diff --git a/src/server/distrenjob.c b/src/server/distrenjob.c
--- a/src/server/distrenjob.c
+++ b/src/server/distrenjob.c
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ void distrenjob_free(struct distrenjob *
   dj = *distrenjob;
   xmlFree(dj->name);
   xmlFree(dj->submitter);
-  xmlFree(dj->email);
 
   free(dj->frameset);
 
@@ -57,7 +56,6 @@ int distrenjob_new(struct distrenjob **d
   dj->next = NULL;
   dj->name = (char *)NULL;
   dj->submitter = (char *)NULL;
-  dj->email = (char *)NULL;
   dj->jobnum = 0; /*< @todo there should be a central jobnum allocator and a way to save the maximum jobnumber allocated */
   dj->priority = 0;
   dj->width = 0;
@@ -75,11 +73,49 @@ int distrenjob_new(struct distrenjob **d
 }
 
 /**
-   writes struct from xml
+   read an unsigned integer property from an xmlNode
+
+   convenience function for distrenjob_unserialize()
+   @param xmlnode may be NULL for convenience
+   @return 0 on success, other on error
+ */
+int _distrenjob_xml_readuint(xmlNodePtr xmlnode, xmlChar *propname, unsigned int *num)
+{
+  xmlChar *string;
+
+  if(!xmlnode)
+    return 1;
+
+  string = xmlGetProp(xmlnode, propname);
+  if(!string)
+    return 1;
+
+  *num = (unsigned int)strtoul((char *)string, (char **)NULL, 10);
+#ifndef NDEBUG
+  fprintf(stderr, "_distrenjob_xml_readuint(%zx, \"%s\", *(%zx)=%u): read %s=\"%d\"\n",
+	  (size_t)xmlnode, propname, (size_t)num, *num, propname, *num);
+#endif
+
+  xmlFree(string);
+  return 0;
+}
+
+/**
+   Loads a distrenjob that was serialized with distrenjob_serialize()
+
+   @see distrenjob_serialize()
+   @param pathtoxml path to XML file
+   @param distrenjob will be set to a pointer
 */
 int distrenjob_unserialize(struct distrenjob **distrenjob, char *pathtoxml)
 {
   struct distrenjob *dj;
+  struct frameset *fs;
+  unsigned int start_frame;
+  unsigned int end_frame;
+  unsigned int counter;
+
+  struct tm tm;
 
   xmlDocPtr xmldoc;
   xmlNodePtr xmlnode;
@@ -109,7 +145,7 @@ int distrenjob_unserialize(struct distre
     }
 
   xmlxpathcontext = xmlXPathNewContext(xmldoc);
-  xmlnode = xml_quickxpath(xmlxpathcontext, (xmlChar *)"/distren/job");
+  xmlnode = xml_quickxpath(xmlxpathcontext, (xmlChar *)"/job");
   if(!xmlnode)
     {
       distrenjob_free(distrenjob);
@@ -131,28 +167,80 @@ int distrenjob_unserialize(struct distre
       distrenjob_free(distrenjob);
       return 5;
     }
-
-  tmp = _distren_asprintf((char **)&xmlchar, "/distren/submitters/submitter[attribute::name=\"%s\"]", dj->submitter);
-  if(tmp <= 0
-     || !xmlchar)
+  tmp = _distrenjob_xml_readuint(xmlnode, (xmlChar *)"priority", &dj->priority);
+  if(tmp)
     {
-      fprintf(stderr, "error using _distren_asprintf\n");
       distrenjob_free(distrenjob);
       return 6;
     }
-  xmlnode = xml_quickxpath(xmlxpathcontext, xmlchar);
-  free(xmlchar);
-  dj->email = (char *)xmlGetProp(xmlnode, (xmlChar *)"email");
-  if(!dj->email)
+  
+  dj->output_format = (char *)xmlGetProp(xmlnode, (xmlChar *)"output_format");
+  if(!dj->output_format)
     {
-      fprintf(stderr, "error getting email for user ``%s'' from ``%s''\n",
-	      dj->submitter, pathtoxml);
+      distrenjob_free(distrenjob);
+
+      return 6;
+    }
+
+  xmlnode = xml_quickxpath(xmlxpathcontext, (xmlChar *)"/job/resolution");
+  tmp = _distrenjob_xml_readuint(xmlnode, (xmlChar *)"width"   , &dj->width   );
+  tmp += _distrenjob_xml_readuint(xmlnode, (xmlChar *)"height"  , &dj->height  );
+
+  xmlnode = xml_quickxpath(xmlxpathcontext, (xmlChar *)"/job/video");
+  tmp += _distrenjob_xml_readuint(xmlnode, (xmlChar *)"start_frame", &start_frame);
+  tmp += _distrenjob_xml_readuint(xmlnode, (xmlChar *)"end_frame", &end_frame);
+
+  if(tmp)
+    {
+      fprintf(stderr, "distrenjob_unserialize(): error reading integer values from ``%s''\n",
+	      pathtoxml);
       distrenjob_free(distrenjob);
       return 7;
     }
 
+  /**
+     total_render_time and watchdog stuff doesn't need error
+     checking, just good defaults
+  */
+  xmlnode = xml_quickxpath(xmlxpathcontext, (xmlChar *)"/job/stats");
+  dj->total_render_time = 0;
+  xmlchar = xmlGetProp(xmlnode, (xmlChar *)"total_render_time");
+  if(xmlchar)
+    {
+      if(strptime((char *)xmlchar, "%D %T", &tm))
+	dj->total_render_time = mktime(&tm);
+      xmlFree(xmlchar);
+    }
+
+  xmlnode = xml_quickxpath(xmlxpathcontext, (xmlChar *)"/job/watchdog");
+  dj->watchdog_forgiveness = 3600;
+  tmp =_distrenjob_xml_readuint(xmlnode, (xmlChar *)"forgiveness", &dj->watchdog_forgiveness);
+  if(tmp)
+    fprintf(stderr, "distrenjob_unserialize(): warning: watchdog forgiveness is unspecified in ``%s'', defaulting to 3600\n", pathtoxml);
+
   xmlXPathFreeContext(xmlxpathcontext);
   xmlFreeDoc(xmldoc);
+
+  /**
+     reconstruct the frameset
+  */
+  dj->total_frames = end_frame - start_frame + 1;
+ dj->frameset = malloc(sizeof(struct frameset) * dj->total_frames);
+ if(!dj->frameset)
+   {
+     fprintf(stderr, "OOM!\n");
+     distrenjob_free(distrenjob);
+     return 8;
+   }
+ fs = dj->frameset;
+ for(counter = start_frame; counter <= end_frame; counter ++)
+   {
+     fs->num = counter;
+     fs->status = FRAMESETSTATUS_UNASSIGNED; /*< @todo job partial completion and resumption support */
+
+     fs ++;
+   }
+
   return 0;
 }