diff --git a/com.ibm.wala.cast.test/build.gradle b/com.ibm.wala.cast.test/build.gradle
index c40384d95..500956ef2 100644
--- a/com.ibm.wala.cast.test/build.gradle
+++ b/com.ibm.wala.cast.test/build.gradle
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@ plugins {
 	id 'com.github.hauner.jarTest' version '1.0.1'
 }
 
+apply plugin: 'cpp'
+
 sourceSets.test.java.srcDir 'harness-src/java'
-// TODO: hook up harness-src/c somehow
 
 dependencies {
 	testCompile 'junit:junit:4.11'
@@ -12,3 +13,75 @@ dependencies {
 	testCompile project(':com.ibm.wala.util')
 	testCompile project(configuration: 'testArchives', path: ':com.ibm.wala.core.tests')
 }
+
+// TODO: build following targets for "test"-only, not "main"
+
+def currentJvm = org.gradle.internal.jvm.Jvm.current()
+
+task generateJniHeaders(type: Exec, dependsOn: [testClasses, ':com.ibm.wala.cast:classes']) {
+	// classes for which we need headers
+	def nativePackage = 'com.ibm.wala.cast.test'
+	def nativeClasses = ['TestNativeTranslator']
+	def qualifiedClasses = nativeClasses.collect { "$nativePackage.$it" }
+
+	// inputs and outputs, suitable for use with rule-based model configuration
+	ext {
+		sourceDir = null
+		headerDir = "$buildDir/include"
+	}
+	inputs.files files(qualifiedClasses.collect { "$buildDir/${it.replace('.', '/')}.class" })
+	outputs.files files(qualifiedClasses.collect { "$headerDir/${it.replace('.', '_')}.h" })
+
+	// javah command to generate headers
+	def sourceSets = [sourceSets.test, project(':com.ibm.wala.cast').sourceSets.main]
+	def classesDirs = sourceSets.inject(files()) { acc, val -> acc.plus(val.output.classesDirs) }
+	def classpath = classesDirs.join(':')
+	def javah = currentJvm.getExecutable('javah')
+	commandLine(javah, '-d', "$headerDir", '-classpath', classpath)
+	args(qualifiedClasses)
+}
+
+model {
+	components {
+		xlator_test(NativeLibrarySpec) {
+			sources.cpp {
+				source {
+					srcDir 'harness-src/c'
+					include 'smoke.cpp'
+				}
+				generatedBy tasks.generateJniHeaders
+			}
+			binaries {
+				withType(StaticLibraryBinarySpec) {
+					buildable = false
+				}
+				all {
+					['cast', 'jdk'].each {
+						lib project: ':com.ibm.wala.cast', library: it
+					}
+					// TODO: compute path on following line from 'cast' library properties somehow
+					linker.args '-Wl,-rpath', "${project(':com.ibm.wala.cast').buildDir}/libs/cast/shared"
+					// TODO: compute path on following line from 'jdk' library properties somehow
+					linker.args '-Wl,-rpath', "${currentJvm.javaHome}/jre/lib/amd64/server"
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		smoke_main(NativeExecutableSpec) {
+			sources.cpp.source {
+				srcDir 'harness-src/c'
+				include 'smoke_main.cpp'
+			}
+			binaries.all {
+				['cast', 'jdk'].each {
+					lib project: ':com.ibm.wala.cast', library: it
+				}
+				// TODO: compute path on following line from 'cast' library properties somehow
+				linker.args '-Wl,-rpath', "${project(':com.ibm.wala.cast').buildDir}/libs/cast/shared"
+				// TODO: compute path on following line from 'jdk' library properties somehow
+				linker.args '-Wl,-rpath', "${currentJvm.javaHome}/jre/lib/amd64/server"
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// TODO: running the Java tests in this subproject requires the xlator_test library, since the Java test code loads the xlator_test library at run time
diff --git a/com.ibm.wala.cast/build.gradle b/com.ibm.wala.cast/build.gradle
index 19504eb42..5c6b45399 100644
--- a/com.ibm.wala.cast/build.gradle
+++ b/com.ibm.wala.cast/build.gradle
@@ -9,25 +9,36 @@ dependencies {
 	compile project(':com.ibm.wala.util')
 }
 
-def jvm = org.gradle.internal.jvm.Jvm.current()
+def currentJavaHome = org.gradle.internal.jvm.Jvm.current().javaHome
 
 model {
-	components {
-		cast(NativeLibrarySpec) {
-			sources {
-				cpp {
-					source {
-						srcDir 'source/c/jni'
-						include '*.cpp'
-					}
+	repositories {
+		libs(PrebuiltLibraries) {
+			jdk {
+				def jniIncludeDir = "$currentJavaHome/include"
+				// TODO: make "linux" more portable on next line; should be "win32" on Windows; should be "darwin" on MacOS
+				headers.srcDirs files(jniIncludeDir, "$jniIncludeDir/linux")
+				binaries.withType(SharedLibraryBinary) {
+					// TODO: make next line more portable
+					sharedLibraryLinkFile = file("$currentJavaHome/jre/lib/amd64/server/libjvm.so")
 				}
 			}
-			def library = it
+		}
+	}
+	components {
+		cast(NativeLibrarySpec) {
+			sources.cpp {
+				def cSourceDir = 'source/c'
+				source {
+					srcDir "$cSourceDir/jni"
+					include '*.cpp'
+				}
+				exportedHeaders.srcDir "$cSourceDir/include"
+			}
 			binaries.all {
-				def jniIncludeDir = "${jvm.getJavaHome()}/include"
-				cppCompiler.args '-I', "${library.properties.sources.cpp.source.srcDirs[0].parent}/include"
-				cppCompiler.args '-I', jniIncludeDir
-				cppCompiler.args '-I', "${jniIncludeDir}/linux" // TODO: make more portable
+				lib library: 'jdk'
+				// TODO: compute path on following line from 'jdk' library properties somehow
+				linker.args '-Wl,-rpath', "$currentJavaHome/jre/lib/amd64/server"
 			}
 		}
 	}