diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/propertyhelper.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/propertyhelper.html
index f6c1800fa..141b34c6f 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/propertyhelper.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/propertyhelper.html
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 PropertyHelper active on the current Project. This is somewhat advanced Ant usage and
 assumes a working familiarity with the modern Ant APIs. See the description of Ant's
 <a href="../using.html#propertyHelper">Property Helper</a> for more information.
-<b>Since Ant 1.8</b></p>
+<b>Since Ant 1.8.0</b></p>
 
 <h3>Parameters specified as nested elements</h3>
 
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@ is a marker interface only: the nested arguments must implement a <code>Delegate
 subinterface in order to do anything meaningful.
 
 <h4>delegate</h4>
-A generic &lt;delegate&gt; element is also provided:
+<p>A generic &lt;delegate&gt; element which can use project references
+is also provided:</p>
 
 <h5>Parameters</h5>
 <table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"> 
@@ -63,6 +64,45 @@ A generic &lt;delegate&gt; element is also provided:
   </tr>
 </table>
 
+<h3>Examples</h3>
+
+<p>Install a completely different PropertyHelper implementation
+  (assuming <code>MyPropertyHelper extends PropertyHelper</code>):</p>
+
+<pre>
+&lt;componentdef classname="org.example.MyPropertyHelper"
+              name="mypropertyhelper"/>
+&lt;propertyhelper>
+  &lt;mypropertyhelper/>
+&lt;/propertyhelper>
+</pre>
+
+<p>Add a new PropertyEvaluator delegate
+  (assuming <code>MyPropertyEvaluator implements
+  PropertyHelper.PropertyEvaluator</code>).  Note that PropertyHelper
+  uses the configured delegates in LIFO order.  I.e. the delegate
+  added by this task will be consulted before any previously defined
+  delegate and in particular before the built-in ones.</p>
+
+<pre>
+&lt;componentdef classname="org.example.MyPropertyEvaluator"
+              name="mypropertyevaluator"/>
+&lt;propertyhelper>
+  &lt;mypropertyevaluator/>
+&lt;/propertyhelper>
+</pre>
+
+<p>Add a new PropertyEvaluator delegate using the refid syntax:</p>
+
+<pre>
+&lt;typedef classname="org.example.MyPropertyEvaluator"
+         name="mypropertyevaluator"/>
+&lt;mypropertyevaluator id="evaluator"/>
+&lt;propertyhelper>
+  &lt;delegate refid="evaluator"/>
+&lt;/propertyhelper>
+</pre>
+
 </body>
 </html>
 
diff --git a/docs/manual/using.html b/docs/manual/using.html
index 32b790b66..c58832cc5 100644
--- a/docs/manual/using.html
+++ b/docs/manual/using.html
@@ -346,39 +346,52 @@ new <a href="CoreTasks/propertyhelper.html">propertyhelper</a> task used to mani
 PropertyHelper and its delegates from the context of the Ant buildfile.
 
 <p>There are three sub-interfaces of <code>Delegate</code> that may be
-  useful to
-  implement.  <code>org.apache.tools.ant.PropertyHelper$PropertyEvaluator</code>
-  is used to expand <code>${some-string}</code> into
-  an <code>Object</code>
-  while <code>org.apache.tools.ant.PropertyHelper$PropertySetter</code>
-  is responsible for setting properties.
-  Finally <code>org.apache.tools.ant.property.PropertyExpander</code>
-  is responsible for finding the property name inside a string in the
-  first place (the default extracts <code>foo</code>
-  from <code>${foo}</code>).</p>
+  useful to implement.</p>
 
-<p>The logic that replaces <code>${toString:some-id}</code> with the
-  stringified representation of the object with
-  id <code>some-id</code> inside the current build is contained in a
-  PropertyEvaluator similar to the following code:</p>
+<ul>
+  <li><code>org.apache.tools.ant.property.PropertyExpander</code> is
+    responsible for finding the property name inside a string in the
+    first place (the default extracts <code>foo</code>
+    from <code>${foo}</code>).
+
+    <p>This is the interface you'd implement if you wanted to invent
+      your own property syntax - or allow nested property expansions
+      since the default implementation doesn't balance braces
+      (see <a href="http://svn.apache.org/viewvc/ant/sandbox/antlibs/props/trunk/src/main/org/apache/ant/props/NestedPropertyExpander.java?view=log"><code>NestedPropertyExpander</code>
+        in the "props" Antlib in Ant's sandbox</a> for an
+      example).</p>
+  </li>
 
