diff --git a/.idea/artifacts/jps_javac_rt_rpc.xml b/.idea/artifacts/jps_javac_rt_rpc.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 047303b8581a..000000000000
--- a/.idea/artifacts/jps_javac_rt_rpc.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-<component name="ArtifactManager">
-  <artifact type="jar" name="jps-javac-rt-rpc">
-    <output-path>$PROJECT_DIR$/out/artifacts/jps_javac_rt_rpc</output-path>
-    <root id="archive" name="jps-javac-rt-rpc.jar">
-      <element id="module-output" name="intellij.platform.jps.build.javac.rt.rpc" />
-      <element id="extracted-dir" path="$MAVEN_REPOSITORY$/com/google/protobuf/protobuf-java/3.5.1/protobuf-java-3.5.1.jar" path-in-jar="/" />
-    </root>
-  </artifact>
-</component>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build/groovy/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/CommunityStandaloneJpsBuilder.groovy b/build/groovy/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/CommunityStandaloneJpsBuilder.groovy
index ae2867f997c2..592baddd85d4 100644
--- a/build/groovy/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/CommunityStandaloneJpsBuilder.groovy
+++ b/build/groovy/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/CommunityStandaloneJpsBuilder.groovy
@@ -53,7 +53,10 @@ class CommunityStandaloneJpsBuilder {
           module("intellij.platform.jps.build.javac.rt")
         }
         dir("rt") {
-          artifact("jps-javac-rt-rpc")
+          jar("jps-javac-rt-rpc.jar") {
+            module("intellij.platform.jps.build.javac.rt.rpc")
+          }
+          moduleLibrary("intellij.platform.jps.build.javac.rt.rpc", "protobuf-java6")
         }
         //layout of groovy jars must be consistent with GroovyBuilder.getGroovyRtRoots method
         jar("groovy-jps.jar") { module("intellij.groovy.jps") }
diff --git a/jps/jps-builders/src/org/jetbrains/jps/cmdline/ClasspathBootstrap.java b/jps/jps-builders/src/org/jetbrains/jps/cmdline/ClasspathBootstrap.java
index e47fbc0069ec..05ae9ea76366 100644
--- a/jps/jps-builders/src/org/jetbrains/jps/cmdline/ClasspathBootstrap.java
+++ b/jps/jps-builders/src/org/jetbrains/jps/cmdline/ClasspathBootstrap.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import io.netty.handler.codec.protobuf.ProtobufDecoder;
 import io.netty.resolver.AddressResolverGroup;
 import io.netty.util.NetUtil;
 import net.n3.nanoxml.IXMLBuilder;
+import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
 import org.jetbrains.idea.maven.aether.ArtifactRepositoryManager;
 import org.jetbrains.jps.builders.impl.java.EclipseCompilerTool;
 import org.jetbrains.jps.builders.java.JavaCompilingTool;
@@ -33,7 +34,9 @@ import org.jetbrains.org.objectweb.asm.ClassWriter;
 
 import javax.tools.*;
 import java.io.File;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
 import java.util.*;
 
 /**
@@ -52,7 +55,13 @@ public final class ClasspathBootstrap {
     ProtobufDecoder.class,  // netty codec
   };
 
-  private static final String EXTERNAL_JAVAC_JAR_ARTIFACT_NAME = "jps-javac-rt-rpc";
+
+  private static final String DEFAULT_MAVEN_REPOSITORY_PATH = ".m2/repository";
+  private static final String PROTOBUF_JAVA6_VERSION = "3.5.1";
+  private static final String PROTOBUF_JAVA6_JAR_NAME = "protobuf-java-" + PROTOBUF_JAVA6_VERSION + ".jar";
+
+  private static final String EXTERNAL_JAVAC_MODULE_NAME = "intellij.platform.jps.build.javac.rt.rpc";
+  private static final String EXTERNAL_JAVAC_JAR_NAME = "jps-javac-rt-rpc.jar";
 
   public static List<String> getBuildProcessApplicationClasspath() {
     final Set<String> cp = new HashSet<>();
@@ -103,6 +112,7 @@ public final class ClasspathBootstrap {
 
   public static List<File> getExternalJavacProcessClasspath(String sdkHome, JavaCompilingTool compilingTool) {
     final Set<File> cp = new LinkedHashSet<>();
+    cp.add(getResourceFile(ExternalJavacProcess.class)); // self
     cp.add(getResourceFile(JavacReferenceCollector.class));  // jps-javac-extension library
 
