[SOLVED] How can I promote a specific build number from another job in Jenkins? - jenkins

[SOLVED] Promoting a Specific Build Number from Another Job in Jenkins: A Simple Guide

In the world of continuous integration and continuous deployment, we need to promote a specific build number from one job to another in Jenkins. This is very important for keeping our software reliable and working well. This guide will show different ways to promote builds in Jenkins. We want to give you easy solutions to make your CI/CD pipeline better. We will look at methods like using plugins, Jenkins Pipeline, REST API, and more. This way, you will have all the tools to manage your Jenkins jobs.

In this chapter, we will talk about these solutions for promoting a specific build number in Jenkins:

Part 1: Using the Jenkins Build Promotion Plugin
Part 2: Triggering Promotion via Jenkins Pipeline
Part 3: REST API for Promoting Builds
Part 4: Using Groovy Scripts in Jenkins Script Console
Part 5: Configuring Parameterized Trigger Plugin
Part 6: Utilizing Job DSL for Build Promotion
Frequently Asked Questions

By using these strategies, we can make our Jenkins setup better and improve how our builds work. If you want to know more about setting up Jenkins CI, check our guide on how to set up Jenkins CI with ease. If we have any specific issues with Jenkins, we can find answers in our articles on fixing Jenkins CI pipeline errors or configuring Git post-commit hooks.

Let’s look at each part and see how we can promote specific build numbers in Jenkins.

Part 1 - Using the Jenkins Build Promotion Plugin

We can promote a specific build number from another job in Jenkins by using the Jenkins Build Promotion Plugin. This plugin helps us trigger the promotion of builds based on rules we set.

Steps to Use the Jenkins Build Promotion Plugin:

Install the Plugin:
- First, we go to Manage Jenkins and then Manage Plugins.
- In the Available tab, we search for “Build Promotion” and install it.
Configure the Job:
- Next, we open the job where we want to promote builds from.
- We go to Configure and find the Build Trigger section.
- Here we add a new build step for Promote builds when....
Define Promotion Criteria:
- Now we set the rules for when to promote a build. We can choose different conditions like success or unstable builds.
- For example, we can configure it like this:
```
Success
Unstable
```
Trigger Promotion:
- We can manually start the promotion by going to the job page. Then we click on the “Promote” button next to the build number we want to promote.
Job Configuration:
- Optionally, we can set up actions after promotion. This can include sending notifications or starting other jobs.

Using the Jenkins Build Promotion Plugin gives us a simple way to manage build promotions. We do not need to write a lot of code. If we want to do more complex setups, we can look at the Jenkins Pipeline features.

Part 2 - Triggering Promotion via Jenkins Pipeline

We can promote a specific build number from another job in Jenkins using a Pipeline. We will use the build step and the currentBuild object to trigger the promotion. Here is how we can do it:

Define the pipeline script in your Jenkinsfile or in the pipeline job settings.
Use this code snippet to trigger the promotion:

pipeline {
    agent any

    stages {
        stage('Trigger Promotion') {
            steps {
                script {
                    def jobName = 'your-job-name' // Change this to the job you want to promote from
                    def buildNumber = 42 // Change this to the build number you want to promote

                    // Trigger the promotion
                    build(job: jobName, parameters: [string(name: 'PROMOTE_BUILD', value: buildNumber.toString())])
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Configure the target job to handle the promotion. Make sure the target job can recognize the PROMOTE_BUILD parameter. It should act on this parameter to promote the specified build.
Use the Jenkins Pipeline Plugin if you have not done it yet. This plugin helps us to run script blocks and manage build steps.

For more settings and examples on Jenkins Pipelines, check this guide.

By following these steps, we can promote a specific build number from another job using Jenkins Pipeline. This will help us improve our CI/CD processes.

Part 3 - REST API for Promoting Builds

We can promote a specific build in Jenkins using the REST API. This way lets us trigger the promotion of a build from another job. Here is how we do it:

Identify the Job and Build Number: First, we need the job name and the build number we want to promote.
Use the Jenkins REST API: We can make a POST request to this endpoint to promote the build:
```
POST http://<your-jenkins-url>/job/<job-name>/<build-number>/promote
```
We should replace <your-jenkins-url>, <job-name>, and <build-number> with our Jenkins server’s URL, the job name, and the build number.
Authentication: If our Jenkins server needs authentication, we have to include user credentials in the request. We can use basic authentication by adding a Authorization header:
```
curl -u username:api_token -X POST http://<your-jenkins-url>/job/<job-name>/<build-number>/promote
```

Example:

curl -u john_doe:my_api_token -X POST http://jenkins.example.com/job/my-job/42/promote

Ensure Proper Permissions: We must make sure that the user has enough permissions to promote builds in Jenkins.

Using the Jenkins REST API for build promotion helps us automate our CI/CD process. For more reading, we can check how to access build environment or find out more about how to set up Jenkins CI.