-<pre>
-public class ToStringEvaluator implements PropertyHelper.PropertyEvaluator {
-    private static final String prefix = "toString:";
-    public Object evaluate(String property, PropertyHelper propertyHelper) {
-        Object o = null;
-        if (property.startsWith(prefix) && propertyHelper.getProject() != null) {
-            o = propertyHelper.getProject().getReference(property.substring(prefix.length()));
-        }
-        return o == null ? null : o.toString();
-    }
-}
-</pre>
+  <li><code>org.apache.tools.ant.PropertyHelper$PropertyEvaluator</code>
+    is used to expand <code>${some-string}</code> into
+    an <code>Object</code>.
+
+    <p>This is the interface you'd implement if you want to provide
+      your own storage independent of Ant's project instance - the
+      interface represents the reading end.  An example for this would
+      be <code>org.apache.tools.ant.property.LocalProperties</code>
+      which implements storage
+      for <a href="CoreTasks/local.html">local properties</a>.</p>
+
+    <p>Another reason to implement this interface is if you wanted to
+      provide your own "property protocol" like
+      expanding <code>toString:foo</code> by looking up the project
+      reference foo and invoking <code>toString()</code> on it (which
+      is already implemented in Ant, see below).</p>
+  </li>
 
-<p>An example of a <code>PropertySetter</code> can be found
-  in <code>org.apache.tools.ant.property.LocalProperties</code> which
-  implements storage for <a href="CoreTasks/local.html">local
-  properties</a>.</p>
+  <li><code>org.apache.tools.ant.PropertyHelper$PropertySetter</code>
+    is responsible for setting properties.
+
+    <p>This is the interface you'd implement if you want to provide
+      your own storage independent of Ant's project instance - the
+      interface represents the reading end.  An example for this would
+      be <code>org.apache.tools.ant.property.LocalProperties</code>
+      which implements storage
+      for <a href="CoreTasks/local.html">local properties</a>.</p>
+  </li>
+
+</ul>
 
 <p>The default <code>PropertyExpander</code> looks similar to:</p>
 
@@ -401,6 +414,24 @@ public class DefaultExpander implements PropertyExpander {
 }
 </pre>
 
+<p>The logic that replaces <code>${toString:some-id}</code> with the
+  stringified representation of the object with
+  id <code>some-id</code> inside the current build is contained in a
+  PropertyEvaluator similar to the following code:</p>
+
+<pre>
+public class ToStringEvaluator implements PropertyHelper.PropertyEvaluator {
+    private static final String prefix = "toString:";
+    public Object evaluate(String property, PropertyHelper propertyHelper) {
+        Object o = null;
+        if (property.startsWith(prefix) && propertyHelper.getProject() != null) {
+            o = propertyHelper.getProject().getReference(property.substring(prefix.length()));
+        }
+        return o == null ? null : o.toString();
+    }
+}
+</pre>
+
 <a name="example"><h3>Example Buildfile</h3></a>
 <pre>
 &lt;project name=&quot;MyProject&quot; default=&quot;dist&quot; basedir=&quot;.&quot;&gt;
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/PropertyHelper.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/PropertyHelper.java
index 102f1759b..bbf7a4924 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/PropertyHelper.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/PropertyHelper.java
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ import org.apache.tools.ant.property.ParseProperties;
  Need to discuss this and find if we need more.
  */
 
-/* update for impending Ant 1.8:
+/* update for impending Ant 1.8.0:
 
    - I can't see any reason for ns and would like to deprecate it.
    - Replacing chaining with delegates for certain behavioral aspects.
@@ -56,12 +56,35 @@ import org.apache.tools.ant.property.ParseProperties;
 
  */
 
-/** NOT FINAL. API MAY CHANGE
- *
+/**
  * Deals with properties - substitution, dynamic properties, etc.
  *
- * This is the same code as in Ant1.5. The main addition is the ability
- * to chain multiple PropertyHelpers and to replace the default.
+ * <p>This code has been heavily restructured for Ant 1.8.0.  It is
+ * expected that custom PropertyHelper implementation that used the
+ * older chaining mechanism of Ant 1.6 won't work in all cases, and
+ * its usage is deprecated.  The preferred way to customize Ant's
+ * property handling is by {@link #add adding} {@link
+ * PropertyHelper.Delegate delegates} of the appropriate subinterface
+ * and have this implementation use them.</p>
+ *
+ * <p>When {@link #parseProperties expanding a string that may contain
+ * properties} this class will delegate the actual parsing to {@link
+ * org.apache.tools.ant.property.ParseProperties#parseProperties
+ * parseProperties} inside the ParseProperties class which in turn
+ * uses the {@link org.apache.tools.ant.property.PropertyExpander
+ * PropertyExpander delegates} to find properties inside the string
+ * and this class to expand the propertiy names found into the
+ * corresponding values.</p>
+ *
+ * <p>When {@link #getProperty looking up a property value} this class
+ * will first consult all {@link PropertyHelper.PropertyEvaluator
+ * PropertyEvaluator} delegates and fall back to an internal map of
+ * "project properties" if no evaluator matched the property name.</p>
+ *
+ * <p>When {@link #setProperty setting a property value} this class
+ * will first consult all {@link PropertyHelper.PropertySetter
+ * PropertySetter} delegates and fall back to an internal map of
+ * "project properties" if no setter matched the property name.</p>
  *
  * @since Ant 1.6
  */
@@ -75,32 +98,50 @@ public class PropertyHelper implements GetProperty {
 
