @@
     <target name="build-continuous" description="Trigger an automated build and run the tests if source changes exist"
             depends="clean, build-no-javadoc, build-utils, test-srg"
     />
-    <target name="build-milestone" depends="promote-init, sign-and-wait, regen-archives, publish-milestone, create-tag" description="Promote a build: nightly to milestone or milestone to release ('release' is a special milestone in this case)"
+    <target name="build-milestone" description="Promote a build: nightly to milestone or milestone to release ('release' is a special milestone in this case)"
+            depends="clean, build, promote-init, sign-and-wait, regen-archives, publish-milestone, create-tag"
     />
     <target name="build-snapshot" depends="snapshot-init, promote-init, extract-signed-artifacts, regen-installer-archive, regen-plugin-archive, regen-nosql-archive, gen-build-for-maven, publish-milestone-artifacts, publish-milestone-nexus" description="Promote build to snapshot repository"
     />
@@ -228,6 +229,8 @@
     </target>
 
     <target name="common-init">
+        <echo message="Loading user properties from: '${user.home}/build.properties'"/>
+        <property file="${user.home}/build.properties"/>
         <property file="${basedir}/autobuild.properties"/>
 
         <!-- Set version.string appropriately. variable should only be used for   -->
diff --git a/etc/jenkins/init.sh b/etc/jenkins/init.sh
index 0aa748423d4..f96cceccbf2 100755
--- a/etc/jenkins/init.sh
+++ b/etc/jenkins/init.sh
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 #  N/A
 
 echo '-[ EclipseLink Init ]-----------------------------------------------------------'
-
+. ${WORKSPACE}/etc/jenkins/setEnvironment.sh
 mkdir -p $HOME/extension.lib.external/mavenant
 
 #DOWNLOAD SOME DEPENDENCIES
diff --git a/etc/jenkins/promote.groovy b/etc/jenkins/promote.groovy
index 45dd1f3cbab..7721d8f0f17 100644
--- a/etc/jenkins/promote.groovy
+++ b/etc/jenkins/promote.groovy
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ spec:
                 container('el-build') {
                     // Prepare EclipseLink environment
                     sh """
-                            etc/jenkins/promote_el_init.sh
+                            etc/jenkins/init.sh
                             """
                 }
             }
@@ -180,9 +180,9 @@ spec:
                             echo ${RELEASE}
                             if [ ${RELEASE} == 'false' ]
                             then
-                                ${HOME}/etc/jenkins/publish_milestone.sh
+                                etc/jenkins/publish_milestone.sh
                             else
-                                ${HOME}/etc/jenkins/publish_release.sh                            
+                                etc/jenkins/publish_release.sh                            
                             fi
                             """
                 }
diff --git a/etc/jenkins/promote.sh b/etc/jenkins/promote.sh
index 18577a7fe2e..c5e6e435df5 100755
--- a/etc/jenkins/promote.sh
+++ b/etc/jenkins/promote.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 #****************************************************************************************
-# Copyright (c) 2012, 2022 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+# Copyright (c) 2012, 2023 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 # This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
 # terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 and Eclipse Distribution License v. 1.0
 # which accompanies this distribution.
@@ -369,7 +369,7 @@ callAnt() {
         fi
 
