diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index d528bbd33..19024bda9 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -570,6 +570,11 @@ Other changes:
    transform is empty.
    Bugzilla Report 46274.
 
+ * It is now possible to define system properties that should be set
+   during xslt's transformation.  This can be used to enable XInclude
+   processing in Xerces, for example.
+   Bugzilla Report 36653.
+
 Changes from Ant 1.7.0 TO Ant 1.7.1
 =============================================
 
diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/style.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/style.html
index 04ee7db3b..bf6b9193e 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/style.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/style.html
@@ -419,6 +419,22 @@ this element, the stylesheet should be specified as a nested resource or
 single-element collection.  Alternatively, use the <code>refid</code> to
 specify the resource or collection as a reference.</p>
 
+<h4>sysproperty</h4>
+<p>Use nested <code>&lt;sysproperty&gt;</code> elements to specify
+system properties required by the factory or transformation.  These
+properties will be made available to the VM during the execution of
+the class. The attributes for this element are the same as
+for <a href="exec.html#env">environment variables</a>.</p>
+
+<p><em>since Ant 1.8.0</em>.</p>
+
+<h4>syspropertyset</h4>
+
+<p>You can specify a set of properties to be used as system properties
+with <a href="../CoreTypes/propertyset.html">syspropertyset</a>s.</p>
+
+<p><em>since Ant 1.8.0</em>.</p>
+
 <h3>Examples</h3>
 <blockquote>
   <pre>
@@ -511,6 +527,15 @@ specify the resource or collection as a reference.</p>
 &lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
 </pre>
 
+<h4>Use an XInclude-aware version of Xerces while transforming</h4>
+
+<pre>
+&lt;xslt ...&gt;
+    &lt;sysproperty key="org.apache.xerces.xni.parser.XMLParserConfiguration"
+                 value="org.apache.xerces.parsers.XIncludeParserConfiguration"
+     /&gt;
+&lt;xslt&gt;
+</pre>
 </blockquote>
 
 
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/XSLTProcess.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/XSLTProcess.java
index f2d6b2372..fac6608ab 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/XSLTProcess.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/XSLTProcess.java
@@ -26,8 +26,11 @@ import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.DirectoryScanner;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.DynamicConfigurator;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.Project;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.types.CommandlineJava;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.types.Environment;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.types.Mapper;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.types.Path;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.types.PropertySet;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.types.Reference;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.types.Resource;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.types.ResourceCollection;
@@ -198,6 +201,14 @@ public class XSLTProcess extends MatchingTask implements XSLTLogger {
      */
     private boolean failOnNoResources = true;
 
+    /**
+     * System properties to set during transformation.
+     *
+     * @since Ant 1.8.0
+     */
+    private CommandlineJava.SysProperties sysProperties =
+        new CommandlineJava.SysProperties();
+
     /**
      * Creates a new XSLTProcess Task.
      */
@@ -321,6 +332,10 @@ public class XSLTProcess extends MatchingTask implements XSLTLogger {
             return;
         }
         try {
+            if (sysProperties.size() > 0) {
+                sysProperties.setSystem();
+            }
+
             Resource styleResource;
             if (baseDir == null) {
                 baseDir = getProject().getBaseDir();
@@ -410,6 +425,9 @@ public class XSLTProcess extends MatchingTask implements XSLTLogger {
                 loader.cleanup();
                 loader = null;
             }
+            if (sysProperties.size() > 0) {
+                sysProperties.restoreSystem();
+            }
             liaison = null;
             stylesheetLoaded = false;
             baseDir = savedBaseDir;
@@ -595,6 +613,24 @@ public class XSLTProcess extends MatchingTask implements XSLTLogger {
         failOnNoResources = b;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * A system property to set during transformation.
+     *
+     * @since Ant 1.8.0
+     */
+    public void addSysproperty(Environment.Variable sysp) {
+        sysProperties.addVariable(sysp);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * A set of system properties to set during transformation.
+     *
+     * @since Ant 1.8.0
+     */
+    public void addSyspropertyset(PropertySet sysp) {
+        sysProperties.addSyspropertyset(sysp);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Load processor here instead of in setProcessor - this will be
      * called from within execute, so we have access to the latest