Index: src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/javadoc/JavadocUtil.java
===================================================================
--- src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/javadoc/JavadocUtil.java	(revision 681517)
+++ src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/javadoc/JavadocUtil.java	(working copy)
@@ -813,33 +813,23 @@
     }
 
     /**
-     * Auto-detect the class names of the implementation of <code>com.sun.tools.doclets.Taglet</code> class from a
-     * given jar file.
-     * <br/>
-     * <b>Note</b>: <code>JAVA_HOME/lib/tools.jar</code> is a requirement to find
-     * <code>com.sun.tools.doclets.Taglet</code> class.
-     *
-     * @param jarFile not null
-     * @return the list of <code>com.sun.tools.doclets.Taglet</code> class names from a given jarFile.
-     * @throws IOException if jarFile is invalid or not found, or if the <code>JAVA_HOME/lib/tools.jar</code>
-     * is not found.
-     * @throws ClassNotFoundException if any
-     * @throws NoClassDefFoundError if any
+     * Gets the path to the <code>tools.jar</code> which is used to load the taglet class. <strong>Note:</strong> This
+     * JAR is only available for JDKs on Windows, Linux and Solaris, it is <em>not</em> not present on Mac OS X.
+     * 
+     * @return The path to the <code>tools.jar</code>, never <code>null</code>.
+     * @throws IOException If the path could not be determined (although the platform has <code>tools.jar</code>).
+     * @throws UnsupportedOperationException If the underlying OS has no <code>tools.jar</code>.
      */
-    protected static List getTagletClassNames( File jarFile )
-        throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException, NoClassDefFoundError
+    static File getToolsJar()
+        throws IOException
     {
-        File jdkHome = null;
-        if ( SystemUtils.IS_OS_MAC_OSX )
+        if ( SystemUtils.IS_OS_MAC )
         {
-            jdkHome = SystemUtils.getJavaHome();
+            throw new UnsupportedOperationException( "tools.jar does not exist on Mac OS" );
         }
-        else
-        {
-            jdkHome = SystemUtils.getJavaHome().getParentFile();
-        }
 
-        if ( !jdkHome.exists() || !jdkHome.isDirectory() )
+        File jdkHome = SystemUtils.getJavaHome().getParentFile();
+        if ( !jdkHome.isDirectory() )
         {
             Properties env = CommandLineUtils.getSystemEnvVars();
             String javaHome = env.getProperty( "JAVA_HOME" );
@@ -849,26 +839,57 @@
                 throw new IOException( "The environment variable JAVA_HOME is not correctly set." );
             }
             jdkHome = new File( javaHome );
-            if ( !jdkHome.exists() || !jdkHome.isDirectory() )
+            if ( !jdkHome.isDirectory() )
             {
                 throw new IOException( "The environment variable JAVA_HOME=" + javaHome
                     + " doesn't exist or is not a valid directory." );
             }
         }
 
-        // Needed to find com.sun.tools.doclets.Taglet class
         File tools = new File( jdkHome, "lib/tools.jar" );
-        if ( !tools.exists() || !tools.isFile() )
+        if ( !tools.isFile() )
         {
             throw new IOException( "tools.jar '" + tools + "' was not found or is invalid." );
         }
 
+        return tools;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Auto-detect the class names of the implementation of <code>com.sun.tools.doclets.Taglet</code> class from a
+     * given jar file.
+     * <br/>
+     * <b>Note</b>: <code>JAVA_HOME/lib/tools.jar</code> is a requirement to find
+     * <code>com.sun.tools.doclets.Taglet</code> class (excluding Mac OS).
+     *
+     * @param jarFile not null
+     * @return the list of <code>com.sun.tools.doclets.Taglet</code> class names from a given jarFile.
+     * @throws IOException if jarFile is invalid or not found, or if the <code>JAVA_HOME/lib/tools.jar</code>
+     * is not found.
+     * @throws ClassNotFoundException if any
+     * @throws NoClassDefFoundError if any
+     */
+    protected static List getTagletClassNames( File jarFile )
+        throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException, NoClassDefFoundError
+    {
         List classes = getClassNamesFromJar( jarFile );
-        ClassLoader cl = new URLClassLoader( new URL[] { jarFile.toURI().toURL(), tools.toURI().toURL() }, null );
 
+        ClassLoader cl;
+        try
+        {
+            File tools = getToolsJar();
+            cl = new URLClassLoader( new URL[] { jarFile.toURI().toURL(), tools.toURI().toURL() }, null );
+        }
+        catch ( UnsupportedOperationException e )
+        {
+            // on Mac, the doclet class should be part of the bootstrap class loader
+            cl = new URLClassLoader( new URL[] { jarFile.toURI().toURL() }, null );
+        }
+
+        Class tagletClass = cl.loadClass( "com.sun.tools.doclets.Taglet" );
+
         List tagletClasses = new ArrayList();
 
-        Class tagletClass = cl.loadClass( "com.sun.tools.doclets.Taglet" );
         for ( Iterator it = classes.iterator(); it.hasNext(); )
         {
             String s = (String) it.next();
Index: src/test/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/javadoc/JavadocUtilTest.java
===================================================================
--- src/test/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/javadoc/JavadocUtilTest.java	(revision 681517)
+++ src/test/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/javadoc/JavadocUtilTest.java	(working copy)
@@ -19,8 +19,10 @@
  * under the License.
  */
 
+import java.io.File;
 import java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException;
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang.SystemUtils;
 import org.apache.maven.settings.Proxy;
 import org.apache.maven.settings.Settings;
 
@@ -249,4 +251,33 @@
         cmdLine = JavadocUtil.hideProxyPassword( cmdLine, null );
         assertFalse( cmdLine.indexOf( "-J-Dhttp.proxyPassword=\"****\"" ) != -1 );
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Method to test the search for tools.jar.
+     * 
+     * @throws Exception if any
+     */
+    public void testGetToolsJar()
+        throws Exception
+    {
+        if ( SystemUtils.IS_OS_MAC )
+        {
+            try
+            {
+                JavadocUtil.getToolsJar();
+                fail( "no tools.jar on Mac, should have failed" );
+            }
+            catch ( UnsupportedOperationException e )
+            {
+                assertTrue( true );
+            }
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            File jarFile = JavadocUtil.getToolsJar();
+            assertNotNull( jarFile );
+            assertTrue( jarFile.isFile() );
+        }
+    }
+
 }