diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index eb5e295a9..f6c7880f6 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -470,6 +470,8 @@ Other changes:
 * <patch> has a new attribute destfile that can be used to create a new
   file instead of patching files in place.
 
+* OpenVMS is detected as a valid OS family.
+
 Changes from Ant 1.5.2 to Ant 1.5.3
 ===================================
 
diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/conditions.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/conditions.html
index e924e7aeb..6e69fbd7b 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/conditions.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/conditions.html
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ the tests succeed.
   <li>win9x for Microsoft Windows 95 and 98</li>
   <li>z/os for z/OS and OS/390</li>
   <li>os/400 for OS/400</li>
+  <li>openvms for OpenVMS</li>
 </ul>
 
 <h4>equals</h4>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/condition/Os.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/condition/Os.java
index 31c52dbf5..46da4fccd 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/condition/Os.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/condition/Os.java
@@ -231,6 +231,8 @@ public class Os implements Condition {
                         || osName.indexOf("os/390") > -1;
                 } else if (family.equals("os/400")) {
                     isFamily = osName.indexOf("os/400") > -1;
+                } else if (family.equals("openvms")) {
+                    isFamily = osName.indexOf("openvms") > -1;
                 } else {
                     throw new BuildException(
                         "Don\'t know how to detect os family \""