--- a/bitten/recipe.py
+++ b/bitten/recipe.py
@@ -137,17 +137,10 @@
     LOG = 'log'
     REPORT = 'report'
 
-    def __init__(self, filename='recipe.xml', basedir=os.getcwd(),
-                 xml_elem=None):
+    def __init__(self, xml, basedir=os.getcwd()):
+        assert isinstance(xml, xmlio.ParsedElement)
         self.ctxt = Context(basedir)
-        if filename:
-            fd = file(self.ctxt.resolve(filename), 'r')
-            try:
-                self._root = xmlio.parse(fd)
-            finally:
-                fd.close()
-        elif xml_elem:
-            self._root = xml_elem
+        self._root = xml
         self.description = self._root.attr.get('description')
 
     def __iter__(self):

--- a/bitten/slave.py
+++ b/bitten/slave.py
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@
                 for filename in files:
                     os.chmod(os.path.join(root, filename), 0400)
 
-            self.execute_build(msgno, Recipe(basedir=path, xml_elem=recipe_xml))
+            self.execute_build(msgno, Recipe(recipe_xml, path))
 
     def execute_build(self, msgno, recipe):
         global log

--- a/bitten/tests/recipe.py
+++ b/bitten/tests/recipe.py
@@ -23,36 +23,27 @@
 import unittest
 
 from bitten.recipe import Recipe
+from bitten.util import xmlio
 
 
 class RecipeTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
         self.temp_dir = os.path.realpath(tempfile.gettempdir())
-        self.recipe_xml = open(os.path.join(self.temp_dir, 'recipe.xml'), 'w')
-
-    def tearDown(self):
-        self.recipe_xml.close()
-        os.unlink(os.path.join(self.temp_dir, 'recipe.xml'))
 
     def test_empty_recipe(self):
-        self.recipe_xml.write('<?xml version="1.0"?>'
-                              '<build description="test">'
-                              '</build>')
-        self.recipe_xml.close()
-        recipe = Recipe(basedir=self.temp_dir)
+        xml = xmlio.parse('<build description="test"/>')
+        recipe = Recipe(xml, basedir=self.temp_dir)
         self.assertEqual('test', recipe.description)
         self.assertEqual(self.temp_dir, recipe.ctxt.basedir)
         steps = list(recipe)
         self.assertEqual(0, len(steps))
 
     def test_single_step(self):
-        self.recipe_xml.write('<?xml version="1.0"?>'
-                              '<build>'
-                              ' <step id="foo" description="Bar"></step>'
-                              '</build>')
-        self.recipe_xml.close()
-        recipe = Recipe(basedir=self.temp_dir)
+        xml = xmlio.parse('<build>'
+                          ' <step id="foo" description="Bar"></step>'
+                          '</build>')
+        recipe = Recipe(xml, basedir=self.temp_dir)
         steps = list(recipe)
         self.assertEqual(1, len(steps))
         self.assertEqual('foo', steps[0].id)

--- a/bitten/util/xmlio.py
+++ b/bitten/util/xmlio.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
     
     __slots__ = ['children']
 
-    def __init__(self, *args, **attr):
+    def __init__(self):
         """Create an XML fragment."""
         self.children = []
 

--- a/scripts/build.py
+++ b/scripts/build.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 
 from bitten.build import BuildError
 from bitten.recipe import Recipe
+from bitten.util import xmlio
 
 def main():
     from bitten import __version__ as VERSION
@@ -32,6 +33,8 @@
 
     parser = OptionParser(usage='usage: %prog [options] [step1] [step2] ...',
                           version='%%prog %s' % VERSION)
+    parser.add_option('-f', '--recipe-file', action='store', dest='recipe_file',
+                      metavar='FILE', help='read build recipe from FILE')
     parser.add_option('--print-reports', action='store_const',
                       dest='print_reports', const=True,
                       help='print generated reports')
@@ -39,7 +42,7 @@
                       const=logging.DEBUG, help='print as much as possible')
     parser.add_option('-q', '--quiet', action='store_const', dest='loglevel',
                       const=logging.ERROR, help='print as little as possible')
-    parser.set_defaults(loglevel=logging.INFO)
+    parser.set_defaults(loglevel=logging.INFO, recipe_file='recipe.xml')
     options, args = parser.parse_args()
 
     log = logging.getLogger('bitten')
@@ -51,18 +54,23 @@
     log.addHandler(handler)
 
     steps_to_run = dict([(step, False) for step in args])
-    recipe = Recipe()
-    for step in recipe:
-        if not steps_to_run or step.id in steps_to_run:
-            print
-            print '-->', step.description or step.id
-            for type, function, output in step.execute(recipe.ctxt):
-                if type == Recipe.ERROR:
-                    log.error('Failure in step "%s": %s', step.id, output)
-                elif type == Recipe.REPORT and options.print_reports:
-                    output.write(sys.stdout, newlines=True)
-            if step.id in steps_to_run:
-                steps_to_run[step.id] = True
+
+    recipe_file = file(options.recipe_file, 'r')
+    try:
+        recipe = Recipe(xmlio.parse(recipe_file))
+        for step in recipe:
+            if not steps_to_run or step.id in steps_to_run:
+                print
+                print '-->', step.description or step.id
+                for type, function, output in step.execute(recipe.ctxt):
+                    if type == Recipe.ERROR:
+                        log.error('Failure in step "%s": %s', step.id, output)
+                    elif type == Recipe.REPORT and options.print_reports:
+                        output.write(sys.stdout, newlines=True)
+                if step.id in steps_to_run:
+                    steps_to_run[step.id] = True
+    finally:
+        recipe_file.close()
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     try: