diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_POSIX_Java7.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_POSIX_Java7.java
index b19a432e2..6a9848179 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_POSIX_Java7.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_POSIX_Java7.java
@@ -106,6 +106,11 @@ public void setLastModified(File path, long time) throws IOException {
 		FileUtil.setLastModified(path, time);
 	}
 
+	@Override
+	public void delete(File path) throws IOException {
+		FileUtil.delete(path);
+	}
+
 	@Override
 	public long length(File f) throws IOException {
 		return FileUtil.getLength(f);
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_Win32_Java7.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_Win32_Java7.java
index 98df7c85c..555163222 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_Win32_Java7.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_Win32_Java7.java
@@ -107,6 +107,11 @@ public void setLastModified(File path, long time) throws IOException {
 		FileUtil.setLastModified(path, time);
 	}
 
+	@Override
+	public void delete(File path) throws IOException {
+		FileUtil.delete(path);
+	}
+
 	@Override
 	public long length(File f) throws IOException {
 		return FileUtil.getLength(f);
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_Win32_Java7Cygwin.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_Win32_Java7Cygwin.java
index 1130668e5..3db2e53e4 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_Win32_Java7Cygwin.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS_Win32_Java7Cygwin.java
@@ -83,6 +83,11 @@ public void setLastModified(File path, long time) throws IOException {
 		FileUtil.setLastModified(path, time);
 	}
 
+	@Override
+	public void delete(File path) throws IOException {
+		FileUtil.delete(path);
+	}
+
 	@Override
 	public long length(File f) throws IOException {
 		return FileUtil.getLength(f);
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FileUtil.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FileUtil.java
index 3cf1c12ff..428a45f79 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FileUtil.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FileUtil.java
@@ -139,4 +139,9 @@ public static boolean setExecute(File path, boolean executable) {
 		return path.setExecutable(executable);
 	}
 
+	public static void delete(File path) throws IOException {
+		Path nioPath = path.toPath();
+		Files.delete(nioPath);
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS.java
index 1b68801ae..a5642f149 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS.java
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.security.AccessController;
 import java.security.PrivilegedAction;
+import java.text.MessageFormat;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 
@@ -272,6 +273,20 @@ public long length(File path) throws IOException {
 		return path.length();
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Delete a file. Throws an exception if delete fails.
+	 *
+	 * @param f
+	 * @throws IOException
+	 *             this may be a Java7 subclass with detailed information
+	 * @since 3.3
+	 */
+	public void delete(File f) throws IOException {
+		if (!f.delete())
+			throw new IOException(MessageFormat.format(
+					JGitText.get().deleteFileFailed, f.getAbsolutePath()));
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Resolve this file to its actual path name that the JRE can use.
 	 * <p>