diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index fe9bc623b..0088e067d 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -375,3 +375,7 @@ cases.
 * Corrupt Zip- and Jar-files ar now deleted if the task fails.
 
 * many more fixes we've forgotten to document here ...
+
+* The packagelistloc attribute of <javadoc>'s <link> child will be
+  resolved as a file (i.e. it is either absolute or relative to 
+  basedir).
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Javadoc.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Javadoc.java
index 4fceecb35..0f2ef14ae 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Javadoc.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Javadoc.java
@@ -546,7 +546,7 @@ public class Javadoc extends Task {
             if (!tok.hasMoreTokens()) {
                 throw new BuildException(linkOfflineError);
             }                                        
-            le.setPackagelistLoc(tok.nextToken());
+            le.setPackagelistLoc(project.resolveFile(tok.nextToken()));
         }
     }
     public void setGroup(String src) {
@@ -607,7 +607,7 @@ public class Javadoc extends Task {
     public class LinkArgument {
         private String href;
         private boolean offline = false;
-        private String packagelistLoc;
+        private File packagelistLoc;
         
         public LinkArgument() {
         }
@@ -620,12 +620,12 @@ public class Javadoc extends Task {
             return href;
         }
         
-        public void setPackagelistLoc(String src) {
+        public void setPackagelistLoc(File src) {
             packagelistLoc = src;
         }
         
         public String getPackagelistLoc() {
-            return packagelistLoc;
+            return packagelistLoc.getAbsolutePath();
         }
         
         public void setOffline(boolean offline) {