diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/cvs.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/cvs.html
index 5c389d400..3261ce7b6 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/cvs.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/cvs.html
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 <h2><a name="cvs">Cvs</a></h2>
 <h3>Description</h3>
-<p>Handles packages/modules retrieved from a 
+<p>Handles packages/modules retrieved from a
 <a href="http://www.cvshome.org/" target="_top">CVS</a> repository.</p>
 <p>When doing automated builds, the <a href="get.html">get task</a> should be
 preferred over the <i>checkout</i> command, because of speed.</p>
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ preferred over the <i>checkout</i> command, because of speed.</p>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">noexec</td>
     <td valign="top">report only, don't change any files.</td>
-    <td align="center" valign="top">No, default &quot;false&quot;</td>
+    <td align="center" valign="top">No, default to &quot;false&quot;</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">output</td>
@@ -75,6 +75,11 @@ preferred over the <i>checkout</i> command, because of speed.</p>
     <td valign="top">the file to direct standard error from the command.</td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">No, default error to ANT Log as MSG_WARN.</td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">append</td>
+    <td valign="top">whether to append output/error when redirecting to a file.</td>
+    <td align="center" valign="top">No, default to &quot;false&quot;.</td>
+  </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">port</td>
     <td valign="top">Port used by CVS to communicate with the server.</td>
@@ -106,9 +111,9 @@ repository pointed to by the cvsRoot attribute, and stores the files in &quot;${
 <p>silently (-q) creates a file called patch.txt which contains a unified (-u) diff which includes new files added via &quot;cvs add&quot; (-N) and can be used as input to patch.</p>
 <pre>  &lt;cvs command=&quot;update -A -d&quot;/&gt;</pre>
 <p>Updates from the head of repository ignoring sticky bits (-A) and creating any new directories as necessary (-d).</p>
-<p>Note: the text of the command is passed to cvs &quot;as-is&quot; so any cvs options should appear 
-before the command, and any command options should appear after the command as in the diff example 
-above. See <a href="http://www.cvshome.org/docs/manual/index.html" target="_top">the cvs manual</a> for details, 
+<p>Note: the text of the command is passed to cvs &quot;as-is&quot; so any cvs options should appear
+before the command, and any command options should appear after the command as in the diff example
+above. See <a href="http://www.cvshome.org/docs/manual/index.html" target="_top">the cvs manual</a> for details,
 specifically the <a href="http://www.cvshome.org/docs/manual/cvs_16.html" target="_top">Guide to CVS commands</a></p>
 <hr><p align="center">Copyright &copy; 2000,2001 Apache Software Foundation. All rights
 Reserved.</p>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Cvs.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Cvs.java
index 04d348d98..068b4a558 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Cvs.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Cvs.java
@@ -123,6 +123,9 @@ public class Cvs extends Task {
      */
     private File dest;
 
+    /** whether or not to append stdout/stderr to existing files */
+    private boolean append = false;
+
     /**
      * the file to direct standard output from the command.
      */
@@ -201,7 +204,7 @@ public class Cvs extends Task {
         else {
             if (output != null) {
                 try {
-                    outputstream = new PrintStream(new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(output)));
+                    outputstream = new PrintStream(new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(output.getPath(), append)));
                 } catch (IOException e) {
                     throw new BuildException(e, location);
                 }
@@ -211,7 +214,7 @@ public class Cvs extends Task {
             }
             if (error != null) {
                 try {
-                    errorstream = new PrintStream(new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(error)));
+                    errorstream = new PrintStream(new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(error.getPath(), append)));
                 } catch (IOException e) {
                     throw new BuildException(e, location);
                 }
@@ -324,6 +327,10 @@ public class Cvs extends Task {
         this.error = error;
     }
 
+    public void setAppend(boolean value){
+        this.append = value;
+    }
+
     public void setFailOnError(boolean failOnError) {
         this.failOnError = failOnError;
     }