diff --git a/dspace/pom.xml b/dspace/pom.xml
index 939d700d30..eeec5ca8aa 100644
--- a/dspace/pom.xml
+++ b/dspace/pom.xml
@@ -18,13 +18,6 @@
         <version>3.0-rc3-SNAPSHOT</version>
         <relativePath>..</relativePath>
     </parent>
-    
-    <!--
-       Builds Overlay Modules for DSpace
-    -->
-    <modules>
-        <module>modules</module>
-    </modules>
 
     <build>
         <filters>
@@ -62,19 +55,24 @@
         </resources>
     
         <plugins>
-            <!--  overall project assembly -->
+            <!--  Default project assembly. Calls 'assembly.xml', which
+                  generates the DSpace build directory. -->
             <plugin>
                 <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
                 <configuration>
+                    <!-- Don't "attach" the assembly results to this project. As
+                         this assembly builds a directory, setting this to "true"
+                         (default value) will just result in a WARNING message.-->
+                    <attach>false</attach>
                     <descriptors>
-                        <descriptor>src/assemble/assembly.xml</descriptor>
+                        <descriptor>src/main/assembly/assembly.xml</descriptor>
                     </descriptors>
                 </configuration>
                 <executions>
                     <execution>
                         <phase>package</phase>
                         <goals>
-                            <goal>directory-single</goal>
+                            <goal>single</goal>
                         </goals>
                     </execution>
                 </executions>
@@ -82,6 +80,63 @@
         </plugins>
     </build>
 
+    <profiles>
+
+        <!-- Default Profile. This builds all Overlay modules for DSpace -->
+        <profile>
+            <id>default</id>
+            <activation>
+                <activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault>
+            </activation>
+            <!--
+                Builds Overlay Modules for DSpace
+            -->
+            <modules>
+                <module>modules</module>
+            </modules>
+        </profile>
+
+
+        <!--
+            Run this profile (e.g. 'mvn package -Pdistributions') to create
+            zip / tarball distributions to upload to SourceForge or similar.
+            When this profile is run, DSpace is NOT compiled as normal.
+            Instead, a zip/tarball is generated from the parent [dspace-src] directory.
+        -->
+        <profile>
+           <id>distributions</id>
+           <activation>
+              <activeByDefault>false</activeByDefault>
+           </activation>
+           <build>
+              <plugins>
+                 <plugin>
+                    <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
+                    <inherited>false</inherited>
+                    <executions>
+                       <execution>
+                          <inherited>false</inherited>
+                          <configuration>
+                             <descriptors>
+                                <descriptor>src/main/assembly/release.xml</descriptor>
+                                <descriptor>src/main/assembly/src-release.xml</descriptor>
+                             </descriptors>
+                             <tarLongFileMode>gnu</tarLongFileMode>
+                             <finalName>dspace-${project.version}</finalName>
+                          </configuration>
+                          <phase>package</phase>
+                          <goals>
+                             <goal>single</goal>
+                          </goals>
+                       </execution>
+                    </executions>
+                 </plugin>
+              </plugins>
+           </build>
+        </profile>
+
+    </profiles>
+
     <dependencies>
     	<!-- This dependency ensures DSpace OAI JAR is added to [dspace]/lib/,
              so that the 'dspace oai' launcher.xml command works.  -->
diff --git a/dspace/src/main/assembly/assembly.xml b/dspace/src/main/assembly/assembly.xml
index fb8bb07a9d..798704b866 100644
--- a/dspace/src/main/assembly/assembly.xml
+++ b/dspace/src/main/assembly/assembly.xml
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@
     http://www.dspace.org/license/
 
 -->
+<!--
+    DSpace Directory Assembly
+    This assembly creates the 'target/dspace-[version]-build/' which can
+    then be installed via Apache Ant.
+-->
 <assembly xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
           xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
           xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/assembly-1.1.0-SNAPSHOT.xsd">
@@ -17,6 +22,7 @@
    <includeBaseDirectory>false</includeBaseDirectory>
 
    <fileSets>
+      <!-- Copy src/main/config/build.xml to resulting directory -->
       <fileSet>
          <directory>src/main/config</directory>
          <outputDirectory>.</outputDirectory>
@@ -24,6 +30,19 @@
             <include>build.xml</include>
          </includes>
       </fileSet>
+      <!-- Copy README and LICENSE files to resulting directory -->
+      <fileSet>
+         <directory>..</directory>
+         <outputDirectory>.</outputDirectory>
+         <includes>
+            <include>LICENSE*</include>
+            <include>README</include>
+         </includes>
+         <excludes>
+            <exclude>LICENSE_HEADER</exclude>
+         </excludes>
+      </fileSet>
+      <!-- Copy necessary subdirectories to resulting directory -->
       <fileSet>
          <outputDirectory>.</outputDirectory>
          <includes>
@@ -32,18 +51,15 @@
             <include>docs/**</include>
             <include>etc/**</include>
             <include>solr/**</include>
-            <include>build.xml</include>
-            <include>LICENSE*</include>
-            <include>CHANGES</include>
-            <include>KNOWN_BUGS</include>
-            <include>README</include>
          </includes>
+         <!-- Exclude source code & configs (we'll copy configs below) -->
          <excludes>
             <exclude>src</exclude>
             <exclude>config/dspace.cfg</exclude>
             <exclude>config/modules/**</exclude>
          </excludes>
       </fileSet>
+      <!-- Copy over all module configs & filter them -->
       <fileSet>
          <outputDirectory>.</outputDirectory>
          <includes>
@@ -53,6 +69,7 @@
       </fileSet>
    </fileSets>
 
