diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/java.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/java.html
index 4b63fa7e7..28359051c 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/java.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/java.html
@@ -83,6 +83,13 @@ JVM.
       returncode other than 0. Default is "false"</td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">resultproperty</td>
+    <td valign="top">The name of a property in which the return code of the 
+      command should be stored. Only of interest if failonerror=false
+      and if fork=true.</td>
+    <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
+  </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">dir</td>
     <td valign="top">The directory to invoke the VM in.  (ignored if
@@ -179,6 +186,16 @@ href="../using.html#path">PATH like structure</a> and can also be set via a nest
 forked VM via nested <i>env</i> elements. See the description in the
 section about <a href="exec.html#env">exec</a></p>
 <p>Settings will be ignored if fork is disabled.</p>
+ 
+<h3>Errors and return codes</h3>
+By default the return code of a &lt;java&gt; is ignored. Alternatively, you can set <code>resultproperty</code> to the name
+of a property and have it assigned to the result code (barring immutability,
+of course).
+When you set <code>failonerror="true"</code>, the only possible value for <code>resultproperty</code> is 0. Any non zero response is treated as an
+error and would mean the build exits.
+<p> Similarly, if <code>failonerror="false"</code> and <code>fork="false"</code>
+, then <code>&lt;java&gt;</code> <b>must</b> return 0 otherwise the build will exit, as the class was run by the build jvm.</p>
+
 <h3>Examples</h3>
 <pre>  
        &lt;java classname=&quot;test.Main&quot;&gt;
@@ -218,7 +235,7 @@ and with a maximum memory of 128MB. Any non zero return code breaks the build.
 JVM, as it takes different parameters for other JVMs,
 That JVM can be started from &lt;exec&gt; if required.
 <hr>
-<p align="center">Copyright &copy; 2000-2002 Apache Software Foundation. All rights
+<p align="center">Copyright &copy; 2000-2003 Apache Software Foundation. All rights
 Reserved.</p>
 
 </body>
diff --git a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/java.xml b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/java.xml
index fc4d4df1f..c920e36c0 100644
--- a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/java.xml
+++ b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/java.xml
@@ -89,5 +89,26 @@
     </java>
   </target>
   
+  <target name="testResultPropertyZero">
+    <java classname="${app}"
+        classpath="${tests-classpath.value}"
+        resultproperty="exitcode"
+        >
+    </java>
+    <echo message="exitcode = ${exitcode}"/>
+  </target>
+  
+  <target name="testResultPropertyNonZero">
+    <java classname="${app}"
+        classpath="${tests-classpath.value}"
+        resultproperty="exitcode"
+        failonerror="false"
+        fork="true"
+        >
+        <arg value="-1"/>
+    </java>
+    <echo message="exitcode = ${exitcode}"/>
+  </target>
+  
   <target name="foo" />
 </project>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Java.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Java.java
index 03bfc8077..2d9b9ae5f 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Java.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Java.java
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ import org.apache.tools.ant.types.Reference;
  * @author Stefano Mazzocchi 
  *         <a href="mailto:stefano@apache.org">stefano@apache.org</a>
  * @author Stefan Bodewig
+ * @author <a href="mailto:donal@savvion.com">Donal Quinlan</a>
  *
  * @since Ant 1.1
  *
@@ -91,6 +92,7 @@ public class Java extends Task {
     private boolean append = false;
     private Long timeout = null;
     private Redirector redirector = new Redirector(this);
+    private String resultProperty;
     /**
      * Do the execution.
      */
@@ -106,6 +108,7 @@ public class Java extends Task {
                     log("Java Result: " + err, Project.MSG_ERR);
                 }
             }
+            maybeSetResultPropertyValue(err);
         } finally {
             dir = savedDir;
         }
@@ -241,6 +244,27 @@ public class Java extends Task {
         return cmdl.createArgument();
     }
 
+    /**
+     * The name of a property in which the return code of the
+     * command should be stored. Only of interest if failonerror=false.
+     *
+     * @since Ant 1.6
+     */
+    public void setResultProperty(String resultProperty) {
+        this.resultProperty = resultProperty;
+    }
+    
+    /**
+     * helper method to set result property to the 
+     * passed in value if appropriate
+     */
+    protected void maybeSetResultPropertyValue(int result) {
+        String res = Integer.toString(result);
+        if (resultProperty != null) {
+            project.setNewProperty(resultProperty, res);
+        }
+    }
+    
     /**
      * If true, execute in a new VM.
      */
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/JavaTest.java b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/JavaTest.java
index 94896afb1..8038222f3 100644
--- a/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/JavaTest.java
+++ b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/JavaTest.java
@@ -62,7 +62,8 @@ import org.apache.tools.ant.*;
  * stress out java task
  * @author steve loughran
  * @author <a href="mailto:sbailliez@apache.org">Stephane Bailliez</a> 
- */
+ * @author <a href="mailto:donal@savvion.com">Donal Quinlan</a>
+ * */
 public class JavaTest extends BuildFileTest {
     
     private boolean runFatalTests=false;
@@ -166,6 +167,15 @@ public class JavaTest extends BuildFileTest {
             "Java returned:");        
     }   
         
+    public void testResultPropertyZero() {
+        executeTarget("testResultPropertyZero");
+        assertEquals("0",project.getProperty("exitcode"));
+    }
+    
+    public void testResultPropertyNonZero() {
+        executeTarget("testResultPropertyNonZero");
+        assertEquals("-1",project.getProperty("exitcode"));
+    }
     
     /**
      * entry point class with no dependencies other