diff --git a/bootstrap.sh b/bootstrap.sh
index 2e4721b..c7e174f 100755
--- a/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/bootstrap.sh
@@ -3,18 +3,38 @@
 set -e
 set -x
 
+PREFIX=$(readlink -f build-env)
+
 git submodule sync
 git submodule update
 
 cd boost.m4
 ./bootstrap
-./configure
+./configure --prefix="$PREFIX"
 make
+make install
 
 cd ../jansson
 autoreconf -fvi
-./configure
+./configure --prefix="$PREFIX"
 make
+make install
+
+cd ../
+hg clone https://code.google.com/p/pagedown/ || (cd pagedown && hg pull && hg update && cd ../)
 
+wget http://freefr.dl.sourceforge.net/project/threadpool/threadpool/0.2.5%20%28Stable%29/threadpool-0_2_5-src.zip
+unzip threadpool-0_2_5-src.zip
+cd threadpool
+cp -vR boost "$PREFIX/include"
 cd ../
-hg clone https://code.google.com/p/pagedown/
+
+wget https://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-0.9.8r.tar.gz
+tar -zxvf openssl-0.9.8r.tar.gz
+cd ../openssl-0.9.8r
+./config --prefix="$PREFIX" threads shared static zlib-dynamic
+make
+make test
+make install
+
+
diff --git a/raas/Makefile.am b/raas/Makefile.am
index 3527b00..90b05eb 100644
--- a/raas/Makefile.am
+++ b/raas/Makefile.am
@@ -8,10 +8,11 @@ AM_CFLAGS = $(WIN32_CFLAGS) $(DEPS_CFLAGS) -g \
 
 BOOST_LDFLAGS_ALL = $(BOOST_THREAD_LDFLAGS) \
 					$(BOOST_FILESYSTEM_LDFLAGS) \
+					$(BOOST_BIND_LDFLAGS) \
 					$(BOOST_SYSTEM_LDFLAGS) $(BOOST_REGEX_LDFLAGS) \
 					$(BOOST_STRING_ALGO_LDFLAGS)
 
-AM_CPPFLAGS = $(AM_CFLAGS) $(BOOST_CPPFLAGS) -I../threadpool 
+AM_CPPFLAGS = $(AM_CFLAGS) $(BOOST_CPPFLAGS)  
 AM_LDFLAGS = $(BOOST_LDFLAGS_ALL) -Wl,--gc-sections
 
 if BUILD_WIN32
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ bin_PROGRAMS = raas
 raas_SOURCES = src/raas.cc \
                src/raas_openssl_win32_applink.c \
 			   src/notifytxt.cc \
+			   src/http_errors.cc \
 			   src/entrypoints/friends.cc \
 			   src/entrypoints/chat.cc \
 			   src/entrypoints/file_share.cc \
@@ -38,6 +40,7 @@ LIBS += $(DHT_LIBS) \
 		$(BOOST_FILESYSTEM_LIBS) \
 		$(BOOST_SYSTEM_LIBS) \
 		$(BOOST_REGEX_LIBS) \
+		$(BOOST_BIND_LIBS) \
 		$(BOOST_STRING_ALGO_LIBS) \
 		$(WIN32_LIBS) \
         -lstdc++
diff --git a/raas/configure.ac b/raas/configure.ac
index 7dfbd0a..5970189 100644
--- a/raas/configure.ac
+++ b/raas/configure.ac
@@ -22,15 +22,20 @@ AC_TRY_COMPILE(,
 )
 AM_CONDITIONAL(BUILD_WIN32, test x$BUILD_WIN32 = xtrue)
 
