diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index afe03059..063d150a 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ fedora_latest:
     - wget --no-verbose -O tools.zip https://dl.google.com/android/repository/tools_r25.2.4-linux.zip
     - unzip -q tools.zip
     - rm tools.zip
+    - export AAPT_VERSION=`sed -n "s,^MINIMUM_AAPT_VERSION\s*=\s*['\"]\(.*\)[['\"],\1,p" fdroidserver/common.py`
     - export ANDROID_HOME=`pwd`/android-sdk
     - mkdir $ANDROID_HOME
     - mv tools $ANDROID_HOME/
@@ -115,7 +116,7 @@ fedora_latest:
     - mkdir ~/.android
     - touch ~/.android/repositories.cfg
     - echo y | $ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin/sdkmanager "platform-tools"
-    - echo y | $ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin/sdkmanager "build-tools;26.0.2"
+    - echo y | $ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin/sdkmanager "build-tools;$AAPT_VERSION"
     - chown -R testuser .
     - cd tests
     - su testuser --login --command
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index edfd9079..87adfa86 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -65,12 +65,13 @@ install:
       fi;
       brew cask install android-sdk;
 
+      export AAPT_VERSION=`sed -n "s,^MINIMUM_AAPT_VERSION\s*=\s*['\"]\(.*\)[['\"],\1,p" fdroidserver/common.py`;
       mkdir -p "$ANDROID_HOME/licenses";
       echo -e "\n8933bad161af4178b1185d1a37fbf41ea5269c55" > "$ANDROID_HOME/licenses/android-sdk-license";
       echo -e "\nd56f5187479451eabf01fb78af6dfcb131a6481e" >> "$ANDROID_HOME/licenses/android-sdk-license";
       echo -e "\n84831b9409646a918e30573bab4c9c91346d8abd" > "$ANDROID_HOME/licenses/android-sdk-preview-license";
       echo y | $ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin/sdkmanager "platform-tools";
-      echo y | $ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin/sdkmanager "build-tools;25.0.2";
+      echo y | $ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin/sdkmanager "build-tools;$AAPT_VERSION";
       echo y | $ANDROID_HOME/tools/bin/sdkmanager "platforms;android-23";
 
       sudo pip3 install babel;
diff --git a/fdroidserver/build.py b/fdroidserver/build.py
index 82f72c9a..83cb18ab 100644
--- a/fdroidserver/build.py
+++ b/fdroidserver/build.py
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ def build_server(app, build, vcs, build_dir, output_dir, log_dir, force):
             buildserverid = subprocess.check_output(['vagrant', 'ssh', '-c',
                                                      'cat /home/vagrant/buildserverid'],
                                                     cwd='builder').rstrip()
+            logging.debug(_('Fetched buildserverid from VM: ') + buildserverid)
 
         # Open SSH connection...
         logging.info("Connecting to virtual machine...")
@@ -288,6 +289,10 @@ def force_gradle_build_tools(build_dir, build_tools):
                                path)
 
 
+def _get_build_timestamp():
+    return time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%SZ", time.gmtime())
+
+
 def transform_first_char(string, method):
     """Uses method() on the first character of string."""
     if len(string) == 0:
@@ -1055,6 +1060,7 @@ def parse_commandline():
 options = None
 config = None
 buildserverid = None
+starttime = _get_build_timestamp()
 
 
 def main():
@@ -1174,6 +1180,7 @@ def main():
 
         for build in app.builds:
             wikilog = None
+            build_starttime = _get_build_timestamp()
             tools_version_log = ''
             if not options.onserver:
                 tools_version_log = get_android_tools_version_log(build.ndk_path())
@@ -1270,7 +1277,7 @@ def main():
                     f.write('versionCode: %s\nversionName: %s\ncommit: %s\n' %
                             (build.versionCode, build.versionName, build.commit))
                     f.write('Build completed at '
-                            + time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%SZ", time.gmtime()) + '\n')
+                            + _get_build_timestamp() + '\n')
                     f.write('\n' + tools_version_log + '\n')
                     f.write(str(e))
                 logging.error("Could not build app %s: %s" % (appid, e))
@@ -1295,10 +1302,12 @@ def main():
                     newpage = site.Pages[lastbuildpage]
                     with open(os.path.join('tmp', 'fdroidserverid')) as fp:
                         fdroidserverid = fp.read().rstrip()
-                    txt = "* build completed at " + time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%SZ", time.gmtime()) + '\n' \
+                    txt = "* build session started at " + starttime + '\n' \
+                          + "* this build started at " + build_starttime + '\n' \
+                          + "* this build completed at " + _get_build_timestamp() + '\n' \
                           + '* fdroidserverid: [https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidserver/commit/' \
                           + fdroidserverid + ' ' + fdroidserverid + ']\n\n'
-                    if options.onserver:
+                    if buildserverid:
                         txt += '* buildserverid: [https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroidserver/commit/' \
                                + buildserverid + ' ' + buildserverid + ']\n\n'
                     txt += tools_version_log + '\n\n'