diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 3e4e90ba0..da25374ec 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -50,6 +50,12 @@ Other changes:
  * added a new <native2asciifilter> filter that can perform non-ASCII
    to Unicode-escape conversions.
 
+ * <rmic> defaults to the "forking" compiler on JDK 9+ as the
+   implementation class of rmic is not exported by its containing
+   module and thus not accessible to Ant without applying -XaddExports
+   magic.
+   Bugzilla Report 59860
+
 Changes from Ant 1.9.6 TO Ant 1.9.7
 ===================================
 
diff --git a/manual/Tasks/rmic.html b/manual/Tasks/rmic.html
index b644c68cd..12b30c51e 100644
--- a/manual/Tasks/rmic.html
+++ b/manual/Tasks/rmic.html
@@ -52,11 +52,13 @@ with the &quot;build.rmic&quot; property, the <code>compiler</code>
 attribute. or a nested element.
 <a name="compilervalues">Here are the choices</a>:</p>
 <ul>
-  <li>default -the default compiler (kaffe or sun) for the platform.
-  <li>sun (the standard compiler of the JDK)</li>
+  <li>default -the default compiler (kaffe, sun or forking) for the platform.
+  <li>sun (the standard compiler of the JDK < JDK 9)</li>
   <li>kaffe (the standard compiler of <a href="http://www.kaffe.org" target="_top">Kaffe</a>)</li>
   <li>weblogic</li>
-  <li>forking - the sun compiler forked into a separate process (since Apache Ant 1.7)</li>
+  <li>forking - the sun compiler forked into a separate process (since
+    Apache Ant 1.7). Starting with Ant 1.9.8 this is the default when
+    running on JDK 9+.</li>
   <li>xnew - the sun compiler forked into a separate process,
       with the -Xnew option (since Ant 1.7).
       This is the most reliable way to use -Xnew</li>
diff --git a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/rmic/rmic.xml b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/rmic/rmic.xml
index 944cdcd6b..4670f43f7 100644
--- a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/rmic/rmic.xml
+++ b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/rmic/rmic.xml
@@ -200,7 +200,17 @@
   
   <target name="probe-rmic">
     <available property="kaffe.present" classname="jkaffe.rmi.rmic.RMIC"/>
-    <available property="rmic.present" classname="sun.rmi.rmic.Main"/>
+    <condition property="rmic.present">
+      <or>
+        <available classname="sun.rmi.rmic.Main"/>
+        <!-- we'll use forking as default for Java9 -->
+        <available classname="java.lang.module.ModuleDescriptor"/>
+      </or>
+    </condition>
+    <condition property="rmic.compiler" value="forking">
+      <available classname="java.lang.module.ModuleDescriptor"/>
+    </condition>
+    <property name="rmic.compiler" value="sun"/>
     <available property="wlrmic.present" classname="weblogic.rmic"/>
     <condition property="rmic6.present">
       <and>
@@ -263,24 +273,24 @@
   </target>
   
   <target name="testRmic" if="rmic.present" depends="init">
-    <base-rmic compiler="sun"/>
+    <base-rmic compiler="${rmic.compiler}"/>
     <assertBaseCompiled/>
   </target>
 
   <target name="testRmicDest" if="rmic.present" depends="init">
-    <dest-rmic compiler="sun"/>
+    <dest-rmic compiler="${rmic.compiler}"/>
     <assertBaseCompiledInDest/>
   </target>
 
   <target name="testRmicJArg" if="rmic.present" depends="init">
-    <base-rmic compiler="sun">
+    <base-rmic compiler="${rmic.compiler}">
       <compilerarg value="-J-mx256m" />
     </base-rmic>
     <assertBaseCompiled/>
   </target>
 
   <target name="testRmicJArgDest" if="rmic.present" depends="init">
-    <dest-rmic compiler="sun">
+    <dest-rmic compiler="${rmic.compiler}">
       <compilerarg value="-J-mx256m" />
     </dest-rmic>
     <assertBaseCompiledInDest/>
@@ -322,7 +332,7 @@
     <assertBaseCompiled/>
   </target>
 
-  <target name="testBadName" if="rmic.present" depends="init">
+  <target name="testBadName" depends="init">
     <base-rmic
       compiler="no-such-compiler"
       />
@@ -330,12 +340,12 @@
 
   <target name="testExplicitClass" if="rmic.present" depends="init">
     <base-rmic
-        compiler="org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.rmic.SunRmic"
+        compiler="org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.rmic.ForkingSunRmic"
         />
     <assertBaseCompiled/>
   </target>
   
-  <target name="testWrongClass" if="rmic.present" depends="init">
+  <target name="testWrongClass" depends="init">
     <base-rmic
       compiler="org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException"
       />
@@ -389,14 +399,14 @@
     <assertAntCompiledInDest/>
   </target>
 
-  <target name="testForkingAntClasspath" if="rmic.present" depends="compileAntTimestamp">
+  <target name="testForkingAntClasspath" depends="compileAntTimestamp">
     <base-rmic
       compiler="forking"
       />
     <assertAntCompiled />
   </target>
 
