diff --git a/docs/manual/OptionalTasks/scriptdef.html b/docs/manual/OptionalTasks/scriptdef.html
index 47de9b5c2..396bc1e5f 100755
--- a/docs/manual/OptionalTasks/scriptdef.html
+++ b/docs/manual/OptionalTasks/scriptdef.html
@@ -41,11 +41,14 @@ lowercase names, so even if you use name="SomeAttribute", you'll have
 to use "someattribute" to retrieve the attribute's value from the
 <code>attributes</code> collection.</p>
 
+  <p>The name "self" (<i>since Ant 1.6.3</i>) is a pre-defined reference to the script def task instance.
+  It can be used for logging purposes</p>
 <p>The name "project" is a pre-defined reference to the Ant Project. For
 more information on writing scripts, please refer to the
 <a href="script.html">&lt;script&gt;</a> task
 </p>
 
+
 <h3>Parameters</h3>
 <table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">
   <tr>
@@ -133,9 +136,9 @@ of the first fileset.
     &lt;element name=&quot;path&quot; type=&quot;path&quot;/&gt;
     &lt;![CDATA[
 
-      project.log(&quot;Hello from script&quot;);
-      project.log(&quot;Attribute attr1 = &quot; + attributes.get(&quot;attr1&quot;));
-      project.log(&quot;First fileset basedir = &quot;
+      self.log(&quot;Hello from script&quot;);
+      self.log(&quot;Attribute attr1 = &quot; + attributes.get(&quot;attr1&quot;));
+      self.log(&quot;First fileset basedir = &quot;
         + elements.get(&quot;fileset&quot;).get(0).getDir(project));
 
     ]]&gt;
@@ -159,9 +162,9 @@ and iterates through them
     &lt;element name=&quot;fileset&quot; type=&quot;fileset&quot;/&gt;
     &lt;![CDATA[
       filesets = elements.get(&quot;fileset&quot;);
-      project.log(&quot;Number of filesets = &quot; + filesets.size());
+      self.log(&quot;Number of filesets = &quot; + filesets.size());
       for (i = 0; i &lt; filesets.size(); ++i) {
-        project.log(&quot;fileset &quot; + i + &quot; basedir = &quot;
+        self.log(&quot;fileset &quot; + i + &quot; basedir = &quot;
           + filesets.get(i).getDir(project));
       }
     ]]&gt;
@@ -192,4 +195,4 @@ Script errors are only detected when a script task is actually executed.
 Reserved.</p>
 
 </body>
-</html>
\ No newline at end of file
+</html>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/script/ScriptDef.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/script/ScriptDef.java
index a4e1f08f9..aed0c10a4 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/script/ScriptDef.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/script/ScriptDef.java
@@ -307,8 +307,8 @@ public class ScriptDef extends DefBase {
      * Execute the script.
      *
      * @param attributes collection of attributes
-     *
      * @param elements a list of nested element values.
+     * @deprecated use executeScript(attribute, elements, instance) instead
      */
     public void executeScript(Map attributes, Map elements) {
         runner.addBean("attributes", attributes);
@@ -317,6 +317,23 @@ public class ScriptDef extends DefBase {
         runner.executeScript("scriptdef_" + name);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Execute the script.
+     * This is called by the script instance to execute the script for this
+     * definition.
+     *
+     * @param attributes collection of attributes
+     * @param elements   a list of nested element values.
+     * @param instance   the script instance
+     */
+    public void executeScript(Map attributes, Map elements, ScriptDefBase instance) {
+        runner.addBean("attributes", attributes);
+        runner.addBean("elements", elements);
+        runner.addBean("project", getProject());
+        runner.addBean("self", self);
+        runner.executeScript("scriptdef_" + name);
+    }
+
 
     /**
      * Defines the language (required).
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/script/ScriptDefBase.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/script/ScriptDefBase.java
index e057b8ffa..471e3540a 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/script/ScriptDefBase.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/script/ScriptDefBase.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ public class ScriptDefBase extends Task implements DynamicConfigurator {
      * control to it
      */
     public void execute() {
-        getScript().executeScript(attributes, nestedElementMap);
+        getScript().executeScript(attributes, nestedElementMap, this);
     }
 
     private ScriptDef getScript() {