diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copydir.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copydir.java
index 6d6292d3b..44eecf216 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copydir.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copydir.java
@@ -74,12 +74,12 @@ public class Copydir extends MatchingTask {
     private boolean forceOverwrite = false;
     private Hashtable filecopyList = new Hashtable();
 
-    public void setSrc(String src) {
-        srcDir = project.resolveFile(src);
+    public void setSrc(File src) {
+        srcDir = src;
     }
 
-    public void setDest(String dest) {
-        destDir = project.resolveFile(dest);
+    public void setDest(File dest) {
+        destDir = dest;
     }
 
     public void setFiltering(String filter) {
@@ -105,6 +105,10 @@ public class Copydir extends MatchingTask {
                                      +" does not exist!", location);
         }
 
+        if (destDir == null) {
+            throw new BuildException("The dest attribute must be set.", location);
+        }
+
         DirectoryScanner ds = super.getDirectoryScanner(srcDir);
 
         String[] files = ds.getIncludedFiles();
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copyfile.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copyfile.java
index 0470d02d9..19e68e6db 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copyfile.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copyfile.java
@@ -72,16 +72,16 @@ public class Copyfile extends Task {
     private boolean filtering = false;
     private boolean forceOverwrite = false;
  
-    public void setSrc(String src) {
-        srcFile = project.resolveFile(src);
+    public void setSrc(File src) {
+        srcFile = src;
     }
 
     public void setForceoverwrite(String force) {
         forceOverwrite = Project.toBoolean(force);
     }
 
-    public void setDest(String dest) {
-        destFile = project.resolveFile(dest);
+    public void setDest(File dest) {
+        destFile = dest;
     }
 
     public void setFiltering(String filter) {
@@ -89,6 +89,19 @@ public class Copyfile extends Task {
     }
 
     public void execute() throws BuildException {
+        if (srcFile == null) {
+            throw new BuildException("The src attribute must be present.", location);
+        }
+        
+        if (!srcFile.exists()) {
+            throw new BuildException("src " + srcFile.toString()
+                                     + " does not exist.", location);
+        }
+
+        if (destFile == null) {
+            throw new BuildException("The dest attribute must be present.", location);
+        }
+        
         if (forceOverwrite || srcFile.lastModified() > destFile.lastModified()) {
             try {
                 project.copyFile(srcFile, destFile, filtering, forceOverwrite);