diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index e930471a5..74822ea64 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -278,6 +278,9 @@ Other changes:
 * <exec>, <sql> and <java> now support append attributes to allow
   appending the output to an existing file.
 
+* <java> now supports a timeout attribute analog to <exec> - it is 
+  highly recommended to only use it together with fork="true".
+
 Changes from Ant 1.4 to Ant 1.4.1
 ===========================================
 
diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/java.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/java.html
index 7951e56fc..d153c3b28 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/java.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/java.html
@@ -107,6 +107,13 @@ JVM.
       (ignored if fork is disabled).</td>
     <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
   </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">timeout</td>
+    <td valign="top">Stop the command if it doesn't finish within the
+    specified time (given in milliseconds).  <strong>It is highly
+    recommended to use this feature only if fork is enabled.</strong></td>
+    <td align="center" valign="top">No</td>
+  </tr>
 </table>
 <h3>Parameters specified as nested elements</h3>
 <h4>arg and jvmarg</h4>