diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c5b9f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+# or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+# distributed with this work for additional information
+# regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+# to you 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.
+
+FROM maven:3.5.2-jdk-8-alpine
+
+# Install necessary binaries to build brooklyn-library
+RUN apk add --no-cache git procps
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f2fd833..c046066 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -7,3 +7,29 @@
 but useful in practice as building blocks, including entities for webapps,
 datastores, and more.
 
+### Building the project
+
+2 methods are available to build this project: within a docker container or directly with maven.
+
+#### Using docker
+
+The project comes with a `Dockerfile` that contains everything you need to build this project.
+First, build the docker image:
+
+```bash
+docker build -t brooklyn:library .
+```
+
+Then run the build:
+
+```bash
+docker run -i --rm --name brooklyn-library -v ${HOME}/.m2:/root/.m2 -v ${PWD}:/usr/build -w /usr/build brooklyn:library mvn clean install
+```
+
+### Using maven
+
+Simply run:
+
+```bash
+mvn clean install
+```
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/qa/src/test/java/org/apache/brooklyn/qa/longevity/MonitorUtilsTest.java b/qa/src/test/java/org/apache/brooklyn/qa/longevity/MonitorUtilsTest.java
index f58963c..acacc6e 100644
--- a/qa/src/test/java/org/apache/brooklyn/qa/longevity/MonitorUtilsTest.java
+++ b/qa/src/test/java/org/apache/brooklyn/qa/longevity/MonitorUtilsTest.java
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@
         String errSuffix = writeToErr ? " >&2" : "";
         //Windows limits the length of the arguments so echo multiple times instead
         String bigstr = Strings.repeat("a", 8000);
-        String bigcmd = Strings.repeat(getSilentPrefix() + "echo " + bigstr + errSuffix + Os.LINE_SEPARATOR, 15);
+        String bigcmd = getExecPrefix() + Strings.repeat(getSilentPrefix() + "echo " + bigstr + errSuffix + Os.LINE_SEPARATOR, 15);
         File file = Os.newTempFile("test-consume", ".bat");
         file.setExecutable(true);
         Files.write(bigcmd, file, Charsets.UTF_8);
@@ -161,4 +161,12 @@
         }
     }
 
+    private String getExecPrefix() {
+        if (Os.isMicrosoftWindows()) {
+            return "";
+        } else {
+            return "#!/bin/sh\n";
+        }
+    }
+
 }