3 files changed, 28 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/activesupport/CHANGELOG b/activesupport/CHANGELOG
index fe243d4abf..e60c68c624 100644
--- a/activesupport/CHANGELOG
+++ b/activesupport/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* Let alias_attribute work with attributes with initial capital letters (legacy columns etc).  Closes #8596 [mpalmer]
+
 * Added Hash#except which is the inverse of Hash#slice -- return the hash except the keys that are specified [DHH]
 
 * Added support for pluralization with a different starting letter than the singular version (cow/kine) #4929 [norri_b/hasmanyjosh]
diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/module/aliasing.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/module/aliasing.rb
index b36874520b..0280878b77 100644
--- a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/module/aliasing.rb
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/module/aliasing.rb
@@ -62,8 +62,8 @@ class Module
   #   e.title    # => "Megastars"
   def alias_attribute(new_name, old_name)
     module_eval <<-STR, __FILE__, __LINE__+1
-      def #{new_name}; #{old_name}; end
-      def #{new_name}?; #{old_name}?; end
+      def #{new_name}; self.#{old_name}; end
+      def #{new_name}?; self.#{old_name}?; end
       def #{new_name}=(v); self.#{old_name} = v; end
     STR
   end
diff --git a/activesupport/test/core_ext/module/attribute_aliasing_test.rb b/activesupport/test/core_ext/module/attribute_aliasing_test.rb
index 66ddbfe62a..05f7a5c4ca 100644
--- a/activesupport/test/core_ext/module/attribute_aliasing_test.rb
+++ b/activesupport/test/core_ext/module/attribute_aliasing_test.rb
@@ -2,15 +2,20 @@ require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../../abstract_unit'
 
 module AttributeAliasing
   class Content
-    attr_accessor :title
+    attr_accessor :title, :Data
   
     def title?
       !title.nil?
     end
+    
+    def Data?
+      !self.Data.nil?
+    end
   end
 
   class Email < Content
     alias_attribute :subject, :title
+    alias_attribute :body, :Data
   end
 end
 
@@ -28,4 +33,22 @@ class AttributeAliasingTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_equal "We got a long way to go", e.title
     assert e.title?
   end
+
+  def test_aliasing_to_uppercase_attributes
+    # Although it's very un-Ruby, some people's AR-mapped tables have
+    # upper-case attributes, and when people want to alias those names
+    # to more sensible ones, everything goes *foof*.
+    e = AttributeAliasing::Email.new
+    
+    assert !e.body?
+    assert !e.Data?
+    
+    e.body = "No, really, this is not a joke."
+    assert_equal "No, really, this is not a joke.", e.Data
+    assert e.Data?
+    
+    e.Data = "Uppercased methods are teh suck"
+    assert_equal "Uppercased methods are teh suck", e.body
+    assert e.body?
+  end
 end