-  <target name="testForkingAntClasspathDest" if="rmic.present" depends="compileAntTimestamp">
+  <target name="testForkingAntClasspathDest" depends="compileAntTimestamp">
     <dest-rmic
       compiler="forking"
       />
@@ -429,14 +439,14 @@
   This test stamps on the XML parser settings on java6, so it is disabled.
   -->
   <target name="testXnew" if="rmic.present" unless="rmic6.present" depends="init">
-    <base-rmic compiler="sun">
+    <base-rmic compiler="${rmic.compiler}">
       <compilerarg value="-Xnew"/>
     </base-rmic>
     <assertBaseCompiled/>
   </target>
 
   <target name="testXnewDest" if="rmic.present" unless="rmic6.present" depends="init">
-    <dest-rmic compiler="sun">
+    <dest-rmic compiler="${rmic.compiler}">
       <compilerarg value="-Xnew"/>
     </dest-rmic>
     <assertBaseCompiledInDest/>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/rmic/RmicAdapterFactory.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/rmic/RmicAdapterFactory.java
index 4a2708c78..a604144ad 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/rmic/RmicAdapterFactory.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/rmic/RmicAdapterFactory.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.Task;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.types.Path;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.util.ClasspathUtils;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.util.JavaEnvUtils;
 
 /**
  * Creates the necessary rmic adapter, given basic criteria.
@@ -95,9 +96,13 @@ public final class RmicAdapterFactory {
         throws BuildException {
         //handle default specially by choosing the sun or kaffe compiler
         if (DEFAULT_COMPILER.equalsIgnoreCase(rmicType) || rmicType.length() == 0) {
-            rmicType = KaffeRmic.isAvailable()
-                ? KaffeRmic.COMPILER_NAME
-                : SunRmic.COMPILER_NAME;
+            if (KaffeRmic.isAvailable()) {
+                rmicType = KaffeRmic.COMPILER_NAME;
+            } else if (JavaEnvUtils.isAtLeastJavaVersion(JavaEnvUtils.JAVA_9)) {
+                rmicType = ForkingSunRmic.COMPILER_NAME;
+            } else {
+                rmicType = SunRmic.COMPILER_NAME;
+            }
         }
         if (SunRmic.COMPILER_NAME.equalsIgnoreCase(rmicType)) {
             return new SunRmic();
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/rmic/SunRmic.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/rmic/SunRmic.java
index 07cbd3062..1b5e67dad 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/rmic/SunRmic.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/rmic/SunRmic.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.Project;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.LogOutputStream;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.types.Commandline;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.util.JavaEnvUtils;
 
 /**
  * The implementation of the rmic for SUN's JDK.
@@ -54,6 +55,9 @@ public class SunRmic extends DefaultRmicAdapter {
                                          + "available.  A common solution is to "
                                          + "set the environment variable "
                                          + "JAVA_HOME";
+    public static final String ERROR_NO_RMIC_ON_CLASSPATH_JAVA_9 = "Cannot use SUN rmic, as it is not "
+                                         + "available.  The class we try to use is part of the jdk.rmic module which may not be. "
+                                         + "Please use the 'forking' compiler for JDK 9+";
     /** Error message to use when there is an error starting the sun rmic compiler */
     public static final String ERROR_RMIC_FAILED = "Error starting SUN rmic: ";
 
@@ -84,6 +88,10 @@ public class SunRmic extends DefaultRmicAdapter {
                                        (new Object[] {cmd.getArguments()}));
             return ok.booleanValue();
         } catch (ClassNotFoundException ex) {
+            if (JavaEnvUtils.isAtLeastJavaVersion(JavaEnvUtils.JAVA_9)) {
+                throw new BuildException(ERROR_NO_RMIC_ON_CLASSPATH_JAVA_9,
+                                         getRmic().getLocation());
+            }
             throw new BuildException(ERROR_NO_RMIC_ON_CLASSPATH,
                                      getRmic().getLocation());
         } catch (Exception ex) {
diff --git a/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/RmicAdvancedTest.java b/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/RmicAdvancedTest.java
index c9d251469..e0e2d9a1e 100644
--- a/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/RmicAdvancedTest.java
+++ b/src/tests/junit/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/RmicAdvancedTest.java
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ public class RmicAdvancedTest {
      * test weblogic
      */
     @Test
-    @Ignore("WLRmin tests don't work")
+    @Ignore("WLRmic tests don't work")
     public void XtestWlrmic() throws Exception {
         buildRule.executeTarget("testWlrmic");
     }
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ public class RmicAdvancedTest {
      *  test weblogic's stripping of -J args
      */
     @Test
-    @Ignore("WLRmin tests don't work")
+    @Ignore("WLRmic tests don't work")
     public void XtestWlrmicJArg() throws Exception {
         buildRule.executeTarget("testWlrmicJArg");
     }
@@ -155,8 +155,7 @@ public class RmicAdvancedTest {
      * test the forking compiler
      */
     @Test
-    @Ignore("WLRmin tests don't work")
-    public void NotestForking() throws Exception {
+    public void testForking() throws Exception {
         buildRule.executeTarget("testForking");
     }