diff --git a/easybuild/tools/filetools.py b/easybuild/tools/filetools.py
index 6e4198e2a6..0ee01a0d04 100644
--- a/easybuild/tools/filetools.py
+++ b/easybuild/tools/filetools.py
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@
 import easybuild.tools.environment as env
 from easybuild.tools.asyncprocess import Popen, PIPE, STDOUT, send_all, recv_some
 from easybuild.tools.build_log import getLog
-from easybuild.tools.config import logPath
 
 
 log = getLog('fileTools')
@@ -93,7 +92,7 @@ def findBaseDir():
     """
     def getLocalDirsPurged():
         ## e.g. always purge the log directory
-        ignoreDirs = [logPath()]
+        ignoreDirs = ["easybuild"]
 
         lst = os.listdir(os.getcwd())
         for ignDir in ignoreDirs:
diff --git a/easybuild/tools/repository.py b/easybuild/tools/repository.py
index b2c12d7c72..cfa93ca945 100644
--- a/easybuild/tools/repository.py
+++ b/easybuild/tools/repository.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 import time
 
 import easybuild
+from easybuild.framework.easyblock import EasyBlock
 from easybuild.tools.build_log import getLog
 
 
@@ -103,7 +104,13 @@ def cleanup(self):
         """
         Clean up working copy.
         """
-        return
+        pass
+
+    def get_buildstats(self, name, version):
+        """
+        Get the build statististics for module with name and version
+        """
+        pass
 
 
 class FileRepository(Repository):
@@ -153,7 +160,7 @@ def addEasyconfig(self, cfg, name, version, stats, previous):
 
             # append a line to the eb file so we don't have git merge conflicts
             if not previous:
-                statstemplate = "\n#Build statistics\nbuildstats=[%s]t\n"
+                statstemplate = "\n#Build statistics\nbuildstats=[%s]\n"
             else:
                 statstemplate = "\nbuildstats.append(%s)\n"
 
@@ -165,6 +172,23 @@ def addEasyconfig(self, cfg, name, version, stats, previous):
 
         return dest
 
+    def get_buildstats(self, name, version):
+        """
+        return the build statistics
+        """
+        full_path = os.path.join(self.wc, self.subdir, name)
+        if not os.path.isdir(full_path):
+            log.debug("module (%s) has not been found in the repo" % name)
+            return []
+
+        dest = os.path.join(full_path, "%s.eb" % version)
+        if not os.path.isfile(dest):
+            log.debug("version (%s) of module (%s) has not been found in the repo" % (version, name))
+            return []
+
+        eb = EasyBlock(dest)
+        return eb['buildstats']
+
 
 class GitRepository(FileRepository):
     """