diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/defaultexcludes.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/defaultexcludes.html
index 930426d8e..c9395f8a5 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/defaultexcludes.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/defaultexcludes.html
@@ -25,18 +25,24 @@ build, and prints out the current default excludes if desired.
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">echo</td>
     <td valign="top">whether or not to print out the default excludes.(defaults to false)</td>
-    <td valign="top" align="center">atribute "true" required if no 
-                                    other argument specified</td>
+    <td valign="top" align="center">attribute "true" required if no
+                                    other attribute specified</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">default</td>
+    <td valign="top">go back to hard wired default excludes</td>
+    <td valign="top" align="center">attribute "true" required if no
+    if no other attribute is specified</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">add</td>
     <td valign="top">the pattern to add to the default excludes</td>
-    <td valign="top" align="center">if no other atribute is specified</td>
+    <td valign="top" align="center">if no other attribute is specified</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">remove</td>
     <td valign="top">remove the specified pattern from the default excludes</td>
-    <td valign="top" align="center">if no other atribute is specified</td>
+    <td valign="top" align="center">if no other attribute is specified</td>
   </tr>
 </table>
 
@@ -59,7 +65,7 @@ backup files and then restore normal behavior</p>
 
   (do several fileset based tasks here)
 
-  &lt;defaultexcludes add=&quot;**/*~&quot;/&gt;
+  &lt;defaultexcludes default=&quot;true&quot;/&gt;
 </pre>
 
 
diff --git a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/defaultexcludes.xml b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/defaultexcludes.xml
index cf608e851..6813d71e9 100644
--- a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/defaultexcludes.xml
+++ b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/defaultexcludes.xml
@@ -7,13 +7,11 @@
   </target>
 
   <target name="test2">
-    <defaultexcludes add="foo" echo="true"/>
-    <defaultexcludes remove="foo" echo="false"/>
+    <defaultexcludes default="true" add="foo" echo="true"/>
   </target>
 
   <target name="test3">
-    <defaultexcludes remove="**/CVS" echo="true"/>
-    <defaultexcludes add="**/CVS" echo="false"/>
+    <defaultexcludes default="true" remove="**/CVS" echo="true"/>
   </target>
 
 </project>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/DirectoryScanner.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/DirectoryScanner.java
index 6061e4684..c77eb8c14 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/DirectoryScanner.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/DirectoryScanner.java
@@ -205,11 +205,8 @@ public class DirectoryScanner
      * @see #addDefaultExcludes()
      */
     private static Vector defaultExcludes = new Vector();
-
     static {
-        for (int i = 0; i < DEFAULTEXCLUDES.length; i++) {
-            defaultExcludes.add(DEFAULTEXCLUDES[i]);
-        }
+        resetDefaultExcludes();
     }
 
     /** The base directory to be scanned. */
@@ -454,6 +451,19 @@ public class DirectoryScanner
         return defaultExcludes.remove(s);
     }
 
+    /**
+     *  Go back to the hard wired default exclude patterns
+     *
+     * @since Ant 1.6
+     */
+    public static void resetDefaultExcludes() {
+    defaultExcludes = new Vector();
+
+        for (int i = 0; i < DEFAULTEXCLUDES.length; i++) {
+            defaultExcludes.add(DEFAULTEXCLUDES[i]);
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Sets the base directory to be scanned. This is the directory which is
      * scanned recursively. All '/' and '\' characters are replaced by
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/DefaultExcludes.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/DefaultExcludes.java
index 4941662ec..750178def 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/DefaultExcludes.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/DefaultExcludes.java
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ import org.apache.tools.ant.DirectoryScanner;
 public class DefaultExcludes extends Task {
     private String add = "";
     private String remove = "";
-
+    private boolean defaultrequested = false;
     private boolean echo = false;
 
     // by default, messages are always displayed
@@ -83,11 +83,14 @@ public class DefaultExcludes extends Task {
      * @exception BuildException if someting goes wrong with the build
      */
     public void execute() throws BuildException {
-        if (add.equals("") && remove.equals("") && (echo == false)) {
+        if (defaultrequested == false && add.equals("") && remove.equals("") && (echo == false)) {
             throw new BuildException("<defaultexcludes> task must set "
-                + "at least one atribute (echo=\"false\""
+                + "at least one attribute (echo=\"false\""
                 + " doesn't count since that is the default");
         }
+        if (defaultrequested == true) {
+            DirectoryScanner.resetDefaultExcludes();
+        }
         if (!add.equals("")) {
             DirectoryScanner.addDefaultExclude(add);
         }
@@ -105,6 +108,14 @@ public class DefaultExcludes extends Task {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * go back to standard default patterns
+     *
+     * @param def if true go back to default patterns
+     */
+    public void setDefault(boolean def) {
+        defaultrequested = def;
+    }
     /**
      * Pattern to add to the default excludes
      *
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/DefaultExcludesTest.java b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/DefaultExcludesTest.java
index 9c66475bd..eb2d49858 100644
--- a/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/DefaultExcludesTest.java
+++ b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/DefaultExcludesTest.java
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
 package org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs;
 
 import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildFileTest;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.DirectoryScanner;
 
