diff --git a/docs/manual/OptionalTasks/rpm.html b/docs/manual/OptionalTasks/rpm.html
index 7344c4fa6..b213e0602 100644
--- a/docs/manual/OptionalTasks/rpm.html
+++ b/docs/manual/OptionalTasks/rpm.html
@@ -27,9 +27,8 @@
 <h2><a name="rpm">Rpm</a></h2>
 <h3>Description</h3>
 <p>
-  A basic task for invoking the rpm executable to build a Linux installation
-  file. The task currently only works on Linux or other Unix platforms
-  with rpm support.
+  A basic task for invoking the rpm executable to build a RedHat Package Manager Linux installation
+  file. The task currently only works on Linux or other Unix platforms with rpm support.
 </p>
 
 <h3>Parameters</h3>
@@ -41,7 +40,8 @@
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">specFile</td>
-    <td valign="top">The name of the spec file to be used.</td>
+    <td valign="top">The name of the spec file to be used. This must be relative to the SPECS directory
+    under the root of the RPM set in the topDir attribute.</td>
     <td valign="top" align="center">Yes</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
@@ -49,26 +49,33 @@
     <td valign="top">
       This is the directory which will have the expected
       subdirectories, SPECS, SOURCES, BUILD, SRPMS.  If this isn't specified,
-      the baseDir value is used
+      the default RPM directory of the system (or user, if ~/.rpmmacros defines it) is used (often
+      /usr/src/rpm.<br>
+      Defining a topdir will set <tt>%_topdir</tt> to the specified directory -there is no need
+      to edit your .rpmmacros file.
     </td>
-    <td valign="top" align="center">No</td>
+    <td valign="top" align="center">No, but your build file is very brittle if it is not set.</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">cleanBuildDir</td>
     <td valign="top">This will remove the generated files in the BUILD
-directory.</td>
+      directory.
+      See the the <tt>--clean</tt> option of rpmbuild.
+    </td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">removeSpec</td>
-    <td valign="top">This will remove the spec file from SPECS</td>
+    <td valign="top">This will remove the spec file from SPECS.
+      See the the <tt>--rmspec</tt> option of rpmbuild.
+    </td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">removeSource</td>
     <td valign="top">Flag (optional, default=false) 
         to remove the sources after the build.
-        See the the <tt>--rmsource</tt>  option of rpmbuild.</td>
+        See the the <tt>--rmsource</tt> option of rpmbuild.</td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
@@ -82,7 +89,7 @@ directory.</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">command</td>
-    <td valign="top">Very similar idea to the cvs task.  the default is "-bb"</td>
+    <td valign="top">The command to pass to the rpmbuild program. The default is "-bb"</td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
@@ -103,7 +110,14 @@ directory.</td>
   </tr>
 </table>
 
-
+<h3>Examples</h3>
+<pre>
+    &lt;rpm
+        specFile="example.spec"
+        topDir="build/rpm"
+        cleanBuildDir="true"
+        failOnError="true"/&gt;
+</pre>
 </body>
 </html>
 
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/Rpm.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/Rpm.java
index 1b5909bee..d570e1141 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/Rpm.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/Rpm.java
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ public class Rpm extends Task {
      * @param sf the spec file name to use.
      */
     public void setSpecFile(String sf) {
-        if ((sf == null) || (sf.trim().equals(""))) {
+        if ((sf == null) || (sf.trim().length()==0)) {
             throw new BuildException("You must specify a spec file", getLocation());
         }
         this.specFile = sf;