diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 10de3d127..57a3ba43f 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@ Fixed bugs:
 
 * Zip task was not zipping when only empty directories were found. Bugzilla 30365.
 
+* Classpath was treated in the same way as -lib options. Bugzilla 28046.
+
 Changes from Ant 1.6.1 to Ant 1.6.2
 ===================================
 
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/launch/Launcher.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/launch/Launcher.java
index 03acf21ca..cd34d448f 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/launch/Launcher.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/launch/Launcher.java
@@ -60,6 +60,34 @@ public class Launcher {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+      * Add a CLASSPATH or -lib to lib path urls.
+      * @param path        the classpath or lib path to add to the libPathULRLs
+      * @param getJars     if true and a path is a directory, add the jars in
+      *                    the directory to the path urls
+      * @param libPathURLS the list of paths to add to
+      */
+    private void addPath(String path, boolean getJars, List libPathURLs)
+        throws MalformedURLException {
+        StringTokenizer myTokenizer
+            = new StringTokenizer(path, System.getProperty("path.separator"));
+        while (myTokenizer.hasMoreElements()) {
+            String elementName = myTokenizer.nextToken();
+            File element = new File(elementName);
+            if (elementName.indexOf("%") != -1 && !element.exists()) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            if (getJars && element.isDirectory()) {
+                // add any jars in the directory
+                URL[] dirURLs = Locator.getLocationURLs(element);
+                for (int j = 0; j < dirURLs.length; ++j) {
+                    libPathURLs.add(dirURLs[j]);
+                }
+            }
+
+            libPathURLs.add(element.toURL());
+        }
+    }
 
     /**
      * Run the launcher to launch Ant
@@ -91,6 +119,7 @@ public class Launcher {
         }
 
         List libPaths = new ArrayList();
+        String cpString = null;
         List argList = new ArrayList();
         String[] newArgs;
 
@@ -101,38 +130,36 @@ public class Launcher {
                         + "be followed by a library location");
                 }
                 libPaths.add(args[++i]);
+            } else if (args[i].equals("-cp")) {
+                if (i == args.length - 1) {
+                    throw new LaunchException("The -cp argument must "
+                        + "be followed by a classpath expression");
+                }
+                if (cpString != null) {
+                    throw new LaunchException("The -cp argument must "
+                        + "not be repeated");
+                }
+                cpString = args[++i];
             } else {
                 argList.add(args[i]);
             }
         }
 
-        if (libPaths.size() == 0) {
+        if (libPaths.size() == 0 && cpString == null) {
             newArgs = args;
         } else {
             newArgs = (String[]) argList.toArray(new String[0]);
         }
 
         List libPathURLs = new ArrayList();
+
+        if (cpString != null) {
+            addPath(cpString, false, libPathURLs);
+        }
+
         for (Iterator i = libPaths.iterator(); i.hasNext();) {
             String libPath = (String) i.next();
-            StringTokenizer myTokenizer
-                = new StringTokenizer(libPath, System.getProperty("path.separator"));
-            while (myTokenizer.hasMoreElements()) {
-                String elementName = myTokenizer.nextToken();
-                File element = new File(elementName);
-                if (elementName.indexOf("%") != -1 && !element.exists()) {
-                    continue;
-                }
-                if (element.isDirectory()) {
-                    // add any jars in the directory
-                    URL[] dirURLs = Locator.getLocationURLs(element);
-                    for (int j = 0; j < dirURLs.length; ++j) {
-                        libPathURLs.add(dirURLs[j]);
-                    }
-                }
-
-                libPathURLs.add(element.toURL());
-            }
+            addPath(libPath, true, libPathURLs);
         }
 
         URL[] libJars = (URL[]) libPathURLs.toArray(new URL[0]);
diff --git a/src/script/ant b/src/script/ant
index 14fc59107..57c1e2a0a 100644
--- a/src/script/ant
+++ b/src/script/ant
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ if $rpm_mode && [ -f /usr/bin/build-classpath ] ; then
       LOCALCLASSPATH="$LOCALCLASSPATH:$CLASSPATH"
     fi
 
-    # remove class path from launcher -lib option
+    # remove class path from launcher -cp option
     CLASSPATH=""
   fi
 else
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ else
     ant_sys_opts="-Djikes.class.path=\"$JIKESPATH\""
   fi
 fi
-ant_exec_command="exec \"$JAVACMD\" $ANT_OPTS -classpath \"$LOCALCLASSPATH\" -Dant.home=\"$ANT_HOME\" -Dant.library.dir=\"$ANT_LIB\" $ant_sys_opts org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher $ANT_ARGS -lib \"$CLASSPATH\" $ant_exec_args"
+ant_exec_command="exec \"$JAVACMD\" $ANT_OPTS -classpath \"$LOCALCLASSPATH\" -Dant.home=\"$ANT_HOME\" -Dant.library.dir=\"$ANT_LIB\" $ant_sys_opts org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher $ANT_ARGS -cp \"$CLASSPATH\" $ant_exec_args"
 if $ant_exec_debug ; then
     echo $ant_exec_command
 fi
diff --git a/src/script/ant.bat b/src/script/ant.bat
index b8f4814ac..d61f4756e 100755
--- a/src/script/ant.bat
+++ b/src/script/ant.bat
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ if not "%CLASSPATH%"=="" goto runAntWithClasspath
 goto end
 
 :runAntWithClasspath
-"%_JAVACMD%" %ANT_OPTS% -classpath "%ANT_HOME%\lib\ant-launcher.jar" "-Dant.home=%ANT_HOME%" org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher %ANT_ARGS% -lib "%CLASSPATH%" %ANT_CMD_LINE_ARGS%
+"%_JAVACMD%" %ANT_OPTS% -classpath "%ANT_HOME%\lib\ant-launcher.jar" "-Dant.home=%ANT_HOME%" org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher %ANT_ARGS% -cp "%CLASSPATH%" %ANT_CMD_LINE_ARGS%
 goto end
 
 :runAntWithJikes
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ if not "%CLASSPATH%"=="" goto runAntWithJikesAndClasspath
 goto end
 
 :runAntWithJikesAndClasspath
-"%_JAVACMD%" %ANT_OPTS% -classpath "%ANT_HOME%\lib\ant-launcher.jar" "-Dant.home=%ANT_HOME%" "-Djikes.class.path=%JIKESPATH%" org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher %ANT_ARGS%  -lib "%CLASSPATH%" %ANT_CMD_LINE_ARGS%
+"%_JAVACMD%" %ANT_OPTS% -classpath "%ANT_HOME%\lib\ant-launcher.jar" "-Dant.home=%ANT_HOME%" "-Djikes.class.path=%JIKESPATH%" org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher %ANT_ARGS%  -cp "%CLASSPATH%" %ANT_CMD_LINE_ARGS%
 goto end
 
 :end