diff --git a/app/build.xml b/app/build.xml
index 9f0be03b8..c8d8ef937 100644
--- a/app/build.xml
+++ b/app/build.xml
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@
 	  message="Please build the core library first and make sure it sits in ../core/library/core.jar" />
 
     <mkdir dir="bin" />
+    <!-- in some cases, pde.jar was not getting built
+	 https://github.com/processing/processing/issues/1792 -->
+    <delete file="pde.jar" />
 
     <!-- env used to set classpath below -->
     <property environment="env" />