diff --git a/pmd/pom.xml b/pmd/pom.xml
index b8b6f3e33e..6f88ec55f5 100644
--- a/pmd/pom.xml
+++ b/pmd/pom.xml
@@ -379,6 +379,11 @@
       <artifactId>asm</artifactId>
       <version>3.1</version>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>net.sf.saxon</groupId>
+      <artifactId>saxon</artifactId>
+      <version>9.1.0.2b</version>
+    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>junit</groupId>
       <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
diff --git a/pmd/tools/shell/generate_release.sh b/pmd/tools/shell/generate_release.sh
index acb4e6b4f1..02a920db37 100755
--- a/pmd/tools/shell/generate_release.sh
+++ b/pmd/tools/shell/generate_release.sh
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ if [ buildtype = "release" ]; then
 fi
 
 export MAVEN_OPTS="-Xmx512m -Xms192m"
+
+#making sure saxon9.jar is available as it's not in standard repositories
+mvn install:install-file -Dfile=lib/saxon9.jar -DgroupId=net.sf.saxon -DartifactId=saxon -Dversion=9.1.0.2b -Dpackaging=jar
+
 mvn clean site
 
 cd etc