Is a Jenkinsfile valid standalone groovy? - jenkins

I'm trying to wrap my head around how this declarative Jenkinsfile is Groovy. I want to write supporting code to execute this outside the Jenkins environment, in pure Groovy, if that's possible. I've been writing example groovy code but still am unsure what "pipeline", "agent", and "stages" are.
Any tips to understand this structure is appreciated
EDIT: I edited this question with simplified code below. I'm just wondering if there is a way that this can be turned into valid groovy code without the preprocessor/groovyshell environment that is utilized by Jenkins
pipeline {
stages {
// extra code here
}
}

No, you can't run Jenkinsfile as a standalone Groovy script. In short, Jenkins executes the pipeline code inside a pre-configured GroovyShell that knows how to evaluate things like pipeline, agent, stages, and so forth. However, there is a way to execute Jenkinsfie without the Jenkins server - you can use JenkinsPipelineUnit test library to write JUnit/Spock unit tests that will evaluate your Jenkinsfile and display the call stack tree. It uses mocks, so you can treat it as interaction-based testing, to see if a specific part of your pipeline gets executed. Plus, you can catch some code errors prior to running the pipeline on the server.
A simple unit test for the declarative pipeline can look like this:
import com.lesfurets.jenkins.unit.declarative.*
class TestExampleDeclarativeJob extends DeclarativePipelineTest {
#Test
void should_execute_without_errors() throws Exception {
def script = runScript("Jenkinsfile")
assertJobStatusSuccess()
printCallStack()
}
}
You can find more examples in the official README.md - https://github.com/jenkinsci/JenkinsPipelineUnit
Alternatively, you can try Jenkinsfile Runner command-line tool that can execute your Jenkinsfile outside of the Jenkins server - https://github.com/jenkinsci/jenkinsfile-runner
UPDATE
I edited this question with simplified code below. I'm just wondering if there is a way that this can be turned into valid groovy code without the preprocessor/groovyshell environment that is utilized by Jenkins.
Your pipeline code example looks like a valid Jenkinsfile, but you can't turned it into a Groovy code that can be run e.g. from the command-line as a regular Groovy script:
$ groovy Jenkinsfile
This won't work, because Groovy is not aware of the Jenkins Pipeline syntax. The syntax is added as a DSL via the Jenkins plugin, and it uses a dedicated GroovyShell that is pre-configured to interpret the pipeline syntax correctly.
If you are interested in checking if the syntax of the Jenkins Pipeline is correct, there are a few different options:
npm-groovy-lint (https://github.com/nvuillam/npm-groovy-lint) can validate (and even auto-fix) the syntax of your Jenkinsfile without connecting to the Jenkins server,
Command-Line Pipeline Linter (https://www.jenkins.io/doc/book/pipeline/development/#linter) can send your pipeline code to the Jenkins server and validate its syntax.
These are a few tools that can help you with catching up the syntax errors before you run the pipeline. But that's just a nice addon to your toolbox. The first step, as always, is to understand what the syntax means, and the official documentation (https://www.jenkins.io/doc/book/pipeline/syntax) is the best place to start.

Related

How to compile Jenkins Pipeline Groovy locally?

Does anyone have the magic maven/gradle invocation to compile a set of jenkins pipeline DSL groovy files?
Groovy is not compiled (like C#), it is interpreted.
Depending on exactly what you are trying to test potential options are:
Jenkins Groovy Script Console under Manage Jenkins. Note: You will need to be an Admin to be able to access this.
Pipeline Syntax Generator. It is improving. Go to a build of Pipeline job and in the LHS menu you will see a 'Pipeline Syntax' link. Some items require you to first select Pipeline: Steps from the first dropdown.

