If the CLASSPATH environment variable ends with a " (double-quote character), then the Ant scripts will not work; the error message is "The syntax of the command is incorrect.". This is due to the line 82 in the script file ant\bin\ant.bat: if not _%CLASSPATH:~-1%==_\ goto findAntHome Indeed, variable expansion+manipulation here results in this: if not _"==_\ goto findAntHome which obviously breaks the syntax of the shell. A quick fix is * either to remove the double-quote characters around the last CLASSPATH entry * or to add an additional semi-colon ( ; ) character at the end of your environment CLASSPATH value
we know this, but we also dont see an easy way to detect and fix it in ant.bat; it is in the category of 'system specific configuration errors', I'm afraid. There is no need whatsoever to have double quotes in the CLASSPATH variable. Really. If you have them, delete them. Ideally, you shouldnt use CLASSPATH at all. marking as WONTFIX, though it is actually CANTFIX.
*** Bug 41622 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***