diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index e9decf94c..6e4c1edcd 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -78,7 +78,10 @@
     <filter token="VERSION" value="${version}" />
     <filter token="DATE" value="${TODAY}" />
     <filter token="TIME" value="${TSTAMP}" />
-    <copydir src="${src.dir}" dest="${build.classes}" filtering="on">
+    <copydir src="${src.dir}" 
+             dest="${build.classes}" 
+             filtering="on"
+             forceoverwrite="true">
       <include name="**/version.txt" />
     </copydir>
   </target>
diff --git a/docs/index.html b/docs/index.html
index b1fec3093..e50252d44 100644
--- a/docs/index.html
+++ b/docs/index.html
@@ -694,6 +694,12 @@ this attribute has been replaced by the <i>excludes</i> attribute.</p>
       the copy</td>
     <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">forceoverwrite</td>
+    <td valign="top">overwrite existing files even if the destination
+      files are newer (default is false).</td>
+    <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
+  </tr>
 </table>
 <h3>Examples</h3>
 <pre>  &lt;copydir src=&quot;${src}/resources&quot;
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copydir.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copydir.java
index aee14ccf5..ea8511754 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copydir.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copydir.java
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ public class Copydir extends MatchingTask {
     private File srcDir;
     private File destDir;
     private boolean filtering = false;
+    private boolean forceOverwrite = false;
     private Hashtable filecopyList = new Hashtable();
 
     public void setSrc(String src) {
@@ -84,6 +85,10 @@ public class Copydir extends MatchingTask {
         filtering = Project.toBoolean(filter);
     }
 
+    public void setForceoverwrite(String force) {
+        forceOverwrite = Project.toBoolean(force);
+    }
+
     public void execute() throws BuildException {
         if (srcDir == null) {
             throw new BuildException("srcdir attribute must be set!", 
@@ -122,7 +127,8 @@ public class Copydir extends MatchingTask {
             String filename = files[i];
             File srcFile = new File(from, filename);
             File destFile = new File(to, filename);
-            if (srcFile.lastModified() > destFile.lastModified()) {
+            if (forceOverwrite ||
+                (srcFile.lastModified() > destFile.lastModified())) {
                 filecopyList.put(srcFile.getAbsolutePath(),
                     destFile.getAbsolutePath());
             }