diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index f6ab3cfe3..8a3d956ff 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@ Fixed bugs:
 * <delete includeemptydirs="true"> now deletes more than just the leaf
   directories.
 
+* You can now specify a <fileset> for a directory that doesn't exist at
+  declaration time but will created before the fileset gets used for the
+  first time.
+
 Changes from Ant 1.2 to Ant 1.3
 ===========================================
 
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/FileSet.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/FileSet.java
index da2f23259..8545d808b 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/FileSet.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/FileSet.java
@@ -116,12 +116,6 @@ public class FileSet extends DataType {
             throw tooManyAttributes();
         }
 
-        if (!dir.exists()) {
-            throw new BuildException(dir.getAbsolutePath()+" not found.");
-        }
-        if (!dir.isDirectory()) {
-            throw new BuildException(dir.getAbsolutePath()+" is not a directory.");
-        }
         this.dir = dir;
     }
 
@@ -242,6 +236,13 @@ public class FileSet extends DataType {
             throw new BuildException("No directory specified for fileset.");
         }
 
+        if (!dir.exists()) {
+            throw new BuildException(dir.getAbsolutePath()+" not found.");
+        }
+        if (!dir.isDirectory()) {
+            throw new BuildException(dir.getAbsolutePath()+" is not a directory.");
+        }
+
         DirectoryScanner ds = new DirectoryScanner();
         setupDirectoryScanner(ds, p);
         ds.scan();