diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 754dca9a7..385b2233f 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -4,6 +4,13 @@ Changes from Ant 1.9.6 TO Ant 1.9.7
 Changes that could break older environments:
 -------------------------------------------
 
+ * <exec> and <apply> used to ignore the dir attribute if it was the
+   same as the current working directory.  They now no longer do,
+   which changes the behavior for vmlauncher="false" which would have
+   used the project's basedir rather than the current working
+   directory in that case.
+   Bugzilla Report 58555
+
 Fixed bugs:
 -----------
 
diff --git a/manual/Tasks/apply.html b/manual/Tasks/apply.html
index 6cf948fa7..5444a644f 100644
--- a/manual/Tasks/apply.html
+++ b/manual/Tasks/apply.html
@@ -95,7 +95,12 @@ to send input to it is via the input and inputstring attributes.</p>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">dir</td>
     <td valign="top">the directory in which the command should be executed.</td>
-    <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
+    <td align="center" valign="top">No.<br/>
+      <strong>Note:</strong> the default used when dir has not been
+      specified depends on the <code>vmlauncher</code> attribute.  If
+      <code>vmlauncher</code> is <code>true</code> the task will use
+      the current working directory, otherwise it uses the project's basedir.
+    </td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">relative</td>
diff --git a/manual/Tasks/exec.html b/manual/Tasks/exec.html
index 5cef148c8..8dfc6bc2a 100644
--- a/manual/Tasks/exec.html
+++ b/manual/Tasks/exec.html
@@ -171,7 +171,12 @@ or the task will fail as follows:
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">dir</td>
     <td valign="top">the directory in which the command should be executed.</td>
-    <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
+    <td align="center" valign="top">No.<br/>
+      <strong>Note:</strong> the default used when dir has not been
+      specified depends on the <code>vmlauncher</code> attribute.  If
+      <code>vmlauncher</code> is <code>true</code> the task will use
+      the current working directory, otherwise it uses the project's basedir.
+    </td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">os</td>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Execute.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Execute.java
index 9523f4538..128caa9eb 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Execute.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Execute.java
@@ -362,9 +362,7 @@ public class Execute {
      * @param wd the working directory of the process.
      */
     public void setWorkingDirectory(File wd) {
-        workingDirectory =
-            (wd == null || wd.getAbsolutePath().equals(antWorkingDirectory))
-            ? null : wd;
+        workingDirectory = wd;
     }
 
     /**