diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 8b787bafa..29906c059 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ Fixed bugs:
    the first one.
    Bugzilla Report 48715.
 
+ * Regression: The <ear> task would allow multiple
+   META-INF/application.xml files to be added.
+   Bugzilla Report 6836.
+
 Other changes:
 --------------
 
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Ear.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Ear.java
index 90e08032b..d8005a195 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Ear.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Ear.java
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ public class Ear extends Jar {
     private File deploymentDescriptor;
     private boolean descriptorAdded;
     private static final String XML_DESCRIPTOR_PATH = "META-INF/application.xml";
+    private static final String XML_DESCRIPTOR_PATH_LC =
+        XML_DESCRIPTOR_PATH.toLowerCase(Locale.ENGLISH);
 
     /**
      * Create an Ear task.
@@ -126,8 +128,8 @@ public class Ear extends Jar {
         // file is specified by the "appxml" attribute and in a
         // <fileset> element.
         String vPathLowerCase = vPath.toLowerCase(Locale.ENGLISH);
-        if (XML_DESCRIPTOR_PATH.equals(vPathLowerCase))  {
-            if (deploymentDescriptor != null
+        if (XML_DESCRIPTOR_PATH_LC.equals(vPathLowerCase))  {
+            if (deploymentDescriptor == null
                 || !FILE_UTILS.fileNameEquals(deploymentDescriptor, file)
                 || descriptorAdded) {
                 logWhenWriting("Warning: selected " + archiveType
diff --git a/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/ear-test.xml b/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/ear-test.xml
index e44f7bf1e..239c501ac 100644
--- a/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/ear-test.xml
+++ b/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/ear-test.xml
@@ -26,5 +26,6 @@
     <ear destfile="${output}/test.ear" appxml="${input}/x.xml">
       <fileset dir="${input}"/>
     </ear>
+    <au:assertLogContains text="Warning: selected ear files include a META-INF/application.xml which will be ignored (please use appxml attribute to ear task)"/>
   </target>
 </project>