diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/resources/FileProvider.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/resources/FileProvider.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..593f08824
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/resources/FileProvider.java
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+/*
+ *  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ *  contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ *  this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ *  The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ *  (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ *  the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ *  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ *  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ *  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ *  limitations under the License.
+ *
+ */
+
+package org.apache.tools.ant.types.resources;
+
+import java.io.File;
+
+/**
+ * This is an interface that resources that can provide a file should implement.
+ * This is a refactoring of {@link FileResource}, to allow other resources
+ * to act as sources of files (and to make components that only support
+ * file-based resources from only support FileResource resources.
+ * @since Ant 1.8
+ */
+public interface FileProvider {
+    /**
+     * Get the file represented by this Resource.
+     * @return the file.
+     */
+    File getFile();
+}
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/resources/FileResource.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/resources/FileResource.java
index 2591109fd..899eac89b 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/resources/FileResource.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/resources/FileResource.java
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ import org.apache.tools.ant.types.Reference;
  * A Resource representation of a File.
  * @since Ant 1.7
  */
-public class FileResource extends Resource implements Touchable {
+public class FileResource extends Resource implements Touchable, FileProvider {
 
     private static final FileUtils FILE_UTILS = FileUtils.getFileUtils();
     private static final int NULL_FILE