diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 5d124e2e5..6058a3daa 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -215,6 +215,8 @@ Other changes:
 
 * Add implicit nested element to <macrodef>. Bugzilla Report 25633.
 
+* Add deleteonexit attribute to <delete>.
+
 Changes from Ant 1.6.0 to Ant 1.6.1
 =============================================
 
diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/delete.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/delete.html
index 25c1fe3f3..9b7591b95 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/delete.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/delete.html
@@ -130,6 +130,16 @@ in <strong>Directory-based Tasks</strong>, and see the
       Default excludes are used when omitted.</td>
     <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">deleteonexit</td>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Indicates whether to use File#deleteOnExit() if there is a
+      failure to delete a file, this causes the jvm to attempt
+      to delete the file when the jvm process is terminating.
+      The default is false.
+      <em>Since Ant 1.6.2</em>
+    <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
+  </tr>
 </table>
 <h3>Examples</h3>
 <pre>  &lt;delete file=&quot;/lib/ant.jar&quot;/&gt;</pre>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Delete.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Delete.java
index 9bfe997de..bd8022f90 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Delete.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Delete.java
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ public class Delete extends MatchingTask {
     private int verbosity = Project.MSG_VERBOSE;
     private boolean quiet = false;
     private boolean failonerror = true;
+    private boolean deleteOnExit = false;
 
     /**
      * Set the name of a single file to be removed.
@@ -126,6 +127,16 @@ public class Delete extends MatchingTask {
          this.failonerror = failonerror;
      }
 
+    /**
+     * If true, on failure to delete, note the error and set
+     * the deleteonexit flag, and continue
+     *
+     * @param deleteOnExit true or false
+     */
+     public void setDeleteOnExit(boolean deleteOnExit) {
+         this.deleteOnExit = deleteOnExit;
+     }
+
 
     /**
      * If true, delete empty directories.
@@ -540,9 +551,17 @@ public class Delete extends MatchingTask {
             }
             try {
                 Thread.sleep(DELETE_RETRY_SLEEP_MILLIS);
-                return f.delete();
             } catch (InterruptedException ex) {
-                return f.delete();
+                // Ignore Exception
+            }
+            if (!f.delete()) {
+                if (deleteOnExit) {
+                    int level = quiet ? Project.MSG_VERBOSE : Project.MSG_INFO;
+                    log("Failed to delete " + f + ", calling deleteOnExit" + f, level);
+                    f.deleteOnExit();
+                    return true;
+                }
+                return false;
             }
         }
         return true;