+# the PKG_CONFIG_PATH export seems to lead to pkg.m4 not being able
+# to actually find pkg-config so we explicitly set a path for it
+# this has the unfortuante side effect of overriding the external
+# env value :(
+PKG_CONFIG=$(which pkg-config)
 if test x$BUILD_WIN32 = xtrue; then
-export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$PKG_CONFIG_PATH;./pkgconfig-mingw"
-PKG_CHECK_MODULES([DEPS], [openssl, QtCore >= 4, libminiupnpc,
+export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$PKG_CONFIG_PATH;./pkgconfig-mingw;../build-env/lib/pkgconfig"
+PKG_CHECK_MODULES([DEPS], [openssl = 0.9.8r, QtCore >= 4, libminiupnpc,
 						   libevent, libgpgme, libgpg-error,
 						   libretroshare, libbitdht
                            jansson, gio-2.0])
 else
-export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$PKG_CONFIG_PATH:./pkgconfig-default"
-PKG_CHECK_MODULES([DEPS], [openssl, QtCore >= 4, libminiupnpc,
+export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$PKG_CONFIG_PATH:./pkgconfig-default:../build-env/lib/pkgconfig"
+PKG_CHECK_MODULES([DEPS], [openssl = 0.9.8r, QtCore >= 4, libminiupnpc,
                            libevent, libevent_pthreads,
 						   libretroshare, libbitdht, libgpgme, libgpg-error,
                            jansson, gio-2.0])
@@ -41,6 +46,7 @@ BOOST_SYSTEM
 BOOST_FILESYSTEM
 BOOST_THREADS
 BOOST_REGEX
+BOOST_BIND
 BOOST_STRING_ALGO
 
 AC_OUTPUT
diff --git a/raas/pkgconfig-default/libcrypto.pc b/raas/pkgconfig-default/libcrypto.pc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ddad253
--- /dev/null
+++ b/raas/pkgconfig-default/libcrypto.pc
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+prefix=/home/alexs/code/retroshare/rsweb/openssl-0.9.8r
+exec_prefix=${prefix}
+libdir=${exec_prefix}/lib
+includedir=${prefix}/include
+
+Name: OpenSSL-libcrypto
+Description: OpenSSL cryptography library
+Version: 0.9.8r
+Requires: 
+Libs: -L${libdir} -lcrypto -ldl -lz
+Cflags: -I${includedir} 
diff --git a/raas/pkgconfig-default/libssl.pc b/raas/pkgconfig-default/libssl.pc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e73bb4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/raas/pkgconfig-default/libssl.pc
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+prefix=/home/alexs/code/retroshare/rsweb/openssl-0.9.8r
+exec_prefix=${prefix}
+libdir=${exec_prefix}/lib
+includedir=${prefix}/include
+
+Name: OpenSSL
+Description: Secure Sockets Layer and cryptography libraries
+Version: 0.9.8r
+Requires: 
+Libs: -L${libdir} -lssl -lcrypto -ldl -lz
+Cflags: -I${includedir} 
diff --git a/raas/pkgconfig-mingw/libcrypto.pc b/raas/pkgconfig-mingw/libcrypto.pc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ddad253
--- /dev/null
+++ b/raas/pkgconfig-mingw/libcrypto.pc
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+prefix=/home/alexs/code/retroshare/rsweb/openssl-0.9.8r
+exec_prefix=${prefix}
+libdir=${exec_prefix}/lib
+includedir=${prefix}/include
+
+Name: OpenSSL-libcrypto
+Description: OpenSSL cryptography library
+Version: 0.9.8r
+Requires: 
+Libs: -L${libdir} -lcrypto -ldl -lz
+Cflags: -I${includedir} 
diff --git a/raas/pkgconfig-mingw/libssl.pc b/raas/pkgconfig-mingw/libssl.pc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e73bb4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/raas/pkgconfig-mingw/libssl.pc
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+prefix=/home/alexs/code/retroshare/rsweb/openssl-0.9.8r
+exec_prefix=${prefix}
+libdir=${exec_prefix}/lib
+includedir=${prefix}/include
+
+Name: OpenSSL
+Description: Secure Sockets Layer and cryptography libraries
+Version: 0.9.8r
+Requires: 
+Libs: -L${libdir} -lssl -lcrypto -ldl -lz
+Cflags: -I${includedir}