So here is a strange error/bug/idk ... I'm running jruby 1.4 with ant 1.8 ... from within jruby I execute an ant task with system(command_to_execute_ant_script) and everything works as expected ... however if the ant should sleep for longer than 9 seconds the script does not return EVER from within jruby. If the script sleeps for exactly 9 seconds or less the script returns properly. I've tried using jruby.1.5.0.rc1 as well as older versions of ant and still the same problem ... Any ideas?