diff --git a/proposal/xdocs/build.xml b/proposal/xdocs/build.xml
index f380acd6a..a5a0aafbc 100644
--- a/proposal/xdocs/build.xml
+++ b/proposal/xdocs/build.xml
@@ -451,7 +451,24 @@
     <ant dir="dvsl"/>
   </target>
 
-  <target name="docs-from-scratch" depends="clean,gen,docs"/>
+  <target name="compile" depends="init">
+    <mkdir dir="${build.dir}/classes"/>
+    <javac destdir="${build.dir}/classes"
+           srcdir="src"
+           debug="true"
+           includes="**/IndexGen.java"
+    />
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="indexgen" depends="compile">
+    <taskdef name="indexgen"
+             classpath="${build.dir}/classes"
+             classname="org.apache.tools.ant.xdoclet.IndexGen"
+    />
+    <indexgen rootdir="${build.dir}/docs/manual" destdir="${build.dir}/docs/manual"/>
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="docs-from-scratch" depends="clean,gen,docs,indexgen"/>
 
   <target name="default" depends="gen"/>
 
diff --git a/proposal/xdocs/src/org/apache/tools/ant/xdoclet/IndexGen.java b/proposal/xdocs/src/org/apache/tools/ant/xdoclet/IndexGen.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1c5f678a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/proposal/xdocs/src/org/apache/tools/ant/xdoclet/IndexGen.java
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+package org.apache.tools.ant.xdoclet;
+
+import org.apache.tools.ant.Task;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileWriter;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+public class IndexGen extends Task {
+    private File destDir;
+    private File rootDir;
+
+    public void setDestDir(File destDir) {
+        this.destDir = destDir;
+    }
+
+
+    public void setRootDir(File rootDir) {
+        this.rootDir = rootDir;
+    }
+
+
+
+    public void execute() throws BuildException {
+        String[] categories = rootDir.list();
+
+        StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
+        sb.append("<html><head><title>xdocs index</title></head>");
+        sb.append("<body>");
+
+        for (int i=0; i < categories.length; i++) {
+            String category = categories[i];
+            File catDir = new File(rootDir, category);
+
+            if (!catDir.isDirectory()) {
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            sb.append("<h2>" + category + "</h2>");
+
+            sb.append("<ul>");
+
+            String[] tasks = catDir.list();
+
+            for (int j=0; j < tasks.length; j++) {
+                String task = tasks[j];
+                sb.append("<li>");
+                sb.append("<a href=\"" + category + "/" + task + "\">" + task + "</a>");
+                sb.append("</li>");
+            }
+
+            sb.append("</ul>");
+
+        }
+
+        sb.append("</body></html>");
+
+        FileWriter fw = null;
+        try {
+            fw = new FileWriter(new File(destDir,"index.html"));
+            fw.write(sb.toString());
+            fw.close();
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw new BuildException(e);
+        }
+    }
+}
