diff --git a/docs/manual/install.html b/docs/manual/install.html
index a2cb6db3d..cbf98bc47 100644
--- a/docs/manual/install.html
+++ b/docs/manual/install.html
@@ -227,33 +227,6 @@ restrictions on the classes which may be loaded by an extension.</p>
   </td>
 </tr>
 </table>
-<table width="80%">
-<tr>
-  <td colspan="2">
-    <b>Linux Note:</b>
-  </td>
-</tr>
-<tr>
-  <td width="5%">&nbsp;</td>
-  <td>
-    A jpackage rpm version of ant may be installed on your machine,
-    say as part of install of Fedora Core 3. If another version
-    of ant is installed, the rpm version <b><u>will</u></b> take
-    priority. This is due to the fact that ant bash script file
-    dot includes the /etc/ant.conf file from the jpackage distribution.
-    The current version of this file (sept 2006) overwrites the
-    ANT_HOME environment variable. If this happens, ant will
-    issue a warning. To fix this, modify the line in /etc/ant.conf
-    <br/>
-    <code>ANT_HOME=/usr/share/ant</code>
-    <br/>
-    to be
-    <br/>
-    <code>ANT_HOME=${ANT_HOME:-/usr/share/ant}</code>.
-  </td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-
 
 <h3><a name="optionalTasks">Optional Tasks</a></h3>
 <p>Ant supports a number of optional tasks. An optional task is a task which
@@ -420,9 +393,14 @@ Having a symbolic link set up to point to the JVM/JSK version makes updates more
 The <a href="http://www.jpackage.org">JPackage project</a> distributes an RPM version of Ant.  
 With this version, it is not necessary to set <code> JAVA_HOME </code>or 
 <code> ANT_HOME </code>environment variables and the RPM installer will correctly
-place the Ant executable on your path.  The <code> ANT_HOME </code>environment variable will
-be ignored, if set, when running the JPackage version of Ant.
-</p><p>
+place the Ant executable on your path.
+</p>
+  <p>
+    <b>NOTE:</b> <em>Since Ant 1.7.0</em>, if the <code>ANT_HOME</code>
+    environment variable is set, the jpackage distribution will be
+    ignored.
+  </p>
+  <p>
 Optional jars for the JPackage version are handled in two ways.  The easiest, and
 best way is to get these external libraries from JPackage if JPackage has them 
 available.  (Note: for each such library, you will have to get both the external 
diff --git a/src/script/ant b/src/script/ant
index bad19c05d..eae54a7f2 100644
--- a/src/script/ant
+++ b/src/script/ant
@@ -44,18 +44,11 @@ if $no_config ; then
   rpm_mode=false
   usejikes=$use_jikes_default
 else
-  orig_ant_home=$ANT_HOME
-  # load system-wide ant configuration
-  if [ -f "/etc/ant.conf" ] ; then
+  # load system-wide ant configuration (ONLY if ANT_HOME has NOT been set)
+  if [ -z "$ANT_HOME" -a -f "/etc/ant.conf" ] ; then
     . /etc/ant.conf
   fi
 
-  # Normally users do not expect that /etc/ant.conf will override ANT_HOME
-  if [ -n "$orig_ant_home" -a "$orig_ant_home" != "$ANT_HOME" ] ; then
-    echo "Warning: ANT_HOME has been overridden by /etc/ant.conf from $orig_ant_home to $ANT_HOME"
-    echo "         Use ant -noconfig if this is not desired."
-  fi
-
   # load user ant configuration
   if [ -f "$HOME/.ant/ant.conf" ] ; then
     . $HOME/.ant/ant.conf
@@ -168,6 +161,27 @@ if $rpm_mode && [ -f /usr/bin/build-classpath ] ; then
     fi
   fi
 
+  # If no optional jars have been specified then build the default list
+  if [ -z "$OPT_JAR_LIST" ] ; then
+    for file in /etc/ant.d/*; do
+      if [ -f "$file" ]; then
+        case "$file" in
+        *~) ;;
+        *#*) ;;
+        *.rpmsave) ;;
+        *.rpmnew) ;;
+        *)
+          for dep in `cat "$file"`; do
+            case "$OPT_JAR_LIST" in
+            *"$dep"*) ;;
+            *) OPT_JAR_LIST="$OPT_JAR_LIST${OPT_JAR_LIST:+ }$dep"
+            esac
+          done
+        esac
+      fi
+    done
+  fi
+
   # Explicitly add javac path to classpath, assume JAVA_HOME set
   # properly in rpm mode
   if [ -f "$JAVA_HOME/lib/tools.jar" ] ; then