     // util
@@ -113,11 +123,7 @@ public final class ClasspathBootstrap {
     for (Class<?> aClass : COMMON_REQUIRED_CLASSES) {
       cp.add(getResourceFile(aClass));
     }
-    String externalJavacClassesRoot = getResourcePath(ExternalJavacProcess.class);
-    cp.add(new File(externalJavacClassesRoot));
-    Path jarArtifactPath = PathManager.getJarArtifactPath(externalJavacClassesRoot,
-                                                          EXTERNAL_JAVAC_JAR_ARTIFACT_NAME);
-    cp.add(jarArtifactPath.toFile());
+    addExternalJavacRpcClasspath(cp);
 
     try {
       final Class<?> cmdLineWrapper = Class.forName("com.intellij.rt.execution.CommandLineWrapper");
@@ -170,6 +176,32 @@ public final class ClasspathBootstrap {
     return new ArrayList<>(cp);
   }
 
+  private static void addExternalJavacRpcClasspath(@NotNull Collection<File> cp) {
+    Path rootPath = Paths.get(getResourcePath(ExternalJavacProcess.class));
+    if (Files.isRegularFile(rootPath)) {
+      // running regular installation
+      Path rtDirPath = rootPath.resolveSibling("rt");
+      cp.add(rtDirPath.resolve(EXTERNAL_JAVAC_JAR_NAME).toFile());
+      cp.add(rtDirPath.resolve(PROTOBUF_JAVA6_JAR_NAME).toFile());
+    }
+    else {
+      // running from sources or on the build server
+      cp.add(rootPath.resolveSibling(EXTERNAL_JAVAC_MODULE_NAME).toFile());
+
+      // take the library from the local maven repository
+      File localRepositoryDir = getMavenLocalRepositoryDir();
+      File protobufJava6File = new File(FileUtil.join(localRepositoryDir.getAbsolutePath(),
+                               "com", "google", "protobuf", "protobuf-java", PROTOBUF_JAVA6_VERSION,
+                               PROTOBUF_JAVA6_JAR_NAME));
+      cp.add(protobufJava6File);
+    }
+  }
+
+  private static @NotNull File getMavenLocalRepositoryDir() {
+    final String userHome = System.getProperty("user.home", null);
+    return userHome != null ? new File(userHome, DEFAULT_MAVEN_REPOSITORY_PATH) : new File(DEFAULT_MAVEN_REPOSITORY_PATH);
+  }
+
   public static String getResourcePath(Class<?> aClass) {
     return PathManager.getResourceRoot(aClass, "/" + aClass.getName().replace('.', '/') + ".class");
   }
diff --git a/platform/build-scripts/groovy/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/JavaPluginLayout.groovy b/platform/build-scripts/groovy/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/JavaPluginLayout.groovy
index 7cf2e95bb304..4a5eb78c55f3 100644
--- a/platform/build-scripts/groovy/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/JavaPluginLayout.groovy
+++ b/platform/build-scripts/groovy/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/JavaPluginLayout.groovy
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ class JavaPluginLayout {
       withModule("intellij.java.resources.en", "resources.jar")
 
       // JavacRemoteProto generated against protobuf-java6; don't let it sneak into the IDE classpath and shadow its JavacRemoteProto.
-      withArtifact("jps-javac-rt-rpc", "rt")
+      withModule("intellij.platform.jps.build.javac.rt.rpc", "rt/jps-javac-rt-rpc.jar")
+      withModuleLibrary("protobuf-java6", "intellij.platform.jps.build.javac.rt.rpc", "rt")
 
       ["intellij.java.compiler.antTasks",
        "intellij.java.guiForms.compiler",