diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c5d7a960a..c61247feb 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 .classpath
+.DS_Store
 .project
 .settings
 .metadata
diff --git a/omid-checkstyle/pom.xml b/omid-checkstyle/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..125ff47d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/omid-checkstyle/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!--
+  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  limitations under the License.
+-->
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
+
+    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+    <groupId>org.apache.omid</groupId>
+    <artifactId>omid-checkstyle</artifactId>
+    <version>1.0.3-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <name>omid - checkstyle</name>
+
+    <build>
+        <plugins>
+            <plugin>
+                <artifactId>maven-site-plugin</artifactId>
+                <configuration>
+                    <skip>true</skip>
+                </configuration>
+            </plugin>
+            <plugin>
+                <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
+                <configuration>
+                    <skipAssembly>true</skipAssembly>
+                </configuration>
+            </plugin>
+        </plugins>
+    </build>
+</project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/misc/omid_checks.xml b/omid-checkstyle/src/main/resources/omid/checkstyle.xml
similarity index 90%
rename from misc/omid_checks.xml
rename to omid-checkstyle/src/main/resources/omid/checkstyle.xml
index e69d26fc9..782574c39 100644
--- a/misc/omid_checks.xml
+++ b/omid-checkstyle/src/main/resources/omid/checkstyle.xml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
     from Google Java Style: https://google.github.io/styleguide/javaguide.html.
 
     Omid's style main modifications in Modules below:
-     - LineLength & LeftCurly.maxLineLength: 120 chars instead of 100
+     - LineLength: 120 chars instead of 100
      - Indentation params: 4 spaces instead of 2
      - AbbreviationAsWordInName.allowedAbbreviationLength: 4 instead of 1
  -->
@@ -25,7 +25,10 @@
 	<module name="FileTabCharacter">
 		<property name="eachLine" value="true"/>
 	</module>
-
+	<module name="LineLength">
+		<property name="max" value="120"/>
+		<property name="ignorePattern" value="^package.*|^import.*|a href|href|http://|https://|ftp://"/>
+	</module>
 	<module name="TreeWalker">
 		<module name="OuterTypeFilename"/>
 		<module name="IllegalTokenText">
@@ -38,11 +41,6 @@
 			<property name="allowByTailComment" value="true"/>
 			<property name="allowNonPrintableEscapes" value="true"/>
 		</module>
-		<module name="LineLength">
-			<property name="max" value="120"/>
-			<property name="ignorePattern" value="^package.*|^import.*|a href|href|http://|https://|ftp://"/>
-		</module>
-		<module name="AvoidStarImport"/>
 		<module name="OneTopLevelClass"/>
 		<module name="NoLineWrap"/>
 		<module name="EmptyBlock">
@@ -50,10 +48,7 @@
 			<property name="tokens" value="LITERAL_TRY, LITERAL_FINALLY, LITERAL_IF, LITERAL_ELSE, LITERAL_SWITCH"/>
 		</module>
 		<module name="NeedBraces"/>
-		<module name="LeftCurly">
-			<property name="maxLineLength" value="120"/>
-		</module>
-		<module name="RightCurly"/>
+		<module name="LeftCurly"/>
 		<module name="RightCurly">
 			<property name="option" value="alone"/>
 			<property name="tokens" value="CLASS_DEF, METHOD_DEF, CTOR_DEF, LITERAL_FOR, LITERAL_WHILE, LITERAL_DO, STATIC_INIT, INSTANCE_INIT"/>
@@ -158,11 +153,6 @@
 		</module>
 		<module name="OverloadMethodsDeclarationOrder"/>
 		<module name="VariableDeclarationUsageDistance"/>
-		<module name="CustomImportOrder">
-			<property name="specialImportsRegExp" value="com.google"/>
-			<property name="sortImportsInGroupAlphabetically" value="true"/>
-			<property name="customImportOrderRules" value="STATIC###SPECIAL_IMPORTS###THIRD_PARTY_PACKAGE###STANDARD_JAVA_PACKAGE"/>
-		</module>
 		<module name="MethodParamPad"/>
 		<module name="OperatorWrap">
 			<property name="option" value="NL"/>
@@ -188,11 +178,8 @@
 		<module name="JavadocMethod">
 			<property name="scope" value="public"/>
 			<property name="allowMissingParamTags" value="true"/>
-			<property name="allowMissingThrowsTags" value="true"/>
 			<property name="allowMissingReturnTag" value="true"/>
-			<property name="minLineCount" value="2"/>
 			<property name="allowedAnnotations" value="Override, Test"/>
-			<property name="allowThrowsTagsForSubclasses" value="true"/>
 		</module>
 		<module name="MethodName">
 			<property name="format" value="^[a-z][a-z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9_]*$"/>
@@ -206,6 +193,21 @@
 			<property name="exceptionVariableName" value="expected"/>
 		</module>
 		<module name="CommentsIndentation"/>
+        <!-- see https://omid.incubator.apache.org/coding-guide-and-style.html for Import ordering -->
+		<module name="AvoidStarImport"/>
+		<module name="ImportOrder">
+			<property name="groups" value="*,javax,java"/>
+			<property name="ordered" value="true"/>
+			<property name="separated" value="true"/>
+			<property name="option" value="bottom"/>
+			<property name="separatedStaticGroups" value="true"/>
+			<property name="sortStaticImportsAlphabetically" value="true"/>
+		</module>
+		<module name="RedundantImport"/>
+		<module name="UnusedImports">
+			<property name="processJavadoc" value="true"/>
+		</module>
+		<module name="IllegalImport"/>
 	</module>
 
