Jenkins build error - Cannot run program "ant" - ant

Question

I have build.xml set up to run a project to execute selenium test cases. I have mac computer and I can run ant from terminal. But when I try to run from jenkins I get following error. I have specified Ant home in Jenkins' config
/usr/local/Cellar/ant/1.9.4/libexec
I used homebrew to install ANT
FATAL: command execution failed.Maybe you need to configure the job to choose one of your Ant installations?
java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "ant" (in directory "/Users/Shared/Jenkins/Home/workspace/BaublebarTest"): error=2, No such file or directory
at java.lang.ProcessBuilder.processException(ProcessBuilder.java:478)
at java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:457)
at hudson.Proc$LocalProc.<init>(Proc.java:244)
at hudson.Proc$LocalProc.<init>(Proc.java:216)
at hudson.Launcher$LocalLauncher.launch(Launcher.java:802)
at hudson.Launcher$ProcStarter.start(Launcher.java:380)
at hudson.Launcher$ProcStarter.join(Launcher.java:387)
at hudson.tasks.Ant.perform(Ant.java:217)
at hudson.tasks.BuildStepMonitor$1.perform(BuildStepMonitor.java:20)
at hudson.model.AbstractBuild$AbstractBuildExecution.perform(AbstractBuild.java:770)
at hudson.model.Build$BuildExecution.build(Build.java:199)
at hudson.model.Build$BuildExecution.doRun(Build.java:160)
at hudson.model.AbstractBuild$AbstractBuildExecution.run(AbstractBuild.java:533)
at hudson.model.Run.execute(Run.java:1754)
at hudson.model.FreeStyleBuild.run(FreeStyleBuild.java:43)
at hudson.model.ResourceController.execute(ResourceController.java:89)
at hudson.model.Executor.run(Executor.java:240)
Caused by: java.io.IOException: error=2, No such file or directory
at java.lang.UNIXProcess.enter code hereforkAndExec(Native Method)
at java.lang.UNIXProcess.<init>(UNIXProcess.java:53)
at java.lang.ProcessImpl.start(ProcessImpl.java:91)
at java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:452)
... 15 more
Build step 'Invoke Ant' marked build as failure
Finished: FAILURE

Answer 1

First, the proper way
Jenkins will install Ant (and other tools for you). On the Global Configuration (Manage Jenkins), configure Ant installation, by selecting the version and the source.
Then, when you run an Ant build step, you can choose a version, either default or the one you've just configured. When the build is executed, Jenkins will download, install, and configure that particular version for you (within Jenkins only), without affecting the rest of the OS. The installation only needs to happen once per node, and after that it's quick.
The default
That default version is a fallback that Jenkins uses when you haven't configured a proper version to use. It tries to use whatever is available on command line, simply by executing ant from current working directory.
You said it works for you when you just type ant on command line, but you've got to realize that Jenkins runs under jenkins user, not your logged in user, and things like ANT_HOME and proper path to Ant is probably configured specifically for your user.
So to fix your issue, either use the proper way with Jenkins doing the tool installation, or properly configure the tool on OS level for jenkins user.
You can start by typing:
sudo su jenkins
ant
And seeing if that works from within jenkins user

Answer 2

I am not using terminal for jenkins, but I was getting the same error. Changing Ant version from default to Ant fixed the errors.