diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Checksum.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Checksum.java
index aa4d0965f..91a7b6bfb 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Checksum.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Checksum.java
@@ -53,10 +53,11 @@
  */
 package org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs;
 
-import java.io.DataInputStream;
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.security.DigestInputStream;
 import java.security.MessageDigest;
@@ -377,15 +378,14 @@ public class Checksum extends MatchingTask implements Condition {
                         if (existingFile.exists() &&
                             existingFile.length() == checksum.length()) {
                             fis = new FileInputStream(existingFile);
-                            DataInputStream edis = new DataInputStream(fis);
-                            String suppliedChecksum = "";
-                            if (edis.available() > 0) {
-                                suppliedChecksum = edis.readLine();
-                            }
+                            InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(fis);
+                            BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);
+                            String suppliedChecksum = br.readLine();
                             fis.close();
                             fis = null;
-                            edis.close();
-                            checksumMatches = 
+                            br.close();
+                            isr.close();
+                            checksumMatches =
                                 checksum.equals(suppliedChecksum);
                         } else {
                             checksumMatches = false;
@@ -394,6 +394,8 @@ public class Checksum extends MatchingTask implements Condition {
                         File dest = (File) destination;
                         fos = new FileOutputStream(dest);
                         fos.write(checksum.getBytes());
+                        fos.close();
+                        fos = null;
                     }
                 }
             }