GitHub Pull Request Builder Plugin

This Jenkins plugin builds pull requests from GitHub and will report the results directly to the pull request via the GitHub Commit Status API

When a new pull request is opened in the project and the author of the pull request isn't whitelisted, builder will ask Can one of the admins verify this patch?. One of the admins can comment ok to test to accept this pull request for testing, test this please for one time test run and add to whitelist to add the author to the whitelist.

If an author of a pull request is whitelisted, adding a new pull request or new commit to an existing pull request will start a new build.

A new build can also be started with a comment which contains, retest this please; with or without additional lines in the comment. A review summary comment will not start a new build.

You can extend the standard build comment message on github creating a comment file from shell console or any other jenkins plugin. Contents of that file will be added to the comment on GitHub. This is useful for posting some build dependent urls for users without access to the jenkins UI console.

Jobs can be configured to only build if a matching comment is added to a pull request. For instance, if you have two job you want to run against a pull request, a smoke test job and a full test job, you can configure the full test job to only run if someone adds the comment full test please on the pull request.

For more details, see https://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/GitHub+pull+request+builder+plugin

Build status:

Required Jenkins Plugins:

• github-api plugin (https://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/GitHub+API+Plugin)
• github plugin (https://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/GitHub+Plugin)
• git plugin (https://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/Git+Plugin)
• credentials plugin (https://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/Credentials+Plugin)
• plain credentials plugin (https://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/Plain+Credentials+Plugin)

Pre-installation:

• I recommend to create GitHub 