diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Expand.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Expand.java
index 0f94bddad..124ba46b6 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Expand.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Expand.java
@@ -122,6 +122,10 @@ public class Expand extends Task {
             if (source.isDirectory()) {
                 throw new BuildException("Src must not be a directory."
                     + " Use nested filesets instead.", getLocation());
+            } else if (!source.exists()) {
+                throw new BuildException("src '" + source + "' doesn't exist.");
+            } else if (!source.canRead()) {
+                throw new BuildException("src '" + source + "' cannot be read.");
             } else {
                 expandFile(FILE_UTILS, source, dest);
             }
@@ -130,6 +134,7 @@ public class Expand extends Task {
         while (iter.hasNext()) {
             Resource r = (Resource) iter.next();
             if (!r.isExists()) {
+                log("Skipping '" + r.getName() + "' because it doesn't exist.");
                 continue;
             }
 
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Untar.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Untar.java
index 5e3499076..967b473f8 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Untar.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Untar.java
@@ -118,6 +118,13 @@ public class Untar extends Expand {
      * @since Ant 1.7
      */
     protected void expandResource(Resource srcR, File dir) {
+        if (!srcR.isExists()) {
+            throw new BuildException("Unable to untar "
+                                     + srcR.getName()
+                                     + " as the it does not exist",
+                                     getLocation());
+        }
+
         InputStream i = null;
         try {
             i = srcR.getInputStream();