diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 2d075b1d8..0860cb681 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -196,6 +196,9 @@ Other changes:
 * <concat> now supports filtering and can check timestamps before
   overriding a file.  Bugzilla Report 18166.
 
+* <junit> has a new attribute tempdir that controls the placement of
+  temporary files.  Bugzilla Report 15454.
+
 Changes from Ant 1.5.2 to Ant 1.5.3
 ===================================
 
diff --git a/docs/manual/OptionalTasks/junit.html b/docs/manual/OptionalTasks/junit.html
index 2da44b465..97288c6d9 100644
--- a/docs/manual/OptionalTasks/junit.html
+++ b/docs/manual/OptionalTasks/junit.html
@@ -142,6 +142,13 @@ elements</a>).</p>
       formatters receive the output.</td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">tempdir</td>
+    <td valign="top">Where Ant should place temporary files.
+      <em>Since Ant 1.6</em>.</td>
+    <td align="center" valign="top">No; default is the project's base
+      directory.</td>
+  </tr>
 </table>
 
 <p>By using the <code>errorproperty</code> and <code>failureproperty</code>
@@ -479,7 +486,7 @@ aborted. Results are collected in files named
 <code>${reports.tests}</code>.</p>
 
 <hr>
-<p align="center">Copyright &copy; 2000-2002 Apache Software Foundation. All rights
+<p align="center">Copyright &copy; 2000-2003 Apache Software Foundation. All rights
 Reserved.</p>
 </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/junit/JUnitTask.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/junit/JUnitTask.java
index a0e9ae425..8af441f1d 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/junit/JUnitTask.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/junit/JUnitTask.java
@@ -174,6 +174,7 @@ public class JUnitTask extends Task {
     private Path antRuntimeClasses = null;
 
     private boolean showOutput = false;
+    private File tmpDir;
 
     /**
      * If true, smartly filter the stack frames of
@@ -501,6 +502,15 @@ public class JUnitTask extends Task {
             .setClassname("org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.optional.junit.JUnitTestRunner");
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Where Ant should place temporary files.
+     *
+     * @since Ant 1.6
+     */
+    public void setTempdir(File tmpDir) {
+        this.tmpDir = tmpDir;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Adds the jars or directories containing Ant, this task and
      * JUnit to the classpath - this should make the forked JVM work
@@ -636,6 +646,7 @@ public class JUnitTask extends Task {
         // forked test
         File propsFile =
             FileUtils.newFileUtils().createTempFile("junit", ".properties",
+                                                    tmpDir != null ? tmpDir :
                                                     getProject().getBaseDir());
         cmd.createArgument().setValue("propsfile="
                                       + propsFile.getAbsolutePath());