diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 07cd8ee0d..5b290788b 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -79,6 +79,9 @@ Other changes:
 
 * Added an optional encoding attribute to <fixcrlf>
 
+* <apply> has a new attribute relative that allows users to pass the
+  filenames as relative instead of absolute paths on the command line.
+
 Changes from Ant 1.4 to Ant 1.4.1
 ===========================================
 
diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/apply.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/apply.html
index 1ecd7b7ba..60675663a 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/apply.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/apply.html
@@ -49,6 +49,14 @@ one mapper.</p>
     <td valign="top">the directory in which the command should be executed.</td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">relative</td>
+    <td valign="top">whether the filenames should be passed on the
+      command line as absolute or relative pathnames (relative to the
+      base directory of the corresponding fileset for source files or
+      the dest attribute for target files).</td>
+    <td align="center" valign="top">No, default is <i>false</i></td>
+  </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">os</td>
     <td valign="top">list of Operating Systems on which the command may be
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ExecuteOn.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ExecuteOn.java
index e10579327..5c65c34ad 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ExecuteOn.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/ExecuteOn.java
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 public class ExecuteOn extends ExecTask {
 
     protected Vector filesets = new Vector();
+    private boolean relative = false;
     private boolean parallel = false;
     protected String type = "file";
     protected Commandline.Marker srcFilePos = null;
@@ -99,6 +100,14 @@ public class ExecuteOn extends ExecTask {
         filesets.addElement(set);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Should filenames be returned as relative path names?
+     */
+    public void setRelative(boolean relative) {
+        this.relative = relative;
+    }
+
+
     /**
      * Shall the command work on all specified files in parallel?
      */
@@ -348,8 +357,12 @@ public class ExecuteOn extends ExecTask {
 
         // fill in source file names
         for (int i=0; i < srcFiles.length; i++) {
-            result[srcIndex+i] = 
-                (new File(baseDirs[i], srcFiles[i])).getAbsolutePath();
+            if (!relative) {
+                result[srcIndex+i] = 
+                    (new File(baseDirs[i], srcFiles[i])).getAbsolutePath();
+            } else {
+                result[srcIndex+i] = srcFiles[i];
+            }
         }
         return result;
     }