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The ant version shipped with RHEL6 can not properly detect Java 7, which means ${ant.java.version} gets set to 1.6 even when 1.7 is installed

For example:

Detected Java version: 1.6 in: /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-oracle-1.7.0.55.x86_64/jre

It would appear this is hard coded within Ant as this version is too old to support 1.7 ?

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15418127/ant-1-8-1-showing-incorrect-java-version

Looking at the source of ant, perhaps ant 1.7 does not support java 1.7 :)  Perhaps an RPM requirement should be set on this?  Or can support for this be backported?

I'm having this same issue - however, if I install Java 1.6 alongside 1.7, ant seems to function OK (so far)

You can use the 'alternatives' utility to switch between versions of Java:

# /usr/sbin/alternatives --config java

Confirmed. Java version detection code in JavaEnvUtils.java needs to be backported from latest upstream Ant.

Java 7, 8 and 9 detection was implemented in ant-1.7.1-14.el6

Reproducer:
Run: "ant -diagnostics" with Java 7
Output should contain line: "ant.java.version: 1.7"
When running with Java 8 or 9, the above line should (respectively) state 1.8 or 1.9 instead.

verified in ant-1.7.1-15.el6

Since the problem described in this bug report should be
resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a
resolution of ERRATA.

For information on the advisory, and where to find the updated
files, follow the link below.

If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report.

https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2016-0884.html