diff --git a/manual/Tasks/script.html b/manual/Tasks/script.html
index 94c818747..043d4c63c 100644
--- a/manual/Tasks/script.html
+++ b/manual/Tasks/script.html
@@ -101,9 +101,9 @@ In particular all targets should have different location values.</p>
   <tr>
     <td>setbeans</td>
     <td>This attribute controls whether to set variables for all properties, references and targets
-      in the running script.  If this attribute is <q>false</q>, only the the <code>project</code>
-      and <code>self</code> variables are set.  If this attribute is <q>true</q> all the variables
-      are set. <em>Since Ant 1.7</em></td>
+      in the running script.  If this attribute is <q>false</q>, only the <code>project</code> and
+      <code>self</code> variables are set.  If this attribute is <q>true</q> all the variables are
+      set. <em>Since Ant 1.7</em></td>
     <td>No; defaults to <q>true</q></td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
diff --git a/manual/Tasks/scriptdef.html b/manual/Tasks/scriptdef.html
index a741fba35..ba88bd1df 100644
--- a/manual/Tasks/scriptdef.html
+++ b/manual/Tasks/scriptdef.html
@@ -132,6 +132,14 @@ the <a href="script.html"><code>&lt;script&gt;</code></a> task.</p>
     </td>
     <td>No</td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>setbeans</td>
+    <td>This attribute controls whether to set variables for all properties, references and targets
+      in the running script. If this attribute is <q>false</q>, only the <code>project</code> and
+      <code>self</code> variables are set. If this attribute is <q>true</q> all the variables are
+      set.
+    <td>No; default <q>false</q> for backward compatibility</td>
+  </tr>
 </table>
 
 <h3>Parameters specified as nested elements</h3>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/script/ScriptDef.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/script/ScriptDef.java
index f1c5d4e80..da8ea1045 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/script/ScriptDef.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/script/ScriptDef.java
@@ -67,6 +67,13 @@ public class ScriptDef extends DefBase {
     /** The nested element definitions indexed by their names */
     private Map<String, NestedElement> nestedElementMap;
 
+    /**
+     * Create a new {@link ScriptDef}.
+     */
+    public ScriptDef() {
+        helper.setSetBeans(false);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Set the project.
      * @param project the project that this definition belongs to.
@@ -75,7 +82,6 @@ public class ScriptDef extends DefBase {
     public void setProject(Project project) {
         super.setProject(project);
         helper.setProjectComponent(this);
-        helper.setSetBeans(false);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -447,6 +453,20 @@ public class ScriptDef extends DefBase {
         helper.setEncoding(encoding);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Set the setbeans attribute.
+     * If this is true, &lt;script&gt; will create variables in the
+     * script instance for all
+     * properties, targets and references of the current project.
+     * It this is false, only the project and self variables will
+     * be set.
+     * The default is true.
+     * @param setBeans the value to set.
+     */
+    public void setSetBeans(boolean setBeans) {
+        helper.setSetBeans(setBeans);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Sets the script text.
      *
diff --git a/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/optional/script/scriptdef-test.xml b/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/optional/script/scriptdef-test.xml
index ed87a34b4..62ddda608 100644
--- a/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/optional/script/scriptdef-test.xml
+++ b/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/optional/script/scriptdef-test.xml
@@ -155,4 +155,14 @@
       <scripttest foo="bar" />
     </au:expectfailure>
   </target>
+
+  <target name="testSetbeans" if="prereqs-ok">
+    <js setbeans="true">
+      project.setNewProperty('property', sourceProperty)
+    </js>
+    <property name="sourceProperty" value="live" />
+    <scripttest />
+    <assertPropSet />
+  </target>
+
 </project>