You could access all Java system properties directly via ${name}, e.g. ${user.name}, ${user.dir}, ${user.home}, … You could read environment properties and use them   <properties environment=”env”/>   ${env.ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE} e.g.   ${env.USERPROFILE}, ${env.USERNAME}, ${env.PATH} You could pass properties during Ants start   ant -Dname=value -Danothername=anothervalue Also you Ant could ask for input   <input addproperty=”foo”/>   … Read more