diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant/core-builder.sh b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant/core-builder.sh
index e06c6a2d2ca..612a11202d5 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant/core-builder.sh
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/apache-ant/core-builder.sh
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ cat >> $out/bin/core-ant <<EOF
 # Variables:
 #   JAVA_HOME
 #   JAVACMD
-#   ANT_OPTS
+#   ANT_OPTS, NIX_ANT_OPTS
 #   ANT_ARGS
 
 ANT_HOME=$out
@@ -40,9 +40,9 @@ else
 fi
 
 if [ -n "\$JIKESPATH" ]; then
-  exec "\$JAVACMD" \$ANT_OPTS -classpath "\$LOCALCLASSPATH" -Dant.home="\${ANT_HOME}" -Djikes.class.path="\$JIKESPATH" org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher \$ANT_ARGS -lib "$CLASSPATH" "\$@"
+  exec "\$JAVACMD" \$NIX_ANT_OPTS \$ANT_OPTS -classpath "\$LOCALCLASSPATH" -Dant.home="\${ANT_HOME}" -Djikes.class.path="\$JIKESPATH" org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher \$ANT_ARGS -lib "$CLASSPATH" "\$@"
 else
-  exec "\$JAVACMD" \$ANT_OPTS -classpath "\$LOCALCLASSPATH" -Dant.home="\${ANT_HOME}" org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher \$ANT_ARGS -lib "$CLASSPATH" "\$@"
+  exec "\$JAVACMD" \$NIX_ANT_OPTS \$ANT_OPTS -classpath "\$LOCALCLASSPATH" -Dant.home="\${ANT_HOME}" org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher \$ANT_ARGS -lib "$CLASSPATH" "\$@"
   fi
 fi
 EOF