I don't know alot about ccnet, however, I know that modification
writer writes whatever modifications were made to modifications.xml.
Then we have a script that reads that file and just pulls out the
comments, and makes a separate file of comments. If a build fails
however, no modifications are made so modifications.xml isn't
updated. The next successful build then modifies the xml. The
problem is that we have no way of getting the comments from the failed
build. One thing we thought of doing was moving the call to
modificationwriter up more in the config file before the build is
installed, but then wouldn't that not read the modifications made? I
just need a way to get the comments before installing a build or even
if the build fails.

Why not check their support site?

Life's more painless for the brainless.