diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index da25374ec..5b9887ba0 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ Fixed bugs:
    been introduced with Java 7.
    Bugzilla Report 59556
 
+ * The ant wrapper script used on Unix-like operating systems only
+   worked on OSes where sed is GNU sed.
+   Bugzilla Report 59898
+
 Other changes:
 --------------
 
diff --git a/src/script/ant b/src/script/ant
index 6baf1212b..043f3fc20 100644
--- a/src/script/ant
+++ b/src/script/ant
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ for arg in "$@" ; do
       show_help=true
     fi
     # wrap all arguments as "" strings, escape any internal back-slash or double-quote characters
-    ant_exec_args="$ant_exec_args \"$(printf '%s' "$arg" | sed -e 's@"\|\\@\\\0@g' )\""
+    ant_exec_args="$ant_exec_args \"$(printf '%s\n' "$arg" | sed -e 's@"\|\\@\\\0@g' )\""
   fi
 done