diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index dd773ea63..2c8a045a7 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -211,6 +211,14 @@ Fixed bugs:
 * Ant will no longer implicitly add Sun's rt.jar in <javac> when you
   use jvc and don't specify a bootclasspath.  Bugzilla Report 18055.
 
+* The prefix attribute of <zipfileset> would not generate directory
+  entries for the prefix itself.  Bugzilla Report 18403.
+
+Other Changes:
+--------------
+* Added ability to specify manifest encoding for the <jar> and 
+  <manifest> tasks
+
 Changes from Ant 1.5.1 to Ant 1.5.2
 =============================================
 
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Zip.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Zip.java
index e411cf8f4..d79910524 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Zip.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Zip.java
@@ -558,10 +558,11 @@ public class Zip extends MatchingTask {
                                      + " file.");
         }
 
-        if (prefix.length() > 0
-            && !prefix.endsWith("/")
-            && !prefix.endsWith("\\")) {
-            prefix += "/";
+        if (prefix.length() > 0) {
+            if (!prefix.endsWith("/") && !prefix.endsWith("\\")) {
+                prefix += "/";
+            }
+            addParentDirs(null, prefix, zOut, "", dirMode);
         }
 
         ZipFile zf = null;