diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 4819d484e2..6bbca51490 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@
 
     <properties>
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
+        <onos-build-conf.version>1.0</onos-build-conf.version>
         <netty4.version>4.0.23.Final</netty4.version>
         <copycat.version>0.5.0.onos</copycat.version>
         <openflowj.version>0.9.0.onos</openflowj.version>
@@ -596,7 +597,7 @@
                         <dependency>
                             <groupId>org.onosproject</groupId>
                             <artifactId>onos-build-conf</artifactId>
-                            <version>1.0</version>
+                            <version>${onos-build-conf.version}</version>
                         </dependency>
                     </dependencies>
                     <configuration>
@@ -652,7 +653,7 @@
                     <dependency>
                         <groupId>org.onosproject</groupId>
                         <artifactId>onos-build-conf</artifactId>
-                        <version>1.0</version>
+                        <version>${onos-build-conf.version}</version>
                     </dependency>
                     <!-- For Java 8 lambda support-->
                     <dependency>
diff --git a/tools/build/conf/pom.xml b/tools/build/conf/pom.xml
index e4f8e9dcb2..29e4dea059 100644
--- a/tools/build/conf/pom.xml
+++ b/tools/build/conf/pom.xml
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 
     <groupId>org.onosproject</groupId>
     <artifactId>onos-build-conf</artifactId>
-    <version>1.0</version>
+    <version>1.1</version>
     <description>Various ONOS build settings</description>
 
     <properties>
diff --git a/tools/build/conf/src/main/resources/onos/checkstyle.xml b/tools/build/conf/src/main/resources/onos/checkstyle.xml
index 2908c89148..1bb3b0bf51 100644
--- a/tools/build/conf/src/main/resources/onos/checkstyle.xml
+++ b/tools/build/conf/src/main/resources/onos/checkstyle.xml
@@ -229,7 +229,10 @@
             <!-- ONOS alows declarations inside of switch case blocks -->
             <property name="allowInSwitchCase" value="true"/>
         </module>
-        <module name="EmptyBlock"/>
+        <module name="EmptyBlock">
+            <!-- allow empty block, as long as there's some comment -->
+            <property name="option" value="text"/>
+        </module>
         <module name="LeftCurly"/>
         <module name="NeedBraces"/>
         <module name="RightCurly"/>