diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 613972d17..4c4d57b7f 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -753,6 +753,10 @@ Other changes:
    directories which is desabled for backwards compatibility reasons.
    Bugzilla Report 47457
 
+ * <apt>'s executable attribute can be used to specify a different
+   executable.
+   Bugzilla Report 46230.
+
 Changes from Ant 1.7.0 TO Ant 1.7.1
 =============================================
 
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Apt.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Apt.java
index 857fd0e66..241594e2a 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Apt.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Apt.java
@@ -119,7 +119,9 @@ public class Apt
      * @return the name of the executable.
      */
     public String getAptExecutable() {
-        return JavaEnvUtils.getJdkExecutable(EXECUTABLE_NAME);
+        String exe = getExecutable();
+        return exe != null ? exe :
+            JavaEnvUtils.getJdkExecutable(EXECUTABLE_NAME);
     }
 
     /**