diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 8b8987980..33a008c38 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -711,7 +711,6 @@
       <selector refid="ant.launcher"/>
       <manifest>
         <attribute name="Main-Class" value="org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher"/>
-        <attribute name="Class-Path" value="xercesImpl.jar xml-apis.jar"/>
       </manifest>
     </jar>
 
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/launch/Launcher.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/launch/Launcher.java
index 085178755..4dc5eaa4d 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/launch/Launcher.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/launch/Launcher.java
@@ -153,8 +153,9 @@ public class Launcher {
         }
 
         System.setProperty("java.class.path", baseClassPath.toString());
-        
+
         URLClassLoader loader = new URLClassLoader(jars);
+        Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(loader);
         try {
             Class mainClass = loader.loadClass(MAIN_CLASS);
             AntMain main = (AntMain) mainClass.newInstance();