diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/javadoc.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/javadoc.html
index 9bd0d25a0..f4135edbc 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/javadoc.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/javadoc.html
@@ -550,7 +550,9 @@ specify multiple occurrences of the arguments.</p>
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">href</td>
-    <td valign="top">The URL for the external documentation you wish to link to</td>
+    <td valign="top">The URL for the external documentation you wish
+    to link to.  This can be an absolute URL, or a relative file
+    name.</td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">Yes</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
@@ -565,6 +567,15 @@ specify multiple occurrences of the arguments.</p>
                      the external documentation</td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">Only if the offline attribute is true</td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">resolveLink</td>
+    <td valign="top">If the link attribute is a relative file name,
+    Ant will first try to locate the file relative to the current
+    project's basedir and if it finds a file there use an absolute URL
+    for the link attribute, otherwise it will pass the file name
+    verbatim to the javadoc command.</td>
+    <td align="center" valign="top">No, default is false.</td>
+  </tr>
 </table>
 
 <h4><a name="groupelement">group</a></h4>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Javadoc.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Javadoc.java
index 5601ee458..ae13f67b3 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Javadoc.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Javadoc.java
@@ -1200,6 +1200,7 @@ public class Javadoc extends Task {
         private String href;
         private boolean offline = false;
         private File packagelistLoc;
+        private boolean resolveLink = false;
 
         /** Constructor for LinkArguement */
         public LinkArgument() {
@@ -1253,6 +1254,24 @@ public class Javadoc extends Task {
         public boolean isLinkOffline() {
             return offline;
         }
+
+        /**
+         * Sets whether Ant should resolve the link attribute relative
+         * to the current basedir.
+         * @param resolve a <code>boolean</code> value
+         */
+        public void setResolveLink(boolean resolve) {
+            this.resolveLink = resolve;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * should Ant resolve the link attribute relative to the
+         * current basedir?
+         */
+        public boolean shouldResolveLink() {
+            return resolveLink;
+        }
+
     }
 
     /**
@@ -1756,11 +1775,28 @@ public class Javadoc extends Task {
                         log("No href was given for the link - skipping",
                             Project.MSG_VERBOSE);
                         continue;
-                    } else {
+                    }
+                    String link = null;
+                    if (la.shouldResolveLink()) {
+                        File hrefAsFile = 
+                            getProject().resolveFile(la.getHref());
+                        if (hrefAsFile.exists()) {
+                            try {
+                                link = FILE_UTILS.getFileURL(hrefAsFile)
+                                    .toExternalForm();
+                            } catch (MalformedURLException ex) {
+                                // should be impossible
+                                log("Warning: link location was invalid " 
+                                    + hrefAsFile, Project.MSG_WARN);
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                    if (link == null) {
                         // is the href a valid URL
                         try {
                             URL base = new URL("file://.");
                             new URL(base, la.getHref());
+                            link = la.getHref();
                         } catch (MalformedURLException mue) {
                             // ok - just skip
                             log("Link href \"" + la.getHref()
@@ -1790,7 +1826,7 @@ public class Javadoc extends Task {
                                 toExecute.createArgument()
                                     .setValue("-linkoffline");
                                 toExecute.createArgument()
-                                    .setValue(la.getHref());
+                                    .setValue(link);
                                 toExecute.createArgument()
                                     .setValue(packageListURL);
                             } catch (MalformedURLException ex) {
@@ -1804,7 +1840,7 @@ public class Javadoc extends Task {
                         }
                     } else {
                         toExecute.createArgument().setValue("-link");
-                        toExecute.createArgument().setValue(la.getHref());
+                        toExecute.createArgument().setValue(link);
                     }
                 }
             }