diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/Rpm.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/Rpm.java
index fefe54486..2c5d22e2c 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/Rpm.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/Rpm.java
@@ -172,15 +172,7 @@ public class Rpm extends Task {
             streamhandler = new PumpStreamHandler(outputstream, errorstream);
         }
 
-        Execute exe = new Execute(streamhandler, null);
-
-        exe.setAntRun(getProject());
-        if (topDir == null) {
-            topDir = getProject().getBaseDir();
-        }
-        exe.setWorkingDirectory(topDir);
-
-        exe.setCommandline(toExecute.getCommandline());
+        Execute exe = getExecute(toExecute, streamhandler);
         try {
             log("Building the RPM based on the " + specFile + " file");
             int returncode = exe.execute();
@@ -336,4 +328,21 @@ public class Rpm extends Task {
 
         return "rpm";
     }
+
+    /**
+     * @since Ant 1.7
+     */
+    protected Execute getExecute(Commandline toExecute,
+                                 ExecuteStreamHandler streamhandler) {
+        Execute exe = new Execute(streamhandler, null);
+
+        exe.setAntRun(getProject());
+        if (topDir == null) {
+            topDir = getProject().getBaseDir();
+        }
+        exe.setWorkingDirectory(topDir);
+
+        exe.setCommandline(toExecute.getCommandline());
+        return exe;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/RpmTest.java b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/RpmTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e6057fbc1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/RpmTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2005 The Apache Software Foundation
+ *
+ *  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ *  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ *  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ *  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ *  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ *  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ *  limitations under the License.
+ *
+ */
+package org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.optional;
+
+import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.Execute;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.ExecuteStreamHandler;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.types.Commandline;
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+public class RpmTest extends TestCase {
+
+    public void testShouldThrowExceptionWhenRpmFails() throws Exception {
+        Rpm rpm = new MyRpm();
+        rpm.setProject(new org.apache.tools.ant.Project());
+        rpm.setFailOnError(true);
+        // execute
+        try {
+            rpm.execute();
+            fail("should have thrown a build exception");
+        } catch (BuildException ex) {
+            assertTrue(ex.getMessage()
+                       .indexOf("' failed with exit code 2") != -1);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public void testShouldNotThrowExceptionWhenRpmFails() throws Exception {
+        Rpm rpm = new MyRpm();
+        rpm.execute();
+    }
+
+    // override some of the code so we can test the handling of the
+    // return code only.
+    public static class MyRpm extends Rpm {
+        protected Execute getExecute(Commandline toExecute,
+                                     ExecuteStreamHandler streamhandler) {
+            return new Execute() {
+                    public int execute() {
+                        // 2 is != 0 and even, so it is considered
+                        // failure on any platform currently supported
+                        // by Execute#isFailure.
+                        return 2;
+                    }
+                };
+        }
+
+        public void log(String msg, int msgLevel) {
+        }
+    }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file