diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XMLValidateTask.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XMLValidateTask.java
index cd7503484..0cea84632 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XMLValidateTask.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XMLValidateTask.java
@@ -53,14 +53,10 @@
  */
 package org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.optional;
 
-import java.io.File;
-import java.io.FileReader;
-import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.*;
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
 import java.net.URL;
-import java.util.Enumeration;
-import java.util.Hashtable;
-import java.util.Vector;
+import java.util.*;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.AntClassLoader;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.DirectoryScanner;
@@ -69,17 +65,10 @@ import org.apache.tools.ant.Task;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.types.FileSet;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.types.Path;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.types.Reference;
-import org.xml.sax.ErrorHandler;
-import org.xml.sax.InputSource;
-import org.xml.sax.Parser;
-import org.xml.sax.SAXException;
-import org.xml.sax.SAXNotRecognizedException;
-import org.xml.sax.SAXNotSupportedException;
-import org.xml.sax.SAXParseException;
-import org.xml.sax.XMLReader;
+import org.xml.sax.*;
 import org.xml.sax.helpers.ParserAdapter;
 
-/** 
+/**
  * The <code>XMLValidateTask</code> checks that an XML document is valid,
  * with a SAX validating parser.
  * @author Raphael Pierquin <a href="mailto:raphael.pierquin@agisphere.com">raphael.pierquin@agisphere.com</a>
@@ -101,7 +90,7 @@ public class XMLValidateTask extends Task {
     protected boolean warn = true;
     protected boolean lenient = false;
     protected String  readerClassName = DEFAULT_XML_READER_CLASSNAME;
-    
+
     protected File file = null; // file to be validated
     protected Vector filesets = new Vector(); // sets of file to be validated
     protected Path classpath;
@@ -118,6 +107,10 @@ public class XMLValidateTask extends Task {
         = new ValidatorErrorHandler(); // to report sax parsing errors
     protected Hashtable features = new Hashtable();
 
+    /**
+     * The list of configured DTD locations
+     */
+    public ArrayList dtdLocations = new ArrayList();
 
     /**
      * Specify how parser error are to be handled.
@@ -125,7 +118,7 @@ public class XMLValidateTask extends Task {
      * If set to <code>true</code> (default), throw a buildException if the parser yields an error.
      */
     public void setFailOnError(boolean fail) {
-        
+
         failOnError = fail;
     }
 
@@ -135,7 +128,7 @@ public class XMLValidateTask extends Task {
      * If set to <code>true</true> (default), log a warn message for each SAX warn event.
      */
     public void setWarn(boolean bool) {
-        
+
         warn = bool;
     }
 
@@ -151,7 +144,7 @@ public class XMLValidateTask extends Task {
 
         lenient = bool;
     }
-    
+
     /**
      * Specify the class name of the SAX parser to be used. (optional)
      * @param className should be an implementation of SAX2 <code>org.xml.sax.XMLReader</code>
@@ -163,7 +156,7 @@ public class XMLValidateTask extends Task {
      * @see org.xml.sax.Parser;
      */
     public void setClassName(String className) {
-        
+
         readerClassName = className;
     }
 
@@ -211,6 +204,27 @@ public class XMLValidateTask extends Task {
         filesets.addElement(set);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Create a DTD location record. This stores the location of a DTD. The DTD is identified
+     * by its public Id. The location may either be a file location or a resource location.
+     */
+    public DTDLocation createDTD() {
+        DTDLocation dtdLocation = new DTDLocation();
+        dtdLocations.add(dtdLocation);
+
+        return dtdLocation;
+    }
+
+    protected EntityResolver getEntityResolver() {
+        LocalResolver resolver = new LocalResolver();
+
+        for (Iterator i = dtdLocations.iterator(); i.hasNext();) {
+            DTDLocation location = (DTDLocation)i.next();
+            resolver.registerDTD(location);
+        }
+        return resolver;
+    }
+
     public void execute() throws BuildException {
 
         int fileProcessed = 0;
@@ -233,13 +247,13 @@ public class XMLValidateTask extends Task {
                     log(errorMsg, Project.MSG_ERR);
             }
         }
-            
+
         for (int i=0; i<filesets.size(); i++) {
 
             FileSet fs = (FileSet) filesets.elementAt(i);
             DirectoryScanner ds = fs.getDirectoryScanner(project);
             String[] files = ds.getIncludedFiles();
-            
+
             for (int j=0; j < files.length ; j++)  {
                 File srcFile = new File(fs.getDir(project), files[j]);
                 doValidate(srcFile);
@@ -266,16 +280,16 @@ public class XMLValidateTask extends Task {
 //                loader.addSystemPackageRoot("org.xml"); // needed to avoid conflict
                 readerClass = loader.loadClass(readerClassName);
                 AntClassLoader.initializeClass(readerClass);
-            } else 
+            } else
                 readerClass = Class.forName(readerClassName);
-            
+
             // then check it implements XMLReader
             if (XMLReader.class.isAssignableFrom(readerClass)) {
 
                 xmlReader = (XMLReader) readerClass.newInstance();
                 log("Using SAX2 reader " + readerClassName, Project.MSG_VERBOSE);
             } else {
-                
+
                 // see if it is a SAX1 Parser
                 if (Parser.class.isAssignableFrom(readerClass)) {
                     Parser parser = (Parser) readerClass.newInstance();
@@ -295,8 +309,9 @@ public class XMLValidateTask extends Task {
             throw new BuildException(INIT_FAILED_MSG + readerClassName, e);
         }
 
