diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index ae6d47abb..c8e0d6fcb 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -143,6 +143,10 @@ Fixed bugs:
 * <replaceregexp> didn't work for multi-byte encodings if byline was false.
   Bugzilla Report 19187.
 
+* <replaceregexp> was altering unnecessarily the timestamp of the directories
+  containing the files to process
+  Bugzilla Report 22541.
+
 * file names that include spaces need to be quoted inside the @argfile
   argument using forked <javac> and (all JDKS).  Bugzilla Report 10499.
   NB : a first correction was only introducing quotes for JDK 1.4
diff --git a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional/replaceregexp.xml b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional/replaceregexp.xml
index cb7130a53..384f328ad 100644
--- a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional/replaceregexp.xml
+++ b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional/replaceregexp.xml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <project name="test" default="def" basedir=".">
-
+  <property name="tmpregexp" value="tmpregexp"/>
   <target name="def">
     <fail>This build file should only be run from within the testcase</fail>
   </target>
@@ -18,6 +18,18 @@
       <substitution expression="NewProp=\1\2" />
     </replaceregexp>
   </target>
+  <!-- use in conjunction with testDirectoryDateDoesNotChange to make sure something will happen -->
+  <target name="touchDirectory">
+    <mkdir dir="${tmpregexp}"/>
+    <copy file="replaceregexp.properties" tofile="${tmpregexp}/test.properties" />
+    <sleep seconds="2"/>
+  </target>
+  <target name="testDirectoryDateDoesNotChange">
+    <replaceregexp file="${tmpregexp}/test.properties" byline="true">
+      <regexp pattern="foo" />
+        <substitution expression="bar"/>
+      </replaceregexp>
+  </target>
 
   <target name="testDontAddNewline1" depends="setup-nl">
     <replaceregexp file="test.properties" byline="false">
@@ -35,6 +47,7 @@
 
   <target name="cleanup">
     <delete file="test.properties" />
+    <delete dir="${tmpregexp}" quiet="true"/>
   </target>
 
 </project>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ReplaceRegExp.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ReplaceRegExp.java
index bfc248d84..57ae9c480 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ReplaceRegExp.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ReplaceRegExp.java
@@ -317,8 +317,7 @@ public class ReplaceRegExp extends Task {
     /** Perform the replace on the entire file  */
     protected void doReplace(File f, int options)
          throws IOException {
-        File parentDir = fileUtils.getParentFile(f);
-        File temp = fileUtils.createTempFile("replace", ".txt", parentDir);
+        File temp = fileUtils.createTempFile("replace", ".txt", null);
 
         Reader r = null;
         FileWriter w = null;
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ReplaceRegExpTest.java b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ReplaceRegExpTest.java
index 4c95eb099..5b33a697f 100644
--- a/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ReplaceRegExpTest.java
+++ b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ReplaceRegExpTest.java
@@ -68,13 +68,13 @@ import java.io.IOException;
  * @version $Revision$
  */
 public class ReplaceRegExpTest extends BuildFileTest {
-
+    private static final String PROJECT_PATH = "src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional";
     public ReplaceRegExpTest(String name) {
         super(name);
     }
     
     public void setUp() { 
-        configureProject("src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional/replaceregexp.xml");
+        configureProject(PROJECT_PATH + "/replaceregexp.xml");
     }
     
     public void tearDown() { 
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ public class ReplaceRegExpTest extends BuildFileTest {
         Properties original = new Properties();
         FileInputStream propsFile = null;
         try {
-            propsFile = new FileInputStream("src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional/replaceregexp.properties");
+            propsFile = new FileInputStream(PROJECT_PATH + "/replaceregexp.properties");
             original.load(propsFile);
         } finally {
             if (propsFile != null) {
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ public class ReplaceRegExpTest extends BuildFileTest {
 
         Properties after = new Properties();
         try {
-            propsFile = new FileInputStream("src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional/test.properties");
+            propsFile = new FileInputStream(PROJECT_PATH + "/test.properties");
             after.load(propsFile);
         } finally {
             if (propsFile != null) {
@@ -112,21 +112,30 @@ public class ReplaceRegExpTest extends BuildFileTest {
         assertNull(after.get("OldAbc"));
         assertEquals("AbcDef", after.get("NewProp"));
     }
-
+    // inspired by bug 22541
+    public void testDirectoryDateDoesNotChange() {
+        executeTarget("touchDirectory");
+        File myFile = new File(PROJECT_PATH + "/" + getProject().getProperty("tmpregexp"));
+        long timeStampBefore = myFile.lastModified();
+        executeTarget("testDirectoryDateDoesNotChange");
+        long timeStampAfter = myFile.lastModified();
+        assertEquals("directory date should not change",
+            timeStampBefore, timeStampAfter);
+    }
     public void testDontAddNewline1() throws IOException {
         executeTarget("testDontAddNewline1");
         assertTrue("Files match",
                    FileUtils.newFileUtils()
-                   .contentEquals(new File("src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional/test.properties"),
-                                  new File("src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional/replaceregexp2.result.properties")));
+                   .contentEquals(new File(PROJECT_PATH + "/test.properties"),
+                                  new File(PROJECT_PATH + "/replaceregexp2.result.properties")));
     }
 
     public void testDontAddNewline2() throws IOException {
         executeTarget("testDontAddNewline2");
         assertTrue("Files match",
                    FileUtils.newFileUtils()
-                   .contentEquals(new File("src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional/test.properties"),
-                                  new File("src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional/replaceregexp2.result.properties")));
+                   .contentEquals(new File(PROJECT_PATH + "/test.properties"),
+                                  new File(PROJECT_PATH + "/replaceregexp2.result.properties")));
     }
 
 }// ReplaceRegExpTest