+   <!-- Copy over the dspace.cfg & filter it -->
    <files>
       <file>
          <source>config/dspace.cfg</source>
@@ -62,8 +79,8 @@
    </files>
 
    <!--
-   Still allow anyone to put a dependency into
-   dspace/pom.xml and have it go into lib
+   Still allow anyone to put a JAR dependency into
+   [src]/dspace/pom.xml and have it go into 'lib' directory
    -->
    <dependencySets>
       <dependencySet>
@@ -77,13 +94,10 @@
 
    <moduleSets>
       <!--
-      take all jar modules in modules dir
-      and add them into lib
+      Take all jar modules in [src]/dspace/modules/ dir
+      and add them into 'lib' directory
       -->
       <moduleSet>
-         <excludes>
-            <exclude>*:war:*</exclude>
-         </excludes>
          <includes>
             <include>*:jar:*</include>
          </includes>
@@ -103,8 +117,8 @@
       </moduleSet>
 
       <!--
-      take all war modules and explode them into
-      webapps
+      Take all war modules (in [src]/dspace/modules/) and explode them into
+      'webapps' directory
       -->
       <moduleSet>
          <includes>
diff --git a/dspace/src/main/assembly/release.xml b/dspace/src/main/assembly/release.xml
index d85d6be998..9dc114859b 100644
--- a/dspace/src/main/assembly/release.xml
+++ b/dspace/src/main/assembly/release.xml
@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@
     http://www.dspace.org/license/
 
 -->
+<!--
+    DSpace "Binary" Release Package Assembly
+    This assembly creates the binary (no source code) 'zip/tarball' distribution
+    of DSpace which can be made available via SourceForge or similar.
+-->
 <assembly xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
           xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
           xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/assembly-1.1.0-SNAPSHOT.xsd">
@@ -21,7 +26,10 @@
    <includeBaseDirectory>true</includeBaseDirectory>
    <fileSets>
       <fileSet>
+         <!-- Select files from the parent directory (i.e. [dspace-src])-->
+         <directory>..</directory>
          <useDefaultExcludes>true</useDefaultExcludes>
+         <!-- Include the "[src]/dspace/" folder & main README/build files -->
          <includes>
             <include>dspace/**</include>
             <include>LICENSE*</include>
@@ -30,9 +38,9 @@
             <include>build.properties</include>
             <include>pom.xml</include>
          </includes>
+         <!-- Exclude any target directories or dot files -->
          <excludes>
             <exclude>**/target/**</exclude>
-            <exclude>make-release-package</exclude>
             <exclude>.*</exclude>
          </excludes>
       </fileSet>
diff --git a/dspace/src/main/assembly/src-release.xml b/dspace/src/main/assembly/src-release.xml
index c26b70cb88..b6eafbe208 100644
--- a/dspace/src/main/assembly/src-release.xml
+++ b/dspace/src/main/assembly/src-release.xml
@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@
     http://www.dspace.org/license/
 
 -->
+<!--
+    DSpace "Source" Release Package Assembly
+    This assembly creates the full source code 'zip/tarball' distribution
+    of DSpace which can be made available via SourceForge or similar.
+-->
 <assembly xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
           xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
           xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/assembly-1.1.0-SNAPSHOT.xsd">
@@ -21,10 +26,12 @@
    <includeBaseDirectory>true</includeBaseDirectory>
    <fileSets>
       <fileSet>
+         <!-- Select files from the parent directory (i.e. [dspace-src])-->
+         <directory>..</directory>
          <useDefaultExcludes>true</useDefaultExcludes>
+         <!-- Include all files except target directories & dot files -->
          <excludes>
             <exclude>**/target/**</exclude>
-            <exclude>make-release-package</exclude>
             <exclude>.*</exclude>
          </excludes>
       </fileSet>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index cecd1e4628..ec08e71089 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -378,42 +378,6 @@
          </modules>
       </profile>
 
-      <!--
-         Run this profile (e.g. 'mvn package -Pdistributions') to create
-         zip / tarball distributions to upload to SourceForge or similar.
-       -->
-      <profile>
-         <id>distributions</id>
-         <activation>
-            <activeByDefault>false</activeByDefault>
-         </activation>
-         <build>
-            <plugins>
-               <plugin>
-                  <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
-                  <inherited>false</inherited>
-                  <executions>
-                     <execution>
-                        <inherited>false</inherited>
-                        <configuration>
-                           <descriptors>
-                              <descriptor>src/main/assembly/release.xml</descriptor>
-                              <descriptor>src/main/assembly/src-release.xml</descriptor>
-                           </descriptors>
-                           <tarLongFileMode>gnu</tarLongFileMode>
-                           <finalName>dspace-${project.version}</finalName>
-                        </configuration>
-                        <phase>package</phase>
-                        <goals>
-                           <goal>single</goal>
-                        </goals>
-                     </execution>
-                  </executions>
-               </plugin>
-            </plugins>
-         </build>
-      </profile>
-
       <!-- Skip Unit Tests by default, but allow override on command line
            by setting property "-Dmaven.test.skip=false" -->
       <profile>