diff --git a/CONTRIBUTORS b/CONTRIBUTORS
index 6cec079a0..b0313795b 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTORS
+++ b/CONTRIBUTORS
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ David Maclean
 David Rees
 Denis Hennessy
 Derek Slager
+Devon C. Miller
 Diane Holt
 dIon Gillard
 Dmitry A. Kuminov
diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index d5a79ae95..4147b0a7a 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -150,6 +150,9 @@ Fixed bugs:
    argument, even though the javadoc says, null is a valid value.
    Bugzilla Report 49803.
 
+ * runant.py would swallow the first argument if CLASSPATH wasn't set.
+   Bugzilla Report 49963.
+
 Other changes:
 --------------
 
diff --git a/contributors.xml b/contributors.xml
index c72594345..ef4e10541 100644
--- a/contributors.xml
+++ b/contributors.xml
@@ -373,6 +373,11 @@
     <first>Derek</first>
     <last>Slager</last>
   </name>
+  <name>
+    <first>Devon</first>
+    <middle>C.</middle>
+    <last>Miller</last>
+  </name>
   <name>
     <first>Diane</first>
     <last>Holt</last>
diff --git a/src/script/runant.py b/src/script/runant.py
index c72953bd6..9488a9312 100644
--- a/src/script/runant.py
+++ b/src/script/runant.py
@@ -86,11 +86,11 @@ if os.environ.has_key('ANT_ARGS'):
 
 CLASSPATH = ""
 if os.environ.has_key('CLASSPATH'):
-    CLASSPATH = os.environ['CLASSPATH']
+    CLASSPATH = "-lib " + os.environ['CLASSPATH']
 
 # Builds the commandline
 cmdline = ('%s %s -classpath %s -Dant.home=%s %s ' + \
-    'org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher %s -lib %s %s') \
+    'org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher %s %s %s') \
      % (JAVACMD, ANT_OPTS, LOCALCLASSPATH, ANT_HOME, OPTS, ANT_ARGS, \
         CLASSPATH, string.join(sys.argv[1:], ' '))