Java installs multiple times during Freestyle builds

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1

I run some projects that use Oracle Java 8 and starting with 391 the installer only allows one version of the JDK to be on the machine. We have different apps currently using/testing different versions of the JDK so we used to keep 3-4 versions available and pick and choose them as normal in our builds (both freestyle and pipeline).

After 391 came out I tried my hand at making bat and sh scripts to install the requested version of the JDK on the fly, which seemed to work, but it also calls the script MANY times (40-50 times in some recent testing) in freestyle builds. Works as expected, once, in Pipeline builds.

I’ve if’d the scripts so they don’t try to actually install the JDK that many times, but I can’t figure out why they are being called so much. I am also not sure that all these calls are exiting properly as I’ve noticed the JDK version being changed when no builds are even running unless I rename the bat files (still testing to see if the sh scripts also have the same issue).

Jenkins setup:

Jenkins: 2.444
OS: Windows Server 2016 - 10.0
Java: 11.0.21 - Oracle Corporation (Java HotSpot™ 64-Bit Server VM)

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2

are you adding java installation step in freestyle job as a separate build step?
How many times the freestyle jobs runs?

We cannot predict cause as per the given information by you.

3

No, I am using the Jenkins Tools selection of “Install Automatically” in the JDK section. The options for “Install Automatically” are:

  • Extract zip/tar.gz
  • Install Oracle … from website
  • Run Batch Command
  • Run Sh command

A single run of the freestyle build will run either the batch or sh commands multiple times in the course of the run, usually multiple times in individual build steps (but not every build step).

Each time it runs the console shows for example:

**15:06:55** New run name is '#30.358.9.9997' 
**15:06:55** [jdk1.8.0_391_auto] $ sh -e C:\J\tools\hudson.model.JDK\jdk1.8.0_391_auto\hudson13515112110805072328.sh 
**15:06:57** [jdk1.8.0_391_auto] $ sh -e C:\J\tools\hudson.model.JDK\jdk1.8.0_391_auto\hudson1089906654796401101.sh 
**15:06:58** [jdk1.8.0_391_auto] $ sh -e C:\J\tools\hudson.model.JDK\jdk1.8.0_391_auto\hudson9135652287968545959.sh 
**15:07:00** Archiving artifacts 
**15:09:05** Recording fingerprints

I likely could resolve this by putting the JDK installation in my own build step, but this is the process baked into Jenkins and it is not functioning as I would expect in freestyle builds.

4

Any reason why you stick to Oracle JDK?
Unless you’re from Oracle I see no good reason to use it, also from a licensing perspective.
I assume before that you didn’t use the tool installer feature of Jenkins. What I noticed is that the tool installer is always installing the jdk (if not already done before) in a freestyle job even when the job is doing nothing, when envinject plugin is installed.
The jdk is installed when there is only a single jdk configured, but not when there are multiple jdks configured (see jenkins/core/src/main/java/jenkins/model/Jenkins.java at db61f04af8e553dc55d2cb2fa18fa5581dab4310 · jenkinsci/jenkins · GitHub)
I could image that other plugins also check for java tools and just try to install it when only a single jdk is configured. You might want to try to configure a second dummy jdk to avoid this.

5

Prior to Java 8 r391 the installer would let multiple versions live on the build clients so we had 3 versions installed without issue. 391 uninstalls all the older versions when it runs and also defaults the JDK and JRE install directories to jdk1.8 instead of the old jdk1.8.0_nnn format. We support several legacy project that use different versions of Java 8, as well as developing on newer versions as needed for security concerns.

We have 4 JDK installs in Tools, plus each has an “auto” variant that is trying to handle the auto install, so a total of 8 JDK option in the freestyle dropdown.

I can work around this issue in many different ways, but I can’t determine if I am using the JDK Install Automatically process incorrectly or if it just doesn’t work properly in freestyle builds. Our newer projects use pipeline and it works properly/once, but refactoring older projects just to reduce 40+ noisy lines in the console does not meet juice:squeeze.