diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index e02742e70..7fceecac4 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -101,6 +101,8 @@ Other changes:
 
 * spelling fixes, occurred. Bugzilla Report 27282.
 
+* add uid and gid to tarfileset. Bugzilla Report 19120.
+
 Changes from Ant 1.6.0 to Ant 1.6.1
 =============================================
 
diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/tar.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/tar.html
index aec19ea4a..065146e4d 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/tar.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/tar.html
@@ -135,14 +135,27 @@ attributes
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">username</td>
-    <td valign="top">The username for the tar entry. This is not the same as the UID, which is
-                     not currently set by the tar task.</td>
+    <td valign="top">The username for the tar entry. This is not the same as the UID.
+                     </td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">group</td>
-    <td valign="top">The groupname for the tar entry. This is not the same as the GID, which is
-                     not currently set by the tar task.</td>
+    <td valign="top">The groupname for the tar entry. This is not the same as the GID.
+                     </td>
+    <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">uid</td>
+    <td valign="top">The user identifier (UID) for the tar entry. This is an integer value
+      and is not the same as the username. <em>since Ant 1.6.2</em>.
+                     </td>
+    <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">gid</td>
+    <td valign="top">The group identifier (GID) for the tar entry. <em>since Ant 1.6.2</em>.
+                     </td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Tar.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Tar.java
index cf232c180..6f4c0da0d 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Tar.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Tar.java
@@ -378,6 +378,8 @@ public class Tar extends MatchingTask {
             }
             te.setUserName(tarFileSet.getUserName());
             te.setGroupName(tarFileSet.getGroup());
+            te.setUserId(tarFileSet.getUid());
+            te.setGroupId(tarFileSet.getGid());
 
             tOut.putNextEntry(te);
 
@@ -436,6 +438,8 @@ public class Tar extends MatchingTask {
 
         private String userName = "";
         private String groupName = "";
+        private int    uid;
+        private int    gid;
         private String prefix = "";
         private String fullpath = "";
         private boolean preserveLeadingSlashes = false;
@@ -519,8 +523,7 @@ public class Tar extends MatchingTask {
 
         /**
          * The username for the tar entry
-         * This is not the same as the UID, which is
-         * not currently set by the task.
+         * This is not the same as the UID.
          * @param userName the user name for the tar entry.
          */
         public void setUserName(String userName) {
@@ -534,10 +537,25 @@ public class Tar extends MatchingTask {
             return userName;
         }
 
+        /**
+         * The uid for the tar entry
+         * This is not the same as the User name.
+         * @param userName the user name for the tar entry.
+         */
+        public void setUid(int uid) {
+            this.uid = uid;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * @return the uid for the tar entry
+         */
+        public int getUid() {
+            return uid;
+        }
+
         /**
          * The groupname for the tar entry; optional, default=""
-         * This is not the same as the GID, which is
-         * not currently set by the task.
+         * This is not the same as the GID.
          * @param groupName the group name string.
          */
         public void setGroup(String groupName) {
@@ -551,6 +569,22 @@ public class Tar extends MatchingTask {
             return groupName;
         }
 
+        /**
+         * The GID for the tar entry; optional, default="0"
+         * This is not the same as the group name.
+         * @param groupName the group name string.
+         */
+        public void setGid(int gid) {
+            this.gid = gid;
+        }
+
+        /**
+         * @return the group identifier.
+         */
+        public int getGid() {
+            return gid;
+        }
+
         /**
          * If the prefix attribute is set, all files in the fileset
          * are prefixed with that path in the archive.