diff --git a/ear/plugin.jelly b/ear/plugin.jelly
index 2797b435..0b2a744d 100644
--- a/ear/plugin.jelly
+++ b/ear/plugin.jelly
@@ -21,10 +21,11 @@
 <project 
   xmlns:j="jelly:core"
   xmlns:ant="jelly:ant"
+  xmlns:artifact="artifact"
   xmlns:license="license"
+  xmlns:maven="jelly:maven"
   xmlns:util="jelly:util"
   xmlns:x="jelly:xml"
-  xmlns:artifact="artifact"
   >
 
   <!--==================================================================-->
@@ -63,9 +64,12 @@
     <ant:ear destfile="${maven.build.dir}/${maven.final.name}.ear"
          appxml="${maven.ear.appxml}">
 
-      <fileset dir="${maven.ear.src}" casesensitive="false" 
-        excludes="**/META-INF/application.xml"/>
-
+      <!-- include files from maven.ear.src if available -->
+      <util:available file="${maven.ear.src}">
+        <fileset dir="${maven.ear.src}" casesensitive="false" 
+          excludes="**/META-INF/application.xml"/>
+      </util:available>
+      
       <!-- include marked dependencies -->
       <j:forEach var="lib" items="${pom.artifacts}">
         <j:set var="dep" value="${lib.dependency}"/>      
@@ -111,6 +115,13 @@
                      value="${pom.organization.name}" />
         </ant:section>
       </ant:manifest>
+      
+      <j:if test="${!pom.build.resources.isEmpty()}">
+        <mkdir dir="${maven.ear.resources}"/>
+        <maven:copy-resources resources="${pom.build.resources}" todir="${maven.ear.resources}"/>
+        <fileset dir="${maven.ear.resources}" />
+      </j:if>
+      
     </ant:ear>
 
   </goal>
diff --git a/ear/plugin.properties b/ear/plugin.properties
index 70926ed7..56206d8f 100644
--- a/ear/plugin.properties
+++ b/ear/plugin.properties
@@ -30,3 +30,4 @@ maven.ear.manifest=${maven.ear.descriptordir}/MANIFEST.MF
 maven.ear.appxml.generate=false
 maven.ear.displayname=${pom.id}
 maven.ear.appxml.version=1.3
+maven.ear.resources=${maven.build.dir}/ear
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ear/project.xml b/ear/project.xml
index 8925c6d1..c03cc3ad 100644
--- a/ear/project.xml
+++ b/ear/project.xml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
   <pomVersion>3</pomVersion>
   <id>maven-ear-plugin</id>
   <name>Maven EAR Plugin</name>
-  <currentVersion>1.4</currentVersion>
+  <currentVersion>1.5-SNAPSHOT</currentVersion>
   <description>Ear Plugin for Maven</description>
   <shortDescription>Ear Plugin for Maven</shortDescription>
   <url>http://maven.apache.org/reference/plugins/ear/</url>
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
     <version>
       <id>1.2</id>
       <name>1.2</name>
-      <tag>HEAD</tag>
+      <tag>MAVEN_EAR_1_2</tag>
     </version>
   </versions>
   <developers>
diff --git a/ear/src/plugin-test/maven.xml b/ear/src/plugin-test/maven.xml
index 47795456..0738c40f 100644
--- a/ear/src/plugin-test/maven.xml
+++ b/ear/src/plugin-test/maven.xml
@@ -56,16 +56,21 @@
     <j:new var="saxReader" className="org.dom4j.io.SAXReader" />
     <j2ee:resolver var="resolver" />
     ${saxReader.setEntityResolver(resolver)}
-<echo>${resolver}</echo>
-<echo>${saxReader.entityResolver}</echo>
     <x:parse var="applicationDoc" xml="${appXml.toURL()}" SAXReader="${saxReader}" />
     <x:set var="firstJavaModule" select="string($applicationDoc/application/module/java)"/>
-    <echo>output is ${a}</echo>
+
     <j:if test="${firstJavaModule != 'commons-collections-2.1.jar'}">
       <fail>
         commons-collections-2.1.jar not bundled as a java module found '${firstJavaModule}' instead
       </fail>
     </j:if>
 
+    <!-- check for resources -->
+    <j:set var="expectedFile" value="${unzipDir}/resource.txt"/>
+    <u:file var="file" name="${expectedFile}" />
+    <j:if test="${!(file.exists())}">
+      <fail>${expectedFile} not bundled as a resource</fail>
+    </j:if>
+
   </goal>
 </project>
diff --git a/ear/src/plugin-test/project.xml b/ear/src/plugin-test/project.xml
index cd265e26..9d024947 100644
--- a/ear/src/plugin-test/project.xml
+++ b/ear/src/plugin-test/project.xml
@@ -88,5 +88,12 @@
     <sourceDirectory>src</sourceDirectory>
     <unitTestSourceDirectory>src/test</unitTestSourceDirectory>
     <!-- Resources that are packaged up inside the JAR file -->
+    <resources>
+      <resource>
+        <directory>src/resources</directory>
+        <targetPath></targetPath>
+        <includes><include>*.txt</include></includes>
+      </resource>
+    </resources>
   </build>
 </project>
diff --git a/ear/src/plugin-test/src/resources/resource.txt b/ear/src/plugin-test/src/resources/resource.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7c5de4bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ear/src/plugin-test/src/resources/resource.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+This is a dummy file
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ear/xdocs/changes.xml b/ear/xdocs/changes.xml
index 40887514..d0c403c4 100644
--- a/ear/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/ear/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -24,6 +24,12 @@
     <author email="nathan.coast@blueyonder.co.uk">Nathan Coast</author>
   </properties>
   <body>
+    <release version="1.5" date="in CVS">
+      <action dev="dion" type="fix">
+        Check to make sure maven.ear.src exists before using it.
+      </action>
+      <action dev="dion" type="update">Allow resources in EAR projects</action>
+    </release>
     <release version="1.4" date="2004-03-07">
       <action dev="dion" type="fix" issue="MPEAR-14">Introduced ear.module property to mark jars as being java client modules</action>
       <action dev="dion" type="update">Added to the plugin tests a check to make sure the ear includes the jars marked by ear.bundle and ear.module and that ear.module generates a java module in the generated application.xml</action>