diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 0ac15d8a6..3f93b5e2e 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@
     <filter token="TIME" value="${TSTAMP}" />
     <copydir src="${src.dir}" 
              dest="${build.classes}" 
+             forceoverwrite="true"
              filtering="on">
       <include name="**/version.txt" />
     </copydir>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/Project.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/Project.java
index f1da629aa..b28b5be5e 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/Project.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/Project.java
@@ -558,6 +558,19 @@ public class Project {
         copyFile(new File(sourceFile), new File(destFile), filtering);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Convienence method to copy a file from a source to a
+     * destination specifying if token filtering must be used and if
+     * source files may overwrite newer destination files.
+     *
+     * @throws IOException 
+     */
+    public void copyFile(String sourceFile, String destFile, boolean filtering,
+                         boolean overwrite) throws IOException {
+        copyFile(new File(sourceFile), new File(destFile), filtering, 
+                 overwrite);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Convienence method to copy a file from a source to a destination.
      * No filtering is performed.
@@ -577,8 +590,21 @@ public class Project {
     public void copyFile(File sourceFile, File destFile, boolean filtering)
         throws IOException
     {
+        copyFile(sourceFile, destFile, filtering, false);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Convienence method to copy a file from a source to a
+     * destination specifying if token filtering must be used and if
+     * source files may overwrite newer destination files.
+     *
+     * @throws IOException 
+     */
+    public void copyFile(File sourceFile, File destFile, boolean filtering,
+                         boolean overwrite) throws IOException {
 
-        if (destFile.lastModified() < sourceFile.lastModified()) {
+        if (overwrite ||
+            destFile.lastModified() < sourceFile.lastModified()) {
             log("Copy: " + sourceFile.getAbsolutePath() + " > "
                     + destFile.getAbsolutePath(), MSG_VERBOSE);
 
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copydir.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copydir.java
index ea8511754..830491714 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copydir.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copydir.java
@@ -112,7 +112,8 @@ public class Copydir extends MatchingTask {
                 String fromFile = (String) enum.nextElement();
                 String toFile = (String) filecopyList.get(fromFile);
                 try {
-                    project.copyFile(fromFile, toFile, filtering);
+                    project.copyFile(fromFile, toFile, filtering, 
+                                     forceOverwrite);
                 } catch (IOException ioe) {
                     String msg = "Failed to copy " + fromFile + " to " + toFile
                         + " due to " + ioe.getMessage();
@@ -130,7 +131,7 @@ public class Copydir extends MatchingTask {
             if (forceOverwrite ||
                 (srcFile.lastModified() > destFile.lastModified())) {
                 filecopyList.put(srcFile.getAbsolutePath(),
-                    destFile.getAbsolutePath());
+                                 destFile.getAbsolutePath());
             }
         }
     }