diff --git a/actionpack/CHANGELOG b/actionpack/CHANGELOG
index d373c02a64..8b418ac92b 100644
--- a/actionpack/CHANGELOG
+++ b/actionpack/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* Added that nil options are not included in tags, so tag("p", :ignore => nil) now returns <p /> not <p ignore="" />  but that tag("p", :ignore => "") still includes it #1465 [michael@schuerig.de]
+
 * Fixed that UrlHelper#link_to_unless/link_to_if used html_escape on the name if no link was to be applied. This is unnecessary and breaks its use with images #1649 [joergd@pobox.com]
 
 * Added even more goodies to script.aculo.us #1677 [Thomas Fuchs]
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/tag_helper.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/tag_helper.rb
index 1753ef9acf..40fd72d23f 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/tag_helper.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_view/helpers/tag_helper.rb
@@ -24,8 +24,9 @@ module ActionView
 
       private
         def tag_options(options)
-          unless options.empty?
-            " " + options.symbolize_keys.map { |key, value|
+          cleaned_options = options.reject { |key, value| value.nil? }
+          unless cleaned_options.empty?
+            " " + cleaned_options.symbolize_keys.map { |key, value|
               %(#{key}="#{html_escape(value.to_s)}")
             }.sort.join(" ")
           end
diff --git a/actionpack/test/template/form_helper_test.rb b/actionpack/test/template/form_helper_test.rb
index b76f21d80b..1b9df865f3 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/template/form_helper_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/template/form_helper_test.rb
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class FormHelperTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
       '<input id="post_title" name="post[title]" size="30" type="password" value="Hello World" />', password_field("post", "title")
     )
     assert_equal(
-      '<input id="person_name" name="person[name]" size="30" type="password" value="" />', password_field("person", "name")
+      '<input id="person_name" name="person[name]" size="30" type="password" />', password_field("person", "name")
     )
   end
 
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ class FormHelperTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
       check_box("post", "secret")
     )
     assert_equal(
-      '<input checked="checked" id="post_secret" name="post[secret]" type="checkbox" value="1" /><input name="post[secret]" type="hidden" value="0" />', 
+      '<input checked="checked" id="post_secret" name="post[secret]" type="checkbox" value="1" /><input name="post[secret]" type="hidden" value="0" />',
       check_box("post", "secret" ,{"checked"=>"checked"})
     )
     @post.secret = true
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ class FormHelperTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
       check_box("post", "secret")
     )
   end
-  
+
   def test_check_box_with_explicit_checked_and_unchecked_values
     @post.secret = "on"
     assert_equal(
diff --git a/actionpack/test/template/form_tag_helper_test.rb b/actionpack/test/template/form_tag_helper_test.rb
index 7a666271c1..6295aa91b6 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/template/form_tag_helper_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/template/form_tag_helper_test.rb
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ class FormTagHelperTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
   end
 
   def test_form_tag
-    actual = form_tag 
+    actual = form_tag
     expected = %(<form action="http://www.example.com" method="post">)
     assert_equal expected, actual
   end
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ class FormTagHelperTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
 
   def test_password_field_tag
     actual = password_field_tag
-    expected = %(<input id="password" name="password" type="password" value="" />)
+    expected = %(<input id="password" name="password" type="password" />)
     assert_equal expected, actual
   end
 
diff --git a/actionpack/test/template/javascript_helper_test.rb b/actionpack/test/template/javascript_helper_test.rb
index fdcce49efa..a1fcdde16d 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/template/javascript_helper_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/template/javascript_helper_test.rb
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ class JavaScriptHelperTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
   def test_text_field_with_auto_complete
     assert_match "<style>",
       text_field_with_auto_complete(:message, :recipient)
-    assert_equal %(<input autocomplete=\"off\" id=\"message_recipient\" name=\"message[recipient]\" size=\"30\" type=\"text\" value=\"\" /><div class=\"auto_complete\" id=\"message_recipient_auto_complete\"></div><script type=\"text/javascript\">new Ajax.Autocompleter('message_recipient', 'message_recipient_auto_complete', 'http://www.example.com/auto_complete_for_message_recipient', {})</script>),
+    assert_equal %(<input autocomplete=\"off\" id=\"message_recipient\" name=\"message[recipient]\" size=\"30\" type=\"text\" /><div class=\"auto_complete\" id=\"message_recipient_auto_complete\"></div><script type=\"text/javascript\">new Ajax.Autocompleter('message_recipient', 'message_recipient_auto_complete', 'http://www.example.com/auto_complete_for_message_recipient', {})</script>),
       text_field_with_auto_complete(:message, :recipient, {}, :skip_style => true)
   end
   
diff --git a/actionpack/test/template/tag_helper_test.rb b/actionpack/test/template/tag_helper_test.rb
index a3acdbcfd3..0c6783c158 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/template/tag_helper_test.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/template/tag_helper_test.rb
@@ -16,6 +16,14 @@ class TagHelperTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_equal "<p class=\"elsewhere\" />", tag("p", "class" => "show", :class => "elsewhere")
   end
 
+  def test_tag_options_rejects_nil_option
+    assert_equal "<p />", tag("p", :ignored => nil)
+  end
+
+  def test_tag_options_accepts_blank_option
+    assert_equal "<p included=\"\" />", tag("p", :included => '')
+  end
+
   def test_content_tag
     assert_equal "<a href=\"create\">Create</a>", content_tag("a", "Create", "href" => "create")
     assert_equal content_tag("a", "Create", "href" => "create"),