diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 6dce7b681..2174b8fae 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -245,6 +245,8 @@ Other changes:
 * A new <containsregexp> selector has been added, that selects files
   if their content matches a certain regular expression.
 
+* <antlr>'s debug attribute has been enabled.  Bugzilla Report 19051.
+
 Changes from Ant 1.5.2 to Ant 1.5.3
 ===================================
 
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ANTLR.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ANTLR.java
index fbb2ecce7..a25e47107 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ANTLR.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/ANTLR.java
@@ -117,6 +117,9 @@ public class ANTLR extends Task {
     /** captures ANTLR's output */
     private ByteArrayOutputStream bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
 
+    /** The debug attribute */
+    private boolean debug;
+
     public ANTLR() {
         commandline.setVm(JavaEnvUtils.getJreExecutable("java"));
         commandline.setClassname("antlr.Tool");
@@ -149,7 +152,7 @@ public class ANTLR extends Task {
      * Sets a flag to enable ParseView debugging
      */
     public void setDebug(boolean enable) {
-        log( "debug attribute is never used", Project.MSG_WARN);
+        this.debug = enable;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -337,6 +340,9 @@ public class ANTLR extends Task {
         if (traceTreeWalker) {
             commandline.createArgument().setValue("-traceTreeWalker");
         }
+        if (debug) {
+            commandline.createArgument().setValue("-debug");
+        }
     }
 
     private void validateAttributes() throws BuildException {