diff --git a/releng.control/cc_config.xml b/releng.control/cc_config.xml
index 7533d1990a00dbbebefb901ed2e74dc09a74f6c8..c66909f8821bdcfe3f8a2ea60a47e70d7e5049a0 100644
--- a/releng.control/cc_config.xml
+++ b/releng.control/cc_config.xml
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@
             <email
                 mailhost="localhost"
                 returnaddress="${env.BUILD_BUILDMASTER_EMAIL}"
-                skipusers="false"
+                skipusers="${env.SKIPUSERS}"
                 subjectprefix="[${project.name}]"
                 spamwhilebroken="false"
                 buildresultsurl="${env.BUILD_RESULT_URL}/${project.name}">
diff --git a/releng.control/commonVariations.shsource b/releng.control/commonVariations.shsource
index 0e28481c2fc312678300188a51c7204156bf563d..31b6d4a587431056c0f81fcb59e6645bb1ade63f 100644
--- a/releng.control/commonVariations.shsource
+++ b/releng.control/commonVariations.shsource
@@ -30,3 +30,6 @@ export BUILD_BUILDMASTER_EMAIL=wtpBuild@eclipse.org
 export BUILD_RESULT_URL=http://build.eclipse.org:7777/cruisecontrol/buildresults
 export BUILD_TOADDRESS=david_williams@us.ibm.com
 
+# for  builds on local machines, SKIPUSERS should be 'true' to avoid 
+# notifying users about those builds on your local machine
+export SKIPUSERS=false
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/releng.control/somePathDirectory/commonVariations.shsource b/releng.control/somePathDirectory/commonVariations.shsource
index a8796a52216c4e7999f40a889a8162a63e9426b5..f232052ef4b1a90326725f9ea82f13854ffc41c1 100644
--- a/releng.control/somePathDirectory/commonVariations.shsource
+++ b/releng.control/somePathDirectory/commonVariations.shsource
@@ -34,3 +34,6 @@ export BUILD_BUILDMASTER_EMAIL=davidw@davidw.com
 export BUILD_RESULT_URL=http://davidw.com:7777/cruisecontrol/buildresults
 export BUILD_TOADDRESS=david_williams@us.ibm.com
 
+# for  builds on local machines, SKIPUSERS should be 'true' to avoid 
+# notifying users about those builds on your local machine
+export SKIPUSERS=true
\ No newline at end of file