diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index b00a06d48..8ffa27fec 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-Changes from Ant 1.6 to current cvs version
-===========================================
+Changes from Ant 1.6.0 to current cvs version
+=============================================
 
 Changes that could break older environments:
 --------------------------------------------
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ Fixed bugs:
 
 * <whichresource> failed to load classes correctly.
 
+* Ant could fail to start with a NullPointerException if
+  ANT_HOME/lib/ant-launcher.jar was part of the system CLASSPATH.
+
 Other changes:
 --------------
 * Translate task logs a debug message specifying the number of files
@@ -33,8 +36,8 @@ Other changes:
 
 * <fixcrlf> has a new attribute - fixlast. Bugzilla Report 23262.
 
-Changes from Ant 1.5.4 to Ant 1.6
-=================================
+Changes from Ant 1.5.4 to Ant 1.6.0
+===================================
 
 Changes that could break older environments:
 --------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/launch/Locator.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/launch/Locator.java
index ee508c44a..17dd76398 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/launch/Locator.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/launch/Locator.java
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
  * The Apache Software License, Version 1.1
  *
- * Copyright (c) 2003 The Apache Software Foundation.  All rights
+ * Copyright (c) 2003-2004 The Apache Software Foundation.  All rights
  * reserved.
  *
  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
@@ -105,7 +105,12 @@ public final class Locator {
             c = Locator.class.getClassLoader();
         }
 
-        URL url = c.getResource(resource);
+        URL url = null;
+        if (c == null) {
+            url = ClassLoader.getSystemResource(resource);
+        } else {
+            url = c.getResource(resource);
+        }
         if (url != null) {
             String u = url.toString();
             if (u.startsWith("jar:file:")) {