 </module>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 41cba743b..a667215d1 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@
     </developers>
 
     <modules>
+        <module>omid-checkstyle</module>
         <module>benchmarks</module>
         <module>common</module>
         <module>statemachine</module>
@@ -203,7 +204,7 @@
         <maven-cobertura-plugin.version>2.7</maven-cobertura-plugin.version>
         <maven-license-plugin.version>2.11</maven-license-plugin.version>
         <maven-pmd-plugin.version>3.4</maven-pmd-plugin.version>
-        <maven-checkstyle-plugin.version>2.17</maven-checkstyle-plugin.version>
+        <maven-checkstyle-plugin.version>3.1.1</maven-checkstyle-plugin.version>
         <maven-jxr-plugin.version>2.3</maven-jxr-plugin.version>
         <maven-findbugs-maven-plugin.version>3.0.1</maven-findbugs-maven-plugin.version>
         <maven-owasp-plugin.version>5.3.2</maven-owasp-plugin.version>
@@ -331,6 +332,38 @@
         </pluginManagement>
 
         <plugins>
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>${maven-checkstyle-plugin.version}</version>
+                <dependencies>
+                    <dependency>
+                        <groupId>org.apache.omid</groupId>
+                        <artifactId>omid-checkstyle</artifactId>
+                        <version>${project.version}</version>
+                    </dependency>
+                </dependencies>
+                <configuration>
+                    <configLocation>omid/checkstyle.xml</configLocation>
+                    <encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
+                    <consoleOutput>true</consoleOutput>
+                    <!-- https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OMID-169 -->
+                    <!-- enable following config to make checking for violations as part of the build-->
+                    <!-- <violationSeverity>warning</violationSeverity> -->
+                    <failsOnError>true</failsOnError>
+                    <linkXRef>false</linkXRef>
+                    <includeTestSourceDirectory>true</includeTestSourceDirectory>
+                </configuration>
+                <executions>
+                    <execution>
+                        <id>validate</id>
+                        <phase>validate</phase>
+                        <goals>
+                            <goal>check</goal>
+                        </goals>
+                    </execution>
+                </executions>
+            </plugin>
 
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
@@ -684,15 +717,6 @@
                 <version>${maven-jxr-plugin.version}</version>
             </plugin>
 
-            <plugin>
-                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                <artifactId>maven-checkstyle-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>${maven-checkstyle-plugin.version}</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <configLocation>misc/omid_checks.xml</configLocation>
-                </configuration>
-            </plugin>
-
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-pmd-plugin</artifactId>