 /**
  * @author Gus Heck <gus.heck@olin.edu>
@@ -71,59 +72,73 @@ public class DefaultExcludesTest extends BuildFileTest {
 
     // Output the default excludes
     public void test1() {
-        expectLog("test1", "Current Default Excludes:\n"+
-                  "  **/*~\n"+
-                  "  **/#*#\n"+
-                  "  **/.#*\n"+
-                  "  **/%*%\n"+
-                  "  **/._*\n"+
-                  "  **/CVS\n"+
-                  "  **/CVS/**\n"+
-                  "  **/.cvsignore\n"+
-                  "  **/SCCS\n"+
-                  "  **/SCCS/**\n"+
-                  "  **/vssver.scc\n"+
-                  "  **/.svn\n"+
-                  "  **/.svn/**\n"+
-                  "  **/.DS_Store");
+        String[] expected = {
+                          "**/*~",
+                          "**/#*#",
+                          "**/.#*",
+                          "**/%*%",
+                          "**/._*",
+                          "**/CVS",
+                          "**/CVS/**",
+                          "**/.cvsignore",
+                          "**/SCCS",
+                          "**/SCCS/**",
+                          "**/vssver.scc",
+                          "**/.svn",
+                          "**/.svn/**",
+                          "**/.DS_Store"};
+        project.executeTarget("test1");
+        assertEquals("current default excludes", expected, DirectoryScanner.getDefaultExcludes());
     }
 
     // adding something to the excludes'
     public void test2() {
-        expectLog("test2", "Current Default Excludes:\n"+
-                  "  **/*~\n"+
-                  "  **/#*#\n"+
-                  "  **/.#*\n"+
-                  "  **/%*%\n"+
-                  "  **/._*\n"+
-                  "  **/CVS\n"+
-                  "  **/CVS/**\n"+
-                  "  **/.cvsignore\n"+
-                  "  **/SCCS\n"+
-                  "  **/SCCS/**\n"+
-                  "  **/vssver.scc\n"+
-                  "  **/.svn\n"+
-                  "  **/.svn/**\n"+
-                  "  **/.DS_Store\n"+
-                  "  foo");             // foo added
+        String[] expected = {
+                          "**/*~",
+                          "**/#*#",
+                          "**/.#*",
+                          "**/%*%",
+                          "**/._*",
+                          "**/CVS",
+                          "**/CVS/**",
+                          "**/.cvsignore",
+                          "**/SCCS",
+                          "**/SCCS/**",
+                          "**/vssver.scc",
+                          "**/.svn",
+                          "**/.svn/**",
+                          "**/.DS_Store",
+                          "foo"};
+        project.executeTarget("test2");
+        assertEquals("current default excludes", expected, DirectoryScanner.getDefaultExcludes());
     }
 
     // removing something from the defaults
     public void test3() {
-        expectLog("test3", "Current Default Excludes:\n"+
-                  "  **/*~\n"+
-                  "  **/#*#\n"+
-                  "  **/.#*\n"+
-                  "  **/%*%\n"+
-                  "  **/._*\n"+
-                  //CVS missing
-                  "  **/CVS/**\n"+
-                  "  **/.cvsignore\n"+
-                  "  **/SCCS\n"+
-                  "  **/SCCS/**\n"+
-                  "  **/vssver.scc\n"+
-                  "  **/.svn\n"+
-                  "  **/.svn/**\n"+
-                  "  **/.DS_Store");
+        String[] expected = {
+                          "**/*~",
+                          "**/#*#",
+                          "**/.#*",
+                          "**/%*%",
+                          "**/._*",
+                          //CVS missing
+                          "**/CVS/**",
+                          "**/.cvsignore",
+                          "**/SCCS",
+                          "**/SCCS/**",
+                          "**/vssver.scc",
+                          "**/.svn",
+                          "**/.svn/**",
+                          "**/.DS_Store"};
+        project.executeTarget("test3");
+        assertEquals("current default excludes", expected, DirectoryScanner.getDefaultExcludes());
+    }
+    private void assertEquals(String message, String[] expected, String[] actual) {
+        // check that both arrays have the same size
+        assertEquals(message + " : string array length match", expected.length, actual.length);
+        for (int counter=0; counter <expected.length; counter++) {
+            assertEquals(message + " : " + counter + "th element in array match", expected[counter], actual[counter]);
+        }
+
     }
 }