diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index bf12b9809..746e59415 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -287,7 +287,10 @@
     <property name="checkstyle.pattern.todo" value="NOTHingWillMatCH_-"/>
     <property name="check.config" location="checkstyle_checks.xml"/>
     <property name="translation.severity" value="ignore"/>
-    <checkstyle config="${check.config}">
+    <checkstyle config="${check.config}"
+                failOnViolation="false"
+                failureProperty="checkstyle.failure.property"
+                >
       <fileset dir="src/checkstyle"
                includes="**/*.java,**/*.properties"
                excludes="**/Generated*.java,**/gui/*,**/transmogrify/*"/>
@@ -300,6 +303,10 @@
       <property key="checkstyle.suppressions.file"
                 file="suppressions.xml"/>
     </checkstyle>
+
+    <fail if="checkstyle.failure.property"
+          message="Checkstyle failed: ${checkstyle.failure.property}"
+          />
   </target>
 
   <target name="checkstyle.style" depends="compile.checkstyle"
diff --git a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/CheckStyleTask.java b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/CheckStyleTask.java
index 7c4b0dcba..06efd5304 100644
--- a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/CheckStyleTask.java
+++ b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/CheckStyleTask.java
@@ -328,13 +328,17 @@ public class CheckStyleTask extends Task
                     && (numWarnings <= mMaxWarnings);
 
             // Handle the return status
-            if (!ok && (mFailureProperty != null)) {
-                getProject().setProperty(mFailureProperty, "true");
-            }
+            if (!ok) {
+                final String failureMsg =
+                        "Got " + numErrs + " errors and " + numWarnings
+                                + " warnings.";
+                if (mFailureProperty != null) {
+                    getProject().setProperty(mFailureProperty, failureMsg);
+                }
 
-            if (!ok && mFailOnViolation) {
-                throw new BuildException("Got " + numErrs + " errors and "
-                        + numWarnings + " warnings.", getLocation());
+                if (mFailOnViolation) {
+                    throw new BuildException(failureMsg, getLocation());
+                }
             }
         }
         finally {
diff --git a/src/xdocs/releasenotes.xml b/src/xdocs/releasenotes.xml
index 486f81726..c3fef44f3 100755
--- a/src/xdocs/releasenotes.xml
+++ b/src/xdocs/releasenotes.xml
@@ -14,23 +14,28 @@
 
       <ul>
         <li>
-          checkstyle-all.jar contained some classes from jakarta commons-collections twice. (bug 1630361)
+          checkstyle-all.jar contained some classes from jakarta
+          commons-collections twice. (bug 1630361)
         </li>
         <li>
-          Multiple string literal check now ignores annotations by default (bug 1560940).
-          It is possible to retain the old behaviour by setting the new check property
+          Multiple string literal check now ignores annotations by
+          default (bug 1560940).  It is possible to retain the old
+          behaviour by setting the new check property
           ignoreOccurrenceContext to an empty value.
         </li>
         <li>
-          The calculated value of NPath complexity was subject to integer overflow,
-          so complex code was not always flagged (bug 1654769).
+          The calculated value of NPath complexity was subject to
+          integer overflow, so complex code was not always flagged (bug
+          1654769).
         </li>
         <li>
-          Fixed misleading documentation for BooleanExpressionComplexity check (bug 1579227).
+          Fixed misleading documentation for BooleanExpressionComplexity
+          check (bug 1579227).
         </li>
         <li>
-          Fixed Java parser error for array brackets in wildcard generic types (bug 1394014).
-          Thanks to Paul Constantinides for submitting the fix (patch 1422247).
+          Fixed Java parser error for array brackets in wildcard generic
+          types (bug 1394014).  Thanks to Paul Constantinides for
+          submitting the fix (patch 1422247).
         </li>
       </ul>
 
@@ -45,6 +50,10 @@
         <li>
           Added an entry for <tt>Checkstyle-IDEA</tt> on the home page.
         </li>
+        <li>
+          Set the <tt>failureProperty</tt> with a meaningful message
+          (feature request 1725475).
+        </li>
       </ul>
     </section>