diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 018768dba..1efd23438 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ Other changes:
 
 * <sql> now supports REM comments as well as // and --
 
+* <jar> now has a nested <metainf> element following the same idea as
+  <war>'s <webinf>.
+
 Fixed bugs:
 -----------
 
diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/ear.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/ear.html
index 3ce04541c..e99a924f7 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/ear.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/ear.html
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ treatment for files that should end up in an Enterprise Application archive.</p>
 <p>(The Ear task is a shortcut for specifying the particular layout of a EAR file. 
 The same thing can be accomplished by using the <i>prefix</i> and <i>fullpath</i>
 attributes of zipfilesets in a Zip or Jar task.)</p>
-<p>The extended zipfileset element from the zip task (with attributes <i>prefix</i>, <i>fullpath</i>, and <i>src</i>) is available in the War task.</p>
+<p>The extended zipfileset element from the zip task (with attributes <i>prefix</i>, <i>fullpath</i>, and <i>src</i>) is available in the Ear task.</p>
 
 <h3>Parameters</h3>
 <table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0">
@@ -84,6 +84,13 @@ attributes of zipfilesets in a Zip or Jar task.)</p>
     <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
   </tr>
 </table>
+<h3>Nested elements</h3>
+<h4>metainf</h4>
+<p>The nested <code>metainf</code> element specifies a <a
+href="../CoreTypes/fileset.html">FileSet</a>. All files included in this fileset will
+end up in the <code>META-INF</code> directory of the ear file. If this
+fileset includes a file named <code>MANIFEST.MF</code>, the file is
+ignored and you will get a warning.</p>
 <h2>Example</h2>
 <pre>
     &lt;ear earfile="${build.dir}/myapp.ear" appxml="${src.dir}/metadata/application.xml"&gt;
diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/jar.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/jar.html
index 516eb7764..02f362b74 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/jar.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/jar.html
@@ -106,6 +106,13 @@ include an empty one for you.)</p>
     <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
   </tr>
 </table>
+<h3>Nested elements</h3>
+<h4>metainf</h4>
+<p>The nested <code>metainf</code> element specifies a <a
+href="../CoreTypes/fileset.html">FileSet</a>. All files included in this fileset will
+end up in the <code>META-INF</code> directory of the jar file. If this
+fileset includes a file named <code>MANIFEST.MF</code>, the file is
+ignored and you will get a warning.</p>
 <h3>Examples</h3>
 <pre>  &lt;jar jarfile=&quot;${dist}/lib/app.jar&quot; basedir=&quot;${build}/classes&quot;/&gt;</pre>
 <p>jars all files in the <code>${build}/classes</code> directory into a file
diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/war.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/war.html
index dff6c6f7f..056eee039 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/war.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/war.html
@@ -101,6 +101,12 @@ href="../CoreTypes/fileset.html">FileSet</a>. All files included in this fileset
 end up in the <code>WEB-INF</code> directory of the war file. If this
 fileset includes a file named <code>web.xml</code>, the file is
 ignored and you will get a warning.</p>
+<h4>metainf</h4>
+<p>The nested <code>metainf</code> element specifies a <a
+href="../CoreTypes/fileset.html">FileSet</a>. All files included in this fileset will
+end up in the <code>META-INF</code> directory of the war file. If this
+fileset includes a file named <code>MANIFEST.MF</code>, the file is
+ignored and you will get a warning.</p>
 <h3>Examples</h3>
 <p>Assume the following structure in the project's base directory:</p>
 <pre>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Jar.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Jar.java
index 6d1dcd4f9..d69dd4289 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Jar.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Jar.java
@@ -94,6 +94,11 @@ public class Jar extends Zip {
         super.addFileset(fs);
     }
 
+    public void addMetainf(ZipFileSet fs) {
+        // We just set the prefix for this fileset, and pass it up.
+        fs.setPrefix("META-INF/");
+        super.addFileset(fs);
+    }
 
     protected void initZipOutputStream(ZipOutputStream zOut)
         throws IOException, BuildException