Part 4 - Using Groovy Scripts in Jenkins Script Console

We can promote a specific build number from another job in Jenkins using Groovy scripts. To do this, we use the Jenkins Script Console. Here is a simple script for that:

// Define the job name and build number to promote
def jobName = "YourJobName"
def buildNumber = 42 // replace with the build number you want to promote

// Get the job and build
def job = Jenkins.instance.getItem(jobName)
def build = job.getBuildByNumber(buildNumber)

if (build) {
    // Promote the build
    def promotion = build.getAction(hudson.plugins.promoted_builds.PromotionAction)
    if (promotion) {
        promotion.promote() // Call promote method
        println "Build #${buildNumber} of '${jobName}' has been promoted."
    } else {
        println "No promotion action found for build #${buildNumber}."
    }
} else {
    println "Build #${buildNumber} not found in job '${jobName}'."
}

Steps to Use:

Go to Jenkins Dashboard.
Click on Manage Jenkins.
Select Script Console.
Paste and run the Groovy script above.

This script checks for the build number we want and promotes it if it is there. Make sure we have the Promoted Builds Plugin installed for this to work.

For more details about Jenkins scripting, we can check the Jenkins Script Console documentation.

Part 5 - Configuring Parameterized Trigger Plugin

To promote a build number from another job in Jenkins using the Parameterized Trigger Plugin, we can follow these steps:

Install the Parameterized Trigger Plugin: First, we need to make sure the plugin is in Jenkins. Go to Manage Jenkins then Manage Plugins and look for “Parameterized Trigger Plugin” in the Available tab.
Configure the Trigger:
- Open the job settings for the job we want to promote.
- In the “Post-build Actions” area, choose Trigger parameterized build on other projects.
Set Up Parameters:
- We need to write the job name we want to trigger in the Projects to build box.
- Tick Block until the triggered projects finish their builds.
- From the Add Parameter dropdown, pick Current build parameters to send parameters from the current build.
Using Specific Build Number:
- If we want to trigger a certain build number, we can use Build with parameters and set the parameters:
  - Add a string parameter like BUILD_NUMBER and set its default value to the build number we want to promote.

Example Configuration:

// We have a job called 'JobA' and we want to promote build number 42
job('JobB') {
    parameters {
        stringParam('BUILD_NUMBER', '42')
    }
    triggers {
        downstream('JobA', 'SUCCESS', 'BUILD_NUMBER=${BUILD_NUMBER}')
    }
}

Triggering the Job: When we run the job, it will trigger the build number we chose in the target job based on the parameters we set.

By following these steps, we can easily set up the Parameterized Trigger Plugin in Jenkins to promote a specific build number from another job. For more help on Jenkins job settings, check this Jenkins CI setup guide.

Part 6 - Using Job DSL for Build Promotion

We can promote a specific build number from another job in Jenkins with Job DSL. To do this, we need to create a job that uses the build command and the right settings. Here is how to set it up:

Define the Job DSL Script:

job('BuildPromotionJob') {
    description('Job to promote a specific build from another job')

    parameters {
        stringParam('TARGET_JOB', 'example-job', 'Name of the job to promote from')
        stringParam('BUILD_NUMBER', '1', 'Build number to promote')
    }

    steps {
        build('TARGET_JOB') {
            parameters {
                string('BUILD_NUMBER', "${BUILD_NUMBER}")
            }
            propagate(false) // Do not fail this job if the build fails
        }
    }

    publishers {
        // Optionally add any post-build actions here
    }
}

Usage:

After we set up the Job DSL, we can create this job in Jenkins.
We need to start the job with the parameters TARGET_JOB and BUILD_NUMBER to tell which job and build number we want to promote.

Job DSL Plugin:

We must have the Job DSL plugin installed in Jenkins. We can check the Jenkins Job DSL Plugin documentation for more information.

By using Job DSL in Jenkins, we can automate the build promotion process well. This helps us with smooth integration and deployment workflows. This way is very helpful for CI/CD pipelines where we need to promote builds often.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do we promote a specific build number in Jenkins?
To promote a specific build number in Jenkins, we can use plugins like the Jenkins Build Promotion Plugin. This plugin helps us set up a promotion process for certain builds. For more steps on how to do this, check our guide on how to promote a specific build number from another job in Jenkins.

2. What is the Jenkins Build Promotion Plugin?
The Jenkins Build Promotion Plugin is a tool. It helps us promote certain builds to show that they are stable or ready for deployment. This is very helpful in CI/CD pipelines. We need to know which builds are ready for production and which are not. For more info, see our article on how to set up Jenkins CI with build promotion.

3. Can we trigger a build promotion using Jenkins Pipeline?
Yes, we can trigger a build promotion using Jenkins Pipeline. This gives us more flexibility and automation in our CI/CD process. We can define promotion steps in our Jenkinsfile. This makes it easy to include them in our build process. For a complete look at this, see our guide on triggering promotion via Jenkins Pipeline.

4. How can we use Groovy scripts for build promotion in Jenkins?
We can use Groovy scripts in the Jenkins Script Console to promote builds automatically. We can write scripts that talk to Jenkins’ API. This lets us promote builds based on certain rules or conditions. For more details on this, check our section on using Groovy scripts in Jenkins Script Console.

5. What are the best practices for configuring the Parameterized Trigger Plugin in Jenkins?
When we configure the Parameterized Trigger Plugin in Jenkins, we can trigger other jobs with specific parameters. This includes promotions. It is very important to set these parameters correctly. This ensures we promote the right build. For the best tips on configuration, see our detailed article on configuring the Parameterized Trigger Plugin.

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