diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index c9b4b84b2..b00a06d48 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ Fixed bugs:
 
 * Fix jboss element of ejb task (introduced in ant 1.6.0).
 
+* <whichresource> failed to load classes correctly.
+
 Other changes:
 --------------
 * Translate task logs a debug message specifying the number of files
diff --git a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/whichresource.xml b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/whichresource.xml
index eed770b88..b2094bdcb 100644
--- a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/whichresource.xml
+++ b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/whichresource.xml
@@ -12,4 +12,9 @@
     <whichresource resource="org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/defaults.properties"
       property="defaults"/>
   </target>
+
+  <target name="testResourcenameWithLeadingSlash">
+    <whichresource resource="/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/defaults.properties"
+      property="defaults"/>
+  </target>
 </project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/WhichResource.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/WhichResource.java
index e8a2fc2b3..aa2714d50 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/WhichResource.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/WhichResource.java
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
  * The Apache Software License, Version 1.1
  *
- * Copyright (c) 2000-2003 The Apache Software Foundation.  All rights
+ * Copyright (c) 2003-2004 The Apache Software Foundation.  All rights
  * reserved.
  *
  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
@@ -168,13 +168,17 @@ public class WhichResource extends Task {
         String location = null;
         if (classname != null) {
             //convert a class name into a resource
-            classname = classname.replace('.', '/');
-            resource = "/" + classname + ".class";
-        } else {
-            if (!resource.startsWith("/")) {
-                resource = "/" + resource;
-            }
+            resource = classname.replace('.', '/') + ".class";
+        }
+
+        if (resource == null) {
+            throw new BuildException("One of class or resource is required");
         }
+
+        if (resource.startsWith("/")) {
+            resource = resource.substring(1);
+        }
+
         log("Searching for " + resource, Project.MSG_VERBOSE);
         URL url;
         url = loader.getResource(resource);
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/WhichResourceTest.java b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/WhichResourceTest.java
index fbd635251..d2faa454a 100644
--- a/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/WhichResourceTest.java
+++ b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/WhichResourceTest.java
@@ -77,4 +77,9 @@ public class WhichResourceTest extends BuildFileTest {
         executeTarget("testResourcename");
         assertNotNull(getProject().getProperty("defaults"));
     }
+
+    public void testResourcenameWithLeadingSlash() {
+        executeTarget("testResourcenameWithLeadingSlash");
+        assertNotNull(getProject().getProperty("defaults"));
+    }
 }