diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 9be60656e..17f475307 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -17,6 +17,32 @@
     <property name="ivy.pom.groupId" value="org.sosy-lab"/>
     <property name="ivy.pom.artifactId" value="common"/>
 
+    <!-- We activate even the experimental error-prone checks, with a few exceptions:
+        - StaticOrDefaultInterfaceMethod: only relevant for Android
+        - FieldCanBeFinal: not possible for our @Option fields
+        - TestExceptionChecker: TODO
+        - ParameterPackage: buggy
+        - ConstructorInvokesOverridable: buggy
+        - ConstructorLeaksThis: buggy
+        - FieldMissingNullable: buggy
+        - ReturnMissingNullable: buggy
+    -->
+    <property name="errorprone.options" value="
+        -XepPatchLocation:${basedir}
+        -XepPatchChecks:
+        -XepAllDisabledChecksAsWarnings
+        -Xep:StaticOrDefaultInterfaceMethod:OFF
+        -Xep:FieldCanBeFinal:OFF
+        -Xep:TestExceptionChecker:OFF
+        -Xep:ParameterPackage:OFF
+        -Xep:ConstructorInvokesOverridable:OFF
+        -Xep:ConstructorLeaksThis:OFF
+        -Xep:FieldMissingNullable:OFF
+        -Xep:ReturnMissingNullable:OFF
+        -Xep:InconsistentOverloads:OFF
+        -Xep:UngroupedOverloads:OFF
+        "/>
+
     <import file="build/build-version.xml"/>
     <import file="build/build-ivy.xml"/>
     <import file="build/build-compile.xml"/>
diff --git a/build/build-compile.xml b/build/build-compile.xml
index 2e0a5fee5..09ffde822 100644
--- a/build/build-compile.xml
+++ b/build/build-compile.xml
@@ -12,14 +12,25 @@
     <property name="source.generated.dir" value=".apt-generated"/>
     <property name="class.format" value="1.8"/>
     <property name="class.dir" value="bin"/>
+    <property name="errorprone.options" value=""/>
 
     <path id="errorprone">
         <pathelement location="${ivy.lib.dir}/build/error_prone_ant.jar"/>
     </path>
+
+    <!-- Needs to include all annotation processors and error-prone -->
     <path id="processorpath">
         <fileset dir="${ivy.lib.dir}" includes="build/*.jar"/>
     </path>
 
+    <property name="errorprone" value="com.google.errorprone.ErrorProneAntCompilerAdapter"/>
+    <condition property="java8">
+        <matches string="${ant.java.version}" pattern="8"/>
+    </condition>
+    <condition property="java.compiler" value="${errorprone}" else="modern">
+        <isset property="java8"/>
+    </condition>
+
     <!-- We use error-prone as the compiler, cf. http://errorprone.info/ -->
     <target name="build-project" unless="skipBuild" depends="build-dependencies">
         <depend srcdir="${source.dir}" destdir="${class.dir}"/>
@@ -30,27 +41,17 @@
                source="${source.format}"
                target="${class.format}"
                includeAntRuntime="false"
-               compiler="com.google.errorprone.ErrorProneAntCompilerAdapter"
+               compiler="${java.compiler}"
                encoding="UTF-8">
             <src path="${source.dir}"/>
             <classpath refid="classpath"/>
             <compilerarg value="-Xlint"/>
             <compilerarg value="-Xlint:-processing"/>
+            <compilerarg value="-Xlint:-options"/> <!-- suppress warning about bootclasspath on newer JDK -->
             <compilerarg value="-Werror"/>
-            <compilerarg value="-XepAllDisabledChecksAsWarnings"/>
-            <compilerarg value="-Xep:InconsistentOverloads:OFF"/>
-            <compilerarg value="-Xep:UngroupedOverloads:OFF"/>
-            <compilerarg value="-Xep:StaticOrDefaultInterfaceMethod:OFF"/> <!-- only relevant for Android -->
-            <compilerarg value="-Xep:TestExceptionChecker:OFF"/> <!-- TODO -->
-            <compilerarg value="-Xep:ParameterPackage:OFF"/> <!-- buggy -->
-            <compilerarg value="-Xep:ConstructorInvokesOverridable:OFF"/> <!-- buggy -->
-            <compilerarg value="-Xep:ConstructorLeaksThis:OFF"/> <!-- buggy -->
-            <compilerarg value="-Xep:FieldMissingNullable:OFF"/> <!-- buggy -->
-            <compilerarg value="-Xep:ReturnMissingNullable:OFF"/> <!-- buggy -->
-            <compilerarg value="-Xep:FieldCanBeFinal:OFF"/> <!-- not possible for our @Option fields -->
-            <compilerarg value="-XepPatchLocation:${basedir}"/>
-            <compilerarg value="-XepPatchChecks:"/>
-            <compilerarg value="-XepDisableWarningsInGeneratedCode"/>
+            <compilerarg compiler="${errorprone}" line="-XepDisableWarningsInGeneratedCode ${errorprone.options}"/>
+            <compilerarg compiler="modern" value="-XDcompilePolicy=simple"/> <!-- necessary for error-prone -->
+            <compilerarg compiler="modern" value="-Xplugin:ErrorProne -XepDisableWarningsInGeneratedCode ${errorprone.options}"/>
             <compilerarg value="-s"/><compilerarg value="${source.generated.dir}"/>
             <compilerarg value="-processorpath"/><compilerarg pathref="processorpath"/>
             <compilerclasspath refid="errorprone"/>