diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/style.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/style.html
index b95d0ac5f..5eb2dc21d 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/style.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/style.html
@@ -140,6 +140,13 @@ inclusion/exclusion of files works, and how to write patterns.</p>
       in attribute.</td>
     <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">outputtype</td>
+    <td valign="top">specifies the output method to be used.  Only "xml" is
+      guaranteed to be supported by all translators.  Xalan2 supports "xml",
+      "html", and "text"</td>
+    <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
+  </tr>
 </table>
 <h3>Parameters specified as nested elements</h3>
 <h4>classpath</h4>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/XSLTLiaison.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/XSLTLiaison.java
index da364af93..e6474541a 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/XSLTLiaison.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/XSLTLiaison.java
@@ -92,6 +92,14 @@ public interface XSLTLiaison {
      */
     void addParam(String name, String expression) throws Exception;
 
+    /**
+     * set the output type to use for the transformation.  Only "xml" (the
+     * default) is guaranteed to work for all parsers.  Xalan2 also
+     * supports "html" and "text".
+     * @param type the output method to use
+     */
+    void setOutputtype(String type) throws Exception;
+
     /**
      * Perform the transformation of a file into another.
      * @param infile the input file, probably an XML one. :-)
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/XSLTProcess.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/XSLTProcess.java
index 4eaf087d7..09c4fb007 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/XSLTProcess.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/XSLTProcess.java
@@ -116,6 +116,8 @@ public class XSLTProcess extends MatchingTask {
 
     private FileUtils fileUtils;
 
+    private String outputtype = null;
+
     /**
      * Creates a new XSLTProcess Task.
      **/
@@ -457,6 +459,16 @@ public class XSLTProcess extends MatchingTask {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Set the output type to use for the transformation.  Only "xml" (the
+     * default) is guaranteed to work for all parsers.  Xalan2 also
+     * supports "html" and "text".
+     * @param type the output method to use
+     */
+    public void setOutputtype(String type) {
+        this.outputtype = type;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Loads the stylesheet and set xsl:param parameters.
      */
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/AdaptxLiaison.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/AdaptxLiaison.java
index 6132519b7..55dd3fa62 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/AdaptxLiaison.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/AdaptxLiaison.java
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
 
 import org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.XSLTLiaison;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
 
 import org.exolab.adaptx.xslt.XSLTProcessor;
 import org.exolab.adaptx.xslt.XSLTReader;
@@ -93,4 +94,9 @@ public class AdaptxLiaison implements XSLTLiaison {
         processor.setProperty(name, expression);
     }
 
+    public void setOutputtype(String type) throws Exception {
+        if (!type.equals("xml")) 
+            throw new BuildException("Unsupported output type: " + type);
+    }
+
 } //-- AdaptxLiaison
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/TraXLiaison.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/TraXLiaison.java
index a2e157c31..7dcd55cbd 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/TraXLiaison.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/TraXLiaison.java
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ import javax.xml.transform.Templates;
 
 import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamResult;
 import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamSource;
+import javax.xml.transform.OutputKeys;
 
 /**
  * Concrete liaison for XSLT processor implementing TraX. (ie JAXP 1.1)
@@ -160,4 +161,8 @@ public class TraXLiaison implements XSLTLiaison {
     public void addParam(String name, String value){
         transformer.setParameter(name, value);
     }
+
+    public void setOutputtype(String type) throws Exception {
+        transformer.setOutputProperty(OutputKeys.METHOD, type);
+    }
 } //-- TraXLiaison
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XalanLiaison.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XalanLiaison.java
index c46f72491..97a219fe5 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XalanLiaison.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XalanLiaison.java
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
 
 package org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.optional;
 
+import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.XSLTLiaison;
 
 import org.apache.xalan.xslt.XSLTProcessorFactory;
@@ -127,4 +128,9 @@ public class XalanLiaison implements XSLTLiaison {
     public void addParam(String name, String value){
         processor.setStylesheetParam(name, value);
     }
+
+    public void setOutputtype(String type) throws Exception {
+        if (!type.equals("xml")) 
+            throw new BuildException("Unsupported output type: " + type);
+    }
 } //-- XalanLiaison
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XslpLiaison.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XslpLiaison.java
index 232f5ea57..4a6c2b717 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XslpLiaison.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XslpLiaison.java
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ import com.kvisco.xsl.XSLProcessor;
 import com.kvisco.xsl.XSLReader;
 import com.kvisco.xsl.XSLStylesheet;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.XSLTLiaison;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
@@ -103,4 +104,9 @@ public class XslpLiaison implements XSLTLiaison {
       processor.setProperty(name, expression);
     }
 
+    public void setOutputtype(String type) throws Exception {
+        if (!type.equals("xml")) 
+            throw new BuildException("Unsupported output type: " + type);
+    }
+
 } //-- XSLPLiaison