diff --git a/pmd/etc/doing_the_next_pmd_release.txt b/pmd/etc/doing_the_next_pmd_release.txt
index 40c8c14690..306f3f4c0f 100644
--- a/pmd/etc/doing_the_next_pmd_release.txt
+++ b/pmd/etc/doing_the_next_pmd_release.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+--------> Update ant docs - remove verbose attribute and make a note about -verbose
 update run.bat to point to pmd-1.05.jar
 update run.sh to point to pmd-1.05.jar
 update cpdgui.bat to point to pmd-1.05.jar
diff --git a/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/FormatterTest.java b/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/FormatterTest.java
index 29b08197f5..db6373d32c 100644
--- a/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/FormatterTest.java
+++ b/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/FormatterTest.java
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.renderers.TextRenderer;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.renderers.XMLRenderer;
 import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
 
+import java.io.File;
+
 public class FormatterTest extends TestCase {
 
     public void testType() {
@@ -28,7 +30,7 @@ public class FormatterTest extends TestCase {
     public void testNull() {
         Formatter f = new Formatter();
         assertTrue("Formatter toFile should start off null!", f.isToFileNull());
-        f.setToFile("foo");
+        f.setToFile(new File("foo"));
         assertFalse("Formatter toFile should not be null!", f.isToFileNull());
     }
 
diff --git a/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/PathCheckerTest.java b/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/PathCheckerTest.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 8b38fa5658..0000000000
--- a/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/PathCheckerTest.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
-package test.net.sourceforge.pmd.ant;
-
-import junit.framework.TestCase;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.ant.PathChecker;
-
-public class PathCheckerTest extends TestCase {
-
-    public void testPathCheckerRelativeWin() {
-        PathChecker pc = new PathChecker("Windows XP");
-        assertTrue(!pc.isAbsolute("foo\\bar.html"));
-    }
-
-    public void testPathCheckerAbsoluteWin() {
-        PathChecker pc = new PathChecker("Windows XP");
-        assertTrue(pc.isAbsolute("c:\\foo\\bar.html"));
-    }
-
-    public void testPathCheckerRelativeNix() {
-        PathChecker pc = new PathChecker("Linux");
-        assertTrue(!pc.isAbsolute("foo/bar.html"));
-    }
-
-    public void testPathCheckerAbsoluteNix() {
-        PathChecker pc = new PathChecker("Linux");
-        assertTrue(pc.isAbsolute("/var/www/html/report.html"));
-    }
-
-}
diff --git a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/Formatter.java b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/Formatter.java
index ad3c4e0d74..2f845d94ec 100644
--- a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/Formatter.java
+++ b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/Formatter.java
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import java.io.Writer;
 public class Formatter {
 
     private Renderer renderer;
-    private String toFile;
+    private File toFile;
 
     public void setType(String type) {
         if (type.equals("xml")) {
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ public class Formatter {
         }
     }
 
-    public void setToFile(String toFile) {
+    public void setToFile(File toFile) {
         this.toFile = toFile;
     }
 
@@ -45,15 +45,17 @@ public class Formatter {
     }
 
     public boolean isToFileNull() {
-        return this.toFile == null;
+        return toFile == null;
     }
 
     public Writer getToFileWriter(String baseDir) throws IOException {
-        String outFile = toFile;
-        PathChecker pc = new PathChecker(System.getProperty("os.name"));
-        if (!pc.isAbsolute(toFile)) {
-            outFile = baseDir + System.getProperty("file.separator") + toFile;
+        if (!toFile.isAbsolute()) {
+            return new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(new File(baseDir + System.getProperty("file.separator") + toFile.getPath())));
         }
-        return new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(new File(outFile)));
+        return new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(toFile));
+    }
+
+    public String toString() {
+        return "file = " + toFile + "; renderer = " + renderer.getClass().getName();
     }
 }
diff --git a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/PMDTask.java b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/PMDTask.java
index 155d61de4a..8fb65262fe 100644
--- a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/PMDTask.java
+++ b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/PMDTask.java
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ public class PMDTask extends Task {
         if (!ctx.getReport().isEmpty()) {
             for (Iterator i = formatters.iterator(); i.hasNext();) {
                 Formatter formatter = (Formatter) i.next();
+                log("Sending a report to " + formatter, Project.MSG_VERBOSE);
                 String buffer = formatter.getRenderer().render(ctx.getReport()) + EOL;
                 try {
                     Writer writer = formatter.getToFileWriter(project.getBaseDir().toString());
diff --git a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/PathChecker.java b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/PathChecker.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 92dbeeb9a7..0000000000
--- a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/PathChecker.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-package net.sourceforge.pmd.ant;
-
-public class PathChecker {
-
-    private boolean isWindowsVariant;
-
-    public PathChecker(String osNameProperty) {
-        isWindowsVariant = osNameProperty.toLowerCase().indexOf("windows") != -1;
-    }
-
-    public boolean isAbsolute(String path) {
-        if (!isWindowsVariant) {
-            return path.charAt(0) == '/';
-        }
-        return path.charAt(1) == ':';
-    }
-}