diff --git a/tests/org.eclipse.wtp.releng.tests/relengTests.properties b/tests/org.eclipse.wtp.releng.tests/relengTests.properties
index 77b078aa8d40eb1a07594f4a7fc0e34f837861ba..5f203aa2e9a0c27fd8e51b12c96e5bf8ffb59335 100644
--- a/tests/org.eclipse.wtp.releng.tests/relengTests.properties
+++ b/tests/org.eclipse.wtp.releng.tests/relengTests.properties
@@ -6,3 +6,7 @@ qualifierArgValue=
 referenceIDArgValue = R-3.1-20090616035105
 referenceURLArgValue = http://archive.eclipse.org/webtools/downloads/drops/R3.1/R-3.1-20090616035105/versioningReference_R-3.1-20090616035105.xml
 
+# omit to not test
+testToReferenceArgValue=-testToReference
+# omit to not list
+listToReferenceFileArgValue=-listToReferenceFile
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/org.eclipse.wtp.releng.tests/src/org/eclipse/wtp/releng/tests/BuildTests.java b/tests/org.eclipse.wtp.releng.tests/src/org/eclipse/wtp/releng/tests/BuildTests.java
index 235843057a04ca4ccfb256e75deb0315117e2d34..0c03aa592698dea1a8963653d3174aefc7456274 100644
--- a/tests/org.eclipse.wtp.releng.tests/src/org/eclipse/wtp/releng/tests/BuildTests.java
+++ b/tests/org.eclipse.wtp.releng.tests/src/org/eclipse/wtp/releng/tests/BuildTests.java
@@ -494,10 +494,10 @@ public class BuildTests extends TestCase {
 				propertyStream = new FileInputStream(propFile);
 				testProperties.load(propertyStream);
 				qualifierArg = (String) testProperties.getProperty("qualifierArgValue", "");
-				testToReferenceArg = (String) testProperties.getProperty("testToReferenceArgValue", TEST_TO_REFERENCE);
+				testToReferenceArg = (String) testProperties.getProperty("testToReferenceArgValue", "");
 				referenceIDArg = (String) testProperties.getProperty("referenceIDArgValue", "");
 				referenceURLArg = (String) testProperties.getProperty("referenceURLArgValue", "");
-				listToReferenceFileArg = (String) testProperties.getProperty("listToReferenceFileArgValue", LIST_TO_REFERENCE_FILE);
+				listToReferenceFileArg = (String) testProperties.getProperty("listToReferenceFileArgValue", "");
 			}
 			catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
 				// just use defaults
@@ -519,9 +519,6 @@ public class BuildTests extends TestCase {
 		if (validValue(testToReferenceArg)) {
 			argsList.add(testToReferenceArg);
 		}
-		else {
-			argsList.add(TEST_TO_REFERENCE);
-		}
 		if (validValue(referenceIDArg)) {
 			argsList.add(referenceIDArg);
 		}
@@ -531,9 +528,6 @@ public class BuildTests extends TestCase {
 		if (validValue(listToReferenceFileArg)) {
 			argsList.add(listToReferenceFileArg);
 		}
-		else {
-			argsList.add(LIST_TO_REFERENCE_FILE);
-		}
 		String[] args = (String[]) argsList.toArray(new String[]{});
 
 		return args;