diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant/ant-contrib.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant/ant-contrib.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index ca61f43c738..00000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant/ant-contrib.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-args: with args;
-
-stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = "ant-contrib-1.0b3";
-
-  installPhase = ''
-    mkdir -p $out
-    mv ant-contrib*.jar $out/
-  '';
-
-  phases = "unpackPhase installPhase";
-
-  src = fetchurl {
-    url = mirror://sourceforge/ant-contrib/ant-contrib-1.0b3-bin.tar.bz2;
-    sha256 = "96effcca2581c1ab42a4828c770b48d54852edf9e71cefc9ed2ffd6590571ad1";
-  };
-}
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant/builder.sh b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant/builder.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index 68aa89d475e..00000000000
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant/builder.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,53 +0,0 @@
-source $stdenv/setup
-
-tar jxf $src || exit 1
-mkdir -p $out
-
-mv apache-ant-*/* $out || exit 1
-
-# add ant-contrib
-cp $antContrib/*.jar $out/lib
-
-# remove crap in the root directory
-
-for file in $out/*
-do
-  if test -f $file ; then
-    rm $file
-  fi
-done
-rm -rf $out/docs
-
-# prevent the use of hacky scripts. This will be handled in Nix.
-rm $out/bin/* || exit 1
-
-# add ant script. This script is to be invoked with all
-# appropiate variables and will try to be clever or user-friendly.
-
-cat >> $out/bin/ant <<EOF
-#! /bin/sh
-
-export JAVA_HOME=$jdk
-export JAVACMD=$jdk/bin/java
-export LANG="en_US"
-
-export ANT_HOME=$out
- 
-if [ -z "\$LOCALCLASSPATH" ] ; then
-    LOCALCLASSPATH=\$ANT_HOME/lib/ant-launcher.jar
-else
-    LOCALCLASSPATH=\$ANT_HOME/lib/ant-launcher.jar:\$LOCALCLASSPATH
-fi
-
-if [ -n "\$JIKESPATH" ]; then
-  exec "\$JAVACMD" \$NIX_ANT_OPTS \$ANT_OPTS -classpath "\$LOCALCLASSPATH" -Dant.home="\${ANT_HOME}" -Djikes.class.path="\$JIKESPATH" org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher \$NIX_ANT_ARGS \$ANT_ARGS -lib "$CLASSPATH" "\$@"
-else
-  exec "\$JAVACMD" \$NIX_ANT_OPTS \$ANT_OPTS -classpath "\$LOCALCLASSPATH" -Dant.home="\${ANT_HOME}" org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher \$NIX_ANT_ARGS \$ANT_ARGS -lib "$CLASSPATH" "\$@"
-  fi
-fi
-EOF
-
-chmod a+x $out/bin/ant
-
-ln -s $out/bin/ant $out/bin/antRun
-
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant/default.nix
index c14e09e25b7..ba24fc35674 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant/default.nix
@@ -1,30 +1,64 @@
-{ fetchurl, stdenv, jdk }:
+{ fetchurl, stdenv, makeWrapper }:
 
-let
-
-  antContrib = import ./ant-contrib.nix {
-    inherit fetchurl stdenv;
-  };
-
-  version = "1.8.4";
-
-in
+let version = "1.9.3"; in
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
-  name = "ant-${(builtins.parseDrvName jdk.name).name}-${version}";
+  name = "ant-${version}";
 
-  builder = ./builder.sh;
-  
-  buildInputs = [ antContrib jdk ];
-
-  inherit antContrib jdk;
+  buildInputs = [ makeWrapper ];
 
   src = fetchurl {
     url = "mirror://apache/ant/binaries/apache-ant-${version}-bin.tar.bz2";
-    sha1 = "d9e3e83dd9664cfe1dcd4841c082db3f559af922";
+    sha1 = "efcf206e24b0dd1583c501182ad163af277951a4";
   };
 
+  contrib = fetchurl {
+    url = mirror://sourceforge/ant-contrib/ant-contrib-1.0b3-bin.tar.bz2;
+    sha256 = "96effcca2581c1ab42a4828c770b48d54852edf9e71cefc9ed2ffd6590571ad1";
+  };
+
+  installPhase =
+    ''
+      mkdir -p $out/bin $out/lib/ant
+      mv * $out/lib/ant/
+
+      # Get rid of the manual (35 MiB).  Maybe we should put this in a
+      # separate output.  Also get rid of the Ant scripts since we
+      # provide our own.
+      rm -rf $out/lib/ant/{manual,bin,WHATSNEW}
+
+      # Install ant-contrib.
+      unpackFile $contrib
+      cp -p ant-contrib/ant-contrib-*.jar $out/lib/ant/lib/
+
+      cat >> $out/bin/ant <<EOF
+      #! ${stdenv.shell} -e
+
+      ANT_HOME=$out/lib/ant
+
+      if [ -z "\$JAVA_HOME" ]; then
+          if ! JAVACCMD="\$(type -p javac)"; then
+              echo "\$0: cannot find the Java SDK" >&2
+              exit 1
+          fi
+          export JAVA_HOME="\$(dirname \$(dirname \$(readlink -f \$JAVACCMD)))"
+      fi
+
+      LOCALCLASSPATH="\$ANT_HOME/lib/ant-launcher.jar:\$JAVA_HOME/lib/tools.jar\''${LOCALCLASSPATH:+:}\$LOCALCLASSPATH"
+
+      exec "\$JAVA_HOME/bin/java" \$NIX_ANT_OPTS \$ANT_OPTS -classpath "\$LOCALCLASSPATH" \
+          -Dant.home=\$ANT_HOME -Dant.library.dir="\$ANT_LIB" \
+          org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher \$NIX_ANT_ARGS \$ANT_ARGS \
+          -cp "\$CLASSPATH" "\$@"
+      EOF
+
+      chmod +x $out/bin/ant
+    ''; # */
+
   meta = {
-    description = "Java-based build tool";
+    homepage = http://ant.apache.org/;
+    description = "A Java-based build tool";
+    license = stdenv.lib.licenses.asl20;
+    maintainers = [ stdenv.lib.maintainers.eelco ];
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index a3683fecc10..7e9fa85e39f 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -2827,10 +2827,9 @@ let
       callPackage ../development/compilers/openjdk-darwin { }
     else
       let
-        openjdkBootstrap = callPackage ../development/compilers/openjdk/bootstrap.nix {};
+        openjdkBootstrap = callPackage ../development/compilers/openjdk/bootstrap.nix { };
       in callPackage ../development/compilers/openjdk {
         jdk = openjdkBootstrap;
-        ant = pkgs.ant.override { jdk = openjdkBootstrap; };
       };
 
   openjre = pkgs.openjdk.jre;
@@ -3457,9 +3456,6 @@ let
 
   apacheAnt = callPackage ../development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant { };
 
-  apacheAntOpenJDK = apacheAnt.override { jdk = openjdk; };
-  apacheAntOracleJDK = ant.override { jdk = pkgs.oraclejdk; };
-
   apacheAntGcj = callPackage ../development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant/from-source.nix {
     # must be either pre-built or built with GCJ *alone*
     gcj = gcj.gcc; # use the raw GCJ, which has ${gcj}/lib/jvm