Cant get jq to work in pipeline script

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1

Hello All,

Trying to do something I hope should be pretty simple. I am running a simple pipeline script and in the build stage trying to run

labId=$(cat slmaven.json |jq -r '.labId')

But I keep getting

/Users/jordankasper/.jenkins/workspace/env_pipeline@tmp/durable-a197f770/script.sh: line 3: jq: command not found

I installed Jenkins on my mac and followed those install instructions but cant find a way for my jenkins instance to see jq on my local machine.

What do I need to do so it can be seen my Jenkins when it runs the pipeline script?

Thank you for your help!

2

In that script, output the value of the PATH environment variable. You’ll probably find that when running in the Jenkins agent, it does not include /usr/local/bin (or where ever your copy of jq) is stored.

Extend the script to assign PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin and try it again.

3

@MarkEWaite this is what I get when I echo out the PATH

PATH=/Users/jordankasper/.jenkins/tools/hudson.model.JDK/1.8/bin:/Users/jordankasper/.jenkins/tools/hudson.tasks.Maven_MavenInstallation/3.8.1/bin:/Users/jordankasper/.jenkins/tools/hudson.model.JDK/1.8/bin:/Users/jordankasper/.jenkins/tools/hudson.tasks.Maven_MavenInstallation/3.8.1/bin:/usr/local/bin/jq:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin

If I do a which jq I get

/usr/local/bin/jq

Am I doing something wrong?

4

If your agent is running directly on the computer, then it should “just work”.

pipeline {
    agent {
        label '!windows'
    }
    stages {
        stage('Example') {
            steps {
                sh 'echo PATH is $PATH && which jq'
            }
        }
    }
}

In my case, I don’t have jq installed, so the output of the which command is empty.

5

@MarkEWaite I am still not sure what I am doing wrong.

Here is the code

pipeline {
    agent {
        label '!windows'
    }
    stages {
        stage('Example') {
            steps {
                sh 'echo PATH is $PATH && PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin/jq'
                sh 'echo "{ "foo": 123, "bar": 456 }" | jq ".foo"'
                
            }
        }
    }
}

Here is the output

+ echo PATH is /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
PATH is /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
+ PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin/jq
[Pipeline] sh
+ echo '{ foo: 123, bar: 456 }'
+ jq .foo
/Users/jordankasper/.jenkins/workspace/jq_test@tmp/durable-25b496ab/script.sh: line 1: jq: command not found

Im assuming Im still not setting it right but not sure how maybe.

6

That’s very close. You need to add the directory to the path, not the program. You need to handle the arguments to echo with consistent quoting.

7

@MarkEWaite still getting the same thing

+ echo PATH before is /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
PATH before is /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
+ PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin
+ echo PATH after is /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin
PATH after is /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin
[Pipeline] sh
+ echo '{ foo: 123, bar: 456 }'
+ jq .foo
/Users/jordankasper/.jenkins/workspace/jq_test@tmp/durable-2fde5e04/script.sh: line 1: jq: command not found

so on my mac if I do a which jq it gives me

/usr/local/bin/jq

Which means I should have to append with just

/usr/local/bin/

Which per the output above is what I have done. Is there anything else that could be hold it up?

This is the code I am running, syntax seems correct.

pipeline {
    agent {
        label '!windows'
    }
    stages {
        stage('Example') {
            steps {
                sh '''
                    echo PATH before is $PATH
                    PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin
                    echo PATH after is $PATH
                '''
                sh 'echo "{ "foo": 123, "bar": 456 }" | jq ".foo"'
            }
        }
    }
}
8

Each sh statement has its own env. So setting it in one won’t affect other ones.
You could combine them into a single step.
You could also be explicit and just use sh 'echo "{ "foo": 123, "bar": 456 }" | /usr/local/bin/jq ".foo"'

9

If /usr/local/bin/jq also reports command not found then you may want to check that the file stored at /usr/local/bin/jq is the correct executable type for your computer. I think that I’ve seen command not found when an executable was not what my system expected.

10

Thank you @halkeye and @MarkEWaite this worked great!