         #Invoke Antscript for Branch specific promotion
-        arguments="-Dbuild.deps.dir=${BldDepsDir} -Dreleng.repo.dir=${RELENG_REPO} -Dgit.exec=${GIT_EXEC} -Declipselink.root.download.dir=${DNLD_DIR} -Dsigning.dir=${SIGN_DIR} -DM2_HOME=${M2_HOME}"
+        arguments="-Dbuild.deps.dir=${BldDepsDir} -Dreleng.repo.dir=${RELENG_REPO} -Dgit.exec=${GIT_EXEC} -Declipselink.root.download.dir=${DNLD_DIR} -Dsigning.dir=${SIGN_DIR} -DM2_HOME=${M2_HOME} -Dhudson.workspace=${WORKSPACE}"
         arguments="${arguments} -Dbranch.name=${branch_nm} -Drelease.version=${version} -Dbuild.type=${milestone} -Dbranch=${branch}"
         arguments="${arguments} -Dversion.qualifier=${qualifier} -Dbuild.date=${blddate} -Dgit.hash=${githash}"
         echo "   sign   = '${SIGN}'"
diff --git a/etc/jenkins/promote_el_init.sh b/etc/jenkins/promote_el_init.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 1a7bb14cedc..00000000000
--- a/etc/jenkins/promote_el_init.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,46 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash -e
-#
-# Copyright (c) 2023 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
-#
-# This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
-# terms of the Eclipse Distribution License v. 1.0, which is available at
-# http://www.eclipse.org/org/documents/edl-v10.php.
-#
-# SPDX-License-Identifier: EPL-2.0 OR BSD-3-Clause
-
-#
-# Arguments:
-#  N/A
-
-echo '-[ EclipseLink Init ]-----------------------------------------------------------'
-. ${WORKSPACE}/etc/jenkins/setEnvironment.sh
-mkdir -p $HOME/extension.lib.external/mavenant
-
-#DOWNLOAD SOME DEPENDENCIES
-wget -nc https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/junit/junit/4.12/junit-4.12.jar -O $HOME/extension.lib.external/junit-4.12.jar
-wget -nc https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/hamcrest/hamcrest-core/1.3/hamcrest-core-1.3.jar -O $HOME/extension.lib.external/hamcrest-core-1.3.jar
-wget -nc https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/jmockit/jmockit/1.35/jmockit-1.35.jar -O $HOME/extension.lib.external/jmockit-1.35.jar
-wget -nc https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/jboss/logging/jboss-logging/3.4.1.Final/jboss-logging-3.4.1.Final.jar -O $HOME/extension.lib.external/jboss-logging-3.4.1.Final.jar
-wget -nc https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/glassfish/javax.el/3.0.1-b08/javax.el-3.0.1-b08.jar -O $HOME/extension.lib.external/javax.el-3.0.1-b08.jar
-wget -nc https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/com/fasterxml/classmate/1.5.1/classmate-1.5.1.jar -O $HOME/extension.lib.external/classmate-1.5.1.jar
-wget -nc https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/mysql/mysql-connector-java/8.0.28/mysql-connector-java-8.0.28.jar -O $HOME/extension.lib.external/mysql-connector-java-8.0.28.jar
-wget -nc https://archive.apache.org/dist/ant/binaries/apache-ant-1.10.7-bin.tar.gz -O $HOME/extension.lib.external/apache-ant-1.10.7-bin.tar.gz
-wget -nc https://archive.apache.org/dist/maven/ant-tasks/2.1.3/binaries/maven-ant-tasks-2.1.3.jar -O $HOME/extension.lib.external/mavenant/maven-ant-tasks-2.1.3.jar
-wget -nc https://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/downloads/drops4/R-4.10-201812060815/eclipse-SDK-4.10-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz -O $HOME/extension.lib.external/eclipse-SDK-4.10-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz
-wget -nc https://archive.apache.org/dist/maven/maven-3/3.6.0/binaries/apache-maven-3.6.0-bin.tar.gz -O $HOME/extension.lib.external/apache-maven-3.6.0-bin.tar.gz
-
-#UNPACK SOME  DEPENDENCIES
-tar -x -z -C $HOME/extension.lib.external -f $HOME/extension.lib.external/eclipse-SDK-4.10-linux-gtk-x86_64.tar.gz
-tar -x -z -C $HOME/extension.lib.external -f $HOME/extension.lib.external/apache-maven-3.6.0-bin.tar.gz
-
-#PREPARE build.properties FILE
-echo "extensions.depend.dir=$HOME/extension.lib.external" >> $HOME/build.properties
-echo "junit.lib=$HOME/extension.lib.external/junit-4.12.jar:$HOME/extension.lib.external/hamcrest-core-1.3.jar" >> $HOME/build.properties
-echo "jdbc.driver.jar=$HOME/extension.lib.external/mysql-connector-java-8.0.28.jar" >> $HOME/build.properties
-echo 'db.driver=com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver' >> $HOME/build.properties
-echo "db.url=$TEST_DB_URL" >> $HOME/build.properties
-echo "db.user=$TEST_DB_USERNAME" >> $HOME/build.properties
-echo "db.pwd=$TEST_DB_PASSWORD" >> $HOME/build.properties
-echo 'db.platform=org.eclipse.persistence.platform.database.MySQLPlatform' >> $HOME/build.properties
-echo "eclipse.install.dir=$HOME/extension.lib.external/eclipse" >> $HOME/build.properties
-echo hudson.workspace=$WORKSPACE
diff --git a/etc/jenkins/publish_milestone.sh b/etc/jenkins/publish_milestone.sh
index 05459709849..a266e50288b 100755
--- a/etc/jenkins/publish_milestone.sh
+++ b/etc/jenkins/publish_milestone.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash -e
 #
-# Copyright (c) 2019 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+# Copyright (c) 2019, 2023 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 #
 # This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
 # terms of the Eclipse Distribution License v. 1.0, which is available at
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 #==========================
 #   Basic Env Setup
 #
-. ${HOME}/etc/jenkins/setEnvironment.sh
+. ${WORKSPACE}/etc/jenkins/setEnvironment.sh
 
 
 echo '-[ EclipseLink Publish to Milestones ]-----------------------------------------------------------'
diff --git a/etc/jenkins/publish_release.sh b/etc/jenkins/publish_release.sh
index 1cbddcc0fe4..3f09dfbac9a 100755
--- a/etc/jenkins/publish_release.sh
+++ b/etc/jenkins/publish_release.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash -e
 #
-# Copyright (c) 2019 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+# Copyright (c) 2019, 2023 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 #
 # This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
 # terms of the Eclipse Distribution License v. 1.0, which is available at
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 #==========================
 #   Basic Env Setup
 #
-. ${HOME}/etc/jenkins/setEnvironment.sh
+. ${WORKSPACE}/etc/jenkins/setEnvironment.sh
 
 
 echo '-[ EclipseLink Publish to Releases ]-----------------------------------------------------------'