diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 0a5122872..70b9d2951 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ Fixed bugs:
   that only one test could be running at the same time - this is not
   necessarily true, see junit.extensions.ActiveTestSuite.
 
+* <jar>'s whenEmpty attribute is useless as JARs are never empty, they
+  contain at least a manifest file, therefore it will now print a
+  warning and do nothing.
+
 Other changes:
 --------------
 
diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/ear.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/ear.html
index a1184ceed..dc4a05d44 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/ear.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/ear.html
@@ -97,11 +97,6 @@ attributes of zipfilesets in a Zip or Jar task.)</p>
       the destination file if it already exists.</td>
     <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
   </tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td valign="top">whenempty</td>
-    <td valign="top">Behavior to use if no files match.</td>
-    <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
-  </tr>
 </table>
 <h3>Nested elements</h3>
 <h4>metainf</h4>
diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/jar.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/jar.html
index 6f14da36f..8182dd278 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/jar.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/jar.html
@@ -38,10 +38,6 @@ JAR file already exists. When set to <code>yes</code>, the JAR file is
 updated with the files specified. When set to <code>no</code> (the
 default) the JAR file is overwritten. An example use of this is
 provided in the <a href="zip.html">Zip task documentation</a>.</p>
-<p>The <code>whenempty</code> parameter controls what happens when no files match.
-If <code>create</code> (the default), the JAR is created anyway with only a manifest.
-If <code>skip</code>, the JAR is not created and a warning is issued.
-If <code>fail</code>, the JAR is not created and the build is halted with an error.</p>
 <p>(The Jar task is a shortcut for specifying the manifest file of a JAR file. 
 The same thing can be accomplished by using the <i>fullpath</i>
 attribute of a zipfileset in a Zip task. The one difference is that if the
@@ -124,11 +120,6 @@ include an empty one for you.)</p>
       the destination file if it already exists.</td>
     <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
   </tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td valign="top">whenempty</td>
-    <td valign="top">Behavior to use if no files match.</td>
-    <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
-  </tr>
 </table>
 <h3>Nested elements</h3>
 <h4>metainf</h4>
diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/war.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/war.html
index 50214aa4c..65e8aedbd 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/war.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/war.html
@@ -99,11 +99,6 @@ attributes of zipfilesets in a Zip or Jar task.)</p>
       the destination file if it already exists.</td>
     <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
   </tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td valign="top">whenempty</td>
-    <td valign="top">Behavior to use if no files match.</td>
-    <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
-  </tr>
 </table>
 <h3>Nested elements</h3>
 <h4>lib</h4>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Jar.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Jar.java
index 54d7aa199..dfef46af0 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Jar.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Jar.java
@@ -91,6 +91,11 @@ public class Jar extends Zip {
         setEncoding("UTF8");
     }
 
+    public void setWhenempty(WhenEmpty we) {
+        log("JARs are never empty, they contain at least a manifest file",
+            Project.MSG_WARN);
+    }
+
     /**
      * @deprecated use setFile(File) instead.
      */