     /**
      * Marker interface for a PropertyHelper delegate.
-     * @since Ant 1.8
+     * @since Ant 1.8.0
      */
     public interface Delegate {
     }
 
     /**
-     * Describes an entity capable of evaluating a property name for value.
-     * @since Ant 1.8
+     * Looks up a property's value based on its name.
+     *
+     * <p>Can be used to look up properties in a different storage
+     * than the project instance (like local properties for example)
+     * or to implement custom "protocols" like Ant's
+     * <code>${toString:refid}</code> syntax.</p>
+     *
+     * @since Ant 1.8.0
      */
     public interface PropertyEvaluator extends Delegate {
         /**
          * Evaluate a property.
+         *
          * @param property the property's String "identifier".
          * @param propertyHelper the invoking PropertyHelper.
-         * @return Object value.
+         * @return null if the property name could not be found, an
+         * instance of {@link org.apache.tools.ant.property.NullReturn
+         * NullReturn} to indicate a property with a name that can be
+         * matched but a value of <code>null</code> and the property's
+         * value otherwise.
          */
         Object evaluate(String property, PropertyHelper propertyHelper);
     }
 
     /**
-     * Describes an entity capable of setting a property to a value.
-     * @since Ant 1.8
+     * Sets or overrides a property.
+     *
+     * <p>Can be used to store properties in a different storage than
+     * the project instance (like local properties for example).</p>
+     *
+     * @since Ant 1.8.0
      */
     public interface PropertySetter extends Delegate {
         /**
          * Set a *new" property.
+         *
+         * <p>Should not replace the value of an existing property.</p>
+         *
          * @param property the property's String "identifier".
          * @param value    the value to set.
          * @param propertyHelper the invoking PropertyHelper.
@@ -111,6 +152,9 @@ public class PropertyHelper implements GetProperty {
 
         /**
          * Set a property.
+         *
+         * <p>May replace the value of an existing property.</p>
+         *
          * @param property the property's String "identifier".
          * @param value    the value to set.
          * @param propertyHelper the invoking PropertyHelper.
@@ -217,7 +261,7 @@ public class PropertyHelper implements GetProperty {
      * @param project the project in question.
      * @param name the property name
      * @return the value of the property if present, null otherwise.
-     * @since Ant 1.8
+     * @since Ant 1.8.0
      */
     public static Object getProperty(Project project, String name) {
         return PropertyHelper.getPropertyHelper(project)
@@ -230,7 +274,7 @@ public class PropertyHelper implements GetProperty {
      * @param project the project in question.
      * @param name the property name
      * @param value the value to use.
-     * @since Ant 1.8
+     * @since Ant 1.8.0
      */
     public static void setProperty(Project project, String name, Object value) {
         PropertyHelper.getPropertyHelper(project)
@@ -243,7 +287,7 @@ public class PropertyHelper implements GetProperty {
      * @param project the project in question.
      * @param name the property name
      * @param value the value to use.
-     * @since Ant 1.8
+     * @since Ant 1.8.0
      */
     public static void setNewProperty(
         Project project, String name, Object value) {
@@ -580,7 +624,7 @@ public class PropertyHelper implements GetProperty {
      *             Must not be <code>null</code>.
      * @param value The new value of the property.
      *              Must not be <code>null</code>.
-     * @since Ant 1.8
+     * @since Ant 1.8.0
      */
     public void setNewProperty(String name, Object value) {
         for (Iterator iter = getDelegates(PropertySetter.class).iterator();
@@ -932,7 +976,7 @@ public class PropertyHelper implements GetProperty {
      * Add the specified delegate object to this PropertyHelper.
      * Delegates are processed in LIFO order.
      * @param delegate the delegate to add.
-     * @since Ant 1.8
+     * @since Ant 1.8.0
      */
     public void add(Delegate delegate) {
         synchronized (delegates) {
@@ -957,7 +1001,7 @@ public class PropertyHelper implements GetProperty {
      * @param type
      *            delegate type.
      * @return Collection.
-     * @since Ant 1.8
+     * @since Ant 1.8.0
      */
     protected List getDelegates(Class type) {
         List r = (List) delegates.get(type);
@@ -968,7 +1012,7 @@ public class PropertyHelper implements GetProperty {
      * Get all Delegate interfaces (excluding Delegate itself) from the specified Delegate.
      * @param d the Delegate to inspect.
      * @return Set<Class>
-     * @since Ant 1.8
+     * @since Ant 1.8.0
      */
     protected static Set getDelegateInterfaces(Delegate d) {
         HashSet result = new HashSet();