diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Jikes.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Jikes.java
index e99f8d42c..05b70e8c2 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Jikes.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Jikes.java
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ package org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs;
 import java.io.*;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.*;
 
+import java.util.Random;
+
 /**
  * Encapsulates a Jikes compiler, by
  * directly executing an external process.
@@ -28,20 +30,57 @@ public class Jikes {
      * @param args - arguments to pass to process on command line
      */
     protected void compile(String[] args) {
-        String[] commandArray = new String[args.length+1];
-        commandArray[0] = command;
-        System.arraycopy(args,0,commandArray,1,args.length);
-        
-        // We assume, that everything jikes writes goes to
-        // standard output, not to standard error. The option
-        // -Xstdout that is given to Jikes in Javac.doJikesCompile()
-        // should guarantee this. At least I hope so. :)
+        String[] commandArray = null;
+        File tmpFile = null;
+
         try {
-            Process jikes = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(commandArray);
-            BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(jikes.getInputStream()));
-            jop.parseOutput(reader);
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new BuildException("Error running Jikes compiler", e);                
+            String myos = System.getProperty("os.name");
+
+            // Windows has a 32k limit on total arg size, so
+            // create a temporary file to store all the arguments
+
+            // There have been reports that 300 files could be compiled
+            // so 250 is a conservative approach
+            if (myos.toLowerCase().indexOf("windows") >= 0 
+                && args.length > 250) {
+                PrintWriter out = null;
+                try {
+                    tmpFile = new File("jikes"+(new Random(System.currentTimeMillis())).nextLong());
+                    out = new PrintWriter(new FileWriter(tmpFile));
+                    for (int i = 0; i < args.length; i++) {
+                        out.println(args[i]);
+                    }
+                    out.flush();
+                    commandArray = new String[] { command, 
+                                                  "@" + tmpFile.getAbsolutePath()};
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    throw new BuildException("Error creating temporary file", e);
+                } finally {
+                    if (out != null) {
+                        try {out.close();} catch (Throwable t) {}
+                    }
+                }
+            } else {
+                commandArray = new String[args.length+1];
+                commandArray[0] = command;
+                System.arraycopy(args,0,commandArray,1,args.length);
+            }
+            
+            // We assume, that everything jikes writes goes to
+            // standard output, not to standard error. The option
+            // -Xstdout that is given to Jikes in Javac.doJikesCompile()
+            // should guarantee this. At least I hope so. :)
+            try {
+                Process jikes = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(commandArray);
+                BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(jikes.getInputStream()));
+                jop.parseOutput(reader);
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                throw new BuildException("Error running Jikes compiler", e);
+            }
+        } finally {
+            if (tmpFile != null) {
+                tmpFile.delete();
+            }
         }
     }
 }