version.properties in Karaf distribution is not dereferencing ${buildNumber}... ${timestamp}

[redhatlaptop:opendaylight]$ cd /Users/ffernand/ODL/projects/ovsdb.git/distribution/opendaylight-karaf/target/distribution-karaf-1.3.0-SNAPSHOT

[redhatlaptop:distribution-karaf-1.3.0-SNAPSHOT]$ cat version.properties
org.opendaylight.controller.version = 0.1
org.opendaylight.controller.build.scm.version = ${buildNumber} <== BAD
org.opendaylight.controller.build.user = ${env.USER} <== BAD
org.opendaylight.controller.build.workspace = **********
org.opendaylight.controller.build.timestamp = ${timestamp} <== BAD
org.opendaylight.controller.build.machine = **********

[redhatlaptop:opendaylight]$ cd
/Users/ffernand/ODL/projects/ovsdb.git/distribution/opendaylight/target/distribution.ovsdb-1.3.0-SNAPSHOT-osgipackage/opendaylight

[redhatlaptop:opendaylight]$ cat version.properties
org.opendaylight.controller.version = 0.1
org.opendaylight.controller.build.scm.version = b3c034675957f963c5878ce1e5e183ec2de8b5e2 <== really good
org.opendaylight.controller.build.user = jenkins <== good
org.opendaylight.controller.build.workspace = **********
org.opendaylight.controller.build.timestamp = 1413823379185 <== good
org.opendaylight.controller.build.machine = **********
[redhatlaptop:opendaylight]$