+        xmlReader.setEntityResolver(getEntityResolver());
         xmlReader.setErrorHandler(errorHandler);
-        
+
         if (! (xmlReader instanceof ParserAdapter)) {
             // turn validation on
             if (! lenient) {
@@ -330,12 +345,12 @@ public class XMLValidateTask extends Task {
             if (warn)
                 log("Could'nt set feature '"
                     + feature
-                    + "' because the parser doesn't recognize it", 
+                    + "' because the parser doesn't recognize it",
                     Project.MSG_WARN);
         } catch (SAXNotSupportedException  e) {
             if (warn)
                 log("Could'nt set feature '"
-                    + feature 
+                    + feature
                     + "' because the parser doesn't support it",
                     Project.MSG_WARN);
         }
@@ -362,60 +377,58 @@ public class XMLValidateTask extends Task {
         } catch (IOException ex) {
             throw new BuildException("Could'nt validate document " + afile, ex);
         }
-        
+
         if (errorHandler.getFailure()) {
             if (failOnError)
                 throw new BuildException(afile + " is not a valid XML document.");
             else
                 log(afile + " is not a valid XML document",Project.MSG_ERR);
-        }        
+        }
     }
 
     /*
-     * ValidatorErrorHandler role : 
+     * ValidatorErrorHandler role :
      * <ul>
      * <li> log SAX parse exceptions,
      * <li> remember if an error occured
      * </ul>
      */
     protected class ValidatorErrorHandler implements ErrorHandler {
-        
+
         protected File currentFile = null;
         protected String lastErrorMessage = null;
         protected boolean failed = false;
-        
+
         public void init(File file) {
             currentFile = file;
             failed = false;
         }
-        
+
         // did an error happen during last parsing ?
         public boolean getFailure() {
-            
+
             return failed;
         }
 
         public void fatalError(SAXParseException exception) {
-
             failed = true;
             doLog(exception,Project.MSG_ERR);
         }
 
         public void error(SAXParseException exception) {
-
             failed = true;
             doLog(exception,Project.MSG_ERR);
         }
-        
+
         public void warning(SAXParseException exception) {
-            // depending on implementation, XMLReader can yield hips of warning, 
+            // depending on implementation, XMLReader can yield hips of warning,
             // only output then if user explicitely asked for it
             if (warn)
                 doLog(exception,Project.MSG_WARN);
         }
-        
+
         private void doLog(SAXParseException e, int logLevel) {
-            
+
             log(getMessage(e), logLevel);
         }
 
@@ -435,4 +448,109 @@ public class XMLValidateTask extends Task {
             return e.getMessage();
         }
     }
+
+    public static class DTDLocation {
+        private String publicId = null;
+        private String location = null;
+
+        public void setPublicId(String publicId) {
+            this.publicId = publicId;
+        }
+
+        public void setLocation(String location) {
+            this.location = location;
+        }
+
+        public String getPublicId() {
+            return publicId;
+        }
+
+        public String getLocation() {
+            return location;
+        }
+    }
+
+    private class LocalResolver
+        implements EntityResolver
+    {
+        private Hashtable fileDTDs = new Hashtable();
+        private Hashtable resourceDTDs = new Hashtable();
+        private Hashtable urlDTDs = new Hashtable();
+
+        public LocalResolver() {}
+
+        public void registerDTD(String publicId, String location) {
+            if (location == null) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            File fileDTD = new File(location);
+            if (fileDTD.exists()) {
+                if (publicId != null) {
+                    fileDTDs.put(publicId, fileDTD);
+                    log("Mapped publicId " + publicId + " to file " + fileDTD, Project.MSG_VERBOSE);
+                }
+                return;
+            }
+
+            if (LocalResolver.this.getClass().getResource(location) != null) {
+                if (publicId != null) {
+                    resourceDTDs.put(publicId, location);
+                    log("Mapped publicId " + publicId + " to resource " + location, Project.MSG_VERBOSE);
+                }
+            }
+
+            try {
+                if (publicId != null) {
+                    URL urldtd = new URL(location);
+                    urlDTDs.put(publicId, urldtd);
+                }
+            } catch ( java.net.MalformedURLException   e) {
+                //ignored
+            }
+        }
+
+        public InputSource resolveEntity(String publicId, String systemId)
+            throws SAXException
+        {
+            File dtdFile = (File) fileDTDs.get(publicId);
+            if (dtdFile != null) {
+                try {
+                    log("Resolved " + publicId + " to local file " + dtdFile, Project.MSG_VERBOSE);
+                    return new InputSource(new FileInputStream(dtdFile));
+                } catch( FileNotFoundException ex ) {
+                    // ignore
+                }
+            }
+
+            String dtdResourceName = (String)resourceDTDs.get(publicId);
+            if (dtdResourceName != null) {
+                InputStream is = this.getClass().getResourceAsStream(dtdResourceName);
+                if (is != null) {
+                    log("Resolved " + publicId + " to local resource " + dtdResourceName, Project.MSG_VERBOSE);
+                    return new InputSource(is);
+                }
+            }
+
+            URL dtdUrl = (URL) urlDTDs.get(publicId);
+            if ( dtdUrl != null ) {
+                try {
+                    InputStream is = dtdUrl.openStream();
+                    log("Resolved " + publicId + " to url " + dtdUrl, Project.MSG_VERBOSE);
+                    return new InputSource(is);
+                } catch ( IOException ioe) {
+                    //ignore
+                }
+            }
+
+            log("Could not resolve ( publicId: " + publicId + ", systemId: " + systemId + ") to a local entity",
+                Project.MSG_INFO);
+
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        public void registerDTD(DTDLocation location) {
+            registerDTD(location.getPublicId(), location.getLocation());
+        }
+    }
 }