diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheEntry.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheEntry.java
index 3a6941a6d..7cb1472e4 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheEntry.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheEntry.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 /*
  * Copyright (C) 2008-2009, Google Inc.
  * Copyright (C) 2008, Shawn O. Pearce <spearce@spearce.org>
+ * Copyright (C) 2010, Matthias Sohn <matthias.sohn@sap.com>
  * and other copyright owners as documented in the project's IP log.
  *
  * This program and the accompanying materials are made available
@@ -114,6 +115,8 @@ public class DirCacheEntry {
 
 	private static final int ASSUME_VALID = 0x80;
 
+	private static final int UPDATE_NEEDED = 0x40;
+
 	/** (Possibly shared) header information storage. */
 	private final byte[] info;
 
@@ -355,6 +358,25 @@ public class DirCacheEntry {
 			info[infoOffset + P_FLAGS] &= ~ASSUME_VALID;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * @return true if this entry should be checked for changes
+	 */
+	public boolean isUpdateNeeded() {
+		return (info[infoOffset + P_FLAGS] & UPDATE_NEEDED) != 0;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Set whether this entry must be checked for changes
+	 *
+	 * @param updateNeeded
+	 */
+	public void setUpdateNeeded(boolean updateNeeded) {
+		if (updateNeeded)
+			info[infoOffset + P_FLAGS] |= UPDATE_NEEDED;
+		else
+			info[infoOffset + P_FLAGS] &= ~UPDATE_NEEDED;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Get the stage of this entry.
 	 * <p>