Use IDE to generate pipline script for jenkins

I need to overload jenkins functions to debug pipeline script in IDE.
I'm new to java/groovy etc. I'm going to write a several hundred lines scripted pipeline. Groovy is based on java. As I'm new I prefer the function name completion/suggestion and a debugging feature would be awesome where I can walk through the lines step by step and see what is in the vars.
I set up a eclipse Luna with the groovy-plugin. Which is actually working =)! (for newest eclipse the plugin is not yet ready). Also debugging is quiet cool!
But special jenkins expressions will still throw errors.
node(MasterName){ ... }
sh
...
Is there a chance to overload those functions?
Just killing the error, not performing any actions. Maybe converting it to a print like "I'm executing script XYZ" or "Switching to node BLUBB"?
The outcome should be a copy paste script, for checking in and running with jenkins without major changes.
Is there any better way?
In the end it turned out, that even if you omit the pipeline specific expressions, you will still have trouble. In some more complex situations e.g. calling a constructor with super in a extended class and executing a function afterwards, it does not behave the same then in my local python interpreter.
So what I did was an error to assume, my Ubuntu system default groovy interpreter would work the same like the jenkins interpreter. It would be nice to run a debugger inside the jenkins environment, or going step by step through the pipeline script and see how it is actually working without a print in every second line.

How to test Jenkinsfile

I am trying to write the test cases to validate the Jenkinsfile, But the load script function not working expecting the extension to be provided and throwing ResourceException exception loadScript("Jenkinsfile")
Is their better way to test the Jenkinsfile
The problem is that there are not enough tools for the development of pipelines. Pipelines is DSL and it imposes a restrictions.
There is an interesting approach to using flags. For example, test which defines outside pipeline(in job). If test=true, a pipeline change some "production" logic to "test" - select another agent, load artifacts into another repository, run another command and so on.
But recently appeared Pipeline Unit Testing Framework. It allows you to unit test Pipelines and Shared Libraries before running them in full. It provides a mock execution environment where real Pipeline steps are replaced with mock objects that you can use to check for expected behavior.
Useful links:
Jenkins World 2017: JenkinsPipelineUnit: Test your Continuous Delivery Pipeline
Pipeline Development Tools
You can validate your Declarative Pipeline locally thanks to Jenkins built-in features.This can be done using a Jenkins CLI command or by making an HTTP POST request with appropriate parameters.
The command is the following:
curl -s -X POST -F "jenkinsfile=<YourJenkinsfile" \
https://user:password#jenkins.example.com/pipeline-model-converter/validate
For a practical example follow this guide:
https://pillsfromtheweb.blogspot.com/2020/10/validate-jenkinsfile.html

How can I test my jenkins ci pipelines locally?

I am writing a number of ci scripts for jenkins pipelines. A frequently occuring pattern is
dir("path/to/stuff"){
do_stuff()
}
I would like to 'test-run' these scripts to achieve a (very) short feedback loop. But I immediately run into the fact that this dir method is not an 'official' groovy method.
$ groovy ci/test-ci-scripts.groovy
Caught: groovy.lang.MissingMethodException: No signature of method:
test-ci-scripts.dir() is applicable for argument types: ....
What do I need to import to get this running?
just use single apostrophe's
dir('path') {
// some block
}
works fine for me. (You can find dir in Jenkins Pipeline Snippet Generator)

Jenkins 2 pipeline deploying to udeploy

I am creating a CI/CD pipeline. I am trying to create a groovy function in order to deploy a build to udeploy.
I know I will need to pass the parameters used in to the function such as:
udeployServer,
component,
artifactDirectory,
version,
deployApplication,
environment and
deployProcess.
I was wondering has anyone tried to implement this or has anyone any idea how I should approach this?
Thanks
I don't know anything about udeploy servers but I do know there is no pipeline plugin for udeploy, which means that you will not have a function such as :
udeploy: server=yourserver component=yourcomponent artifactDirectory=...
However Jenkins allow you to use shell commands inside your groovy pipeline, so you should be able to do pretty much everything you need. So I guess the real question is how do you usually deploy a build to udeploy ? Do you do it via a REST API, do you push a file via FTP, ... ?
Jenkins build will be pretty straightforward, have a look at how to checkout and build using Jenkins pipeline.
An example pipeline could look like :
{
stage 'Build'
def mvnHome = tool 'M3'
sh "${mvnHome}/bin/mvn clean install"
//... Some other stages as needed...
stage 'Deploy'
sh "execute sh deploy script here..."
}
... where you deploy stage could use other plugins to copy files to your server, run REST API requests, etc. While writing a pipeline, have a look at Pipeline Syntax link for a Snippet Generator giving more detailed information about existing plugins.

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