diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/Diagnostics.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/Diagnostics.java
index 64a3bbb9c..9b950f38e 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/Diagnostics.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/Diagnostics.java
@@ -259,10 +259,23 @@ public final class Diagnostics {
      * @param out the stream to print the properties to.
      */
     private static void doReportSystemProperties(PrintStream out) {
-        for (Enumeration keys = System.getProperties().propertyNames();
+        Properties sysprops = null;
+        try {
+            sysprops = System.getProperties();
+        } catch (SecurityException  e) {
+            out.println("Access to System.getProperties() blocked " +
+                    "by a security manager");
+        }
+        for (Enumeration keys = sysprops.propertyNames();
             keys.hasMoreElements();) {
             String key = (String) keys.nextElement();
-            out.println(key + " : " + System.getProperty(key));
+            String value;
+            try {
+                value = System.getProperty(key);
+            } catch (SecurityException e) {
+                value = "Access to this property blocked by a security manager";
+            }
+            out.println(key + " : " + value);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/DiagnosticsTask.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/DiagnosticsTask.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ac14690c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/DiagnosticsTask.java
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+package org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs;
+
+import org.apache.tools.ant.Task;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.Diagnostics;
+
+/*
+ * 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.
+ *
+ */
+
+/**
+ * This is a task that hands off work to the Diagnostics module.
+ * It lets you run diagnostics in an IDE.
+ */
+public class DiagnosticsTask extends Task {
+
+    private static final String[] args=new String[0];
+    
+    public void execute() throws BuildException {
+        Diagnostics.main(args);
+    }
+
+
+}
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/defaults.properties b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/defaults.properties
index 91ba03c95..c0f9ee345 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/defaults.properties
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/defaults.properties
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ libraries=org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.repository.Libraries
 length=org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.Length
 clone=org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.Clone
 copypath=org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.CopyPath
+diagnostics=org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.DiagnosticsTask
 
 # optional tasks
 image=org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.optional.image.Image