Downgrade Eclipse ant to compile while using older JDK libraries (Java 1.7 -> 1.6)

java eclipse ant jdk1.6 java-7
Jason S picture Jason S · Dec 27, 2011 · Viewed 10.5k times · Source

I have the opposite problem as Upgrade Eclipse java compiler: I'm using Eclipse 3.7.1 that can support JDK 1.7, but right now I am developing for JDK 1.6... which has been working fine, but suddenly I'm getting tons of errors like this when I do an ant build (see below).

I want to use JDK 1.6; where do I set that? Eclipse is set properly (Java Build Path for each project points to JRE System Library [jdk1.6.0_16]), but ant seems to be disregarding it.

[javac] warning: java\nio\ByteBuffer.class(java\nio:ByteBuffer.class): major version 51 is newer than 50, the highest major version supported by this compiler.
[javac] It is recommended that the compiler be upgraded.
[javac] warning: java\lang\Object.class(java\lang:Object.class): major version 51 is newer than 50, the highest major version supported by this compiler.
[javac] It is recommended that the compiler be upgraded.
[javac] warning: java\util\Collections.class(java\util:Collections.class): major version 51 is newer than 50, the highest major version supported by this compiler.
[javac] It is recommended that the compiler be upgraded.
[javac] warning: java\util\EnumMap.class(java\util:EnumMap.class): major version 51 is newer than 50, the highest major version supported by this compiler.
[javac] It is recommended that the compiler be upgraded.

update: More clues -- this is the first time I've built this particular project in a separate Eclipse workspace that imports the project from a previous workspace. I switched back to the old workspace and built the same project and it builds fine.

The difference seems to be that ant runs in a 1.7 JRE in my new workspace, but ant runs in a 1.6 JRE in my old workspace. What gives? Where do I set this? I can't seem to figure out which setting is different.

Answer

Jason S picture Jason S · Dec 27, 2011

found it:

In the Ant tab in Eclipse, if you right-click on your build, and click Run As -> Ant Build..., then it will pop up an "Edit Configuration" dialog box, and you can select which JRE you want to use for Ant.

I don't know where this setting is stored, but it appears to be stored in the workspace rather than with the project settings.

Related questions

How do I check out an SVN project into Eclipse as a Java project?

I was trying to check out a project from SVN using Eclipse. I tried using "Checkout As" to make it into a "Java project from existing Ant script", but the project wizard requires the file to have already been downloaded. …

Read More
How to change JAVA.HOME for Eclipse/ANT

I am trying to sign a jar file using an ANT script. I know this has to be pointed at the JDK directory for jarsigner.exe to run, but when I echo java.home it returns the JRE directory. This …

Read More
Why is Ant giving me a Unsupported major.minor version error

I'm running this target in Ant. <target name="compile" depends="init" description="compile the source " > <!-- Compile the java code from ${src} into ${build} --> <javac srcdir="${src}" destdir="${build}"/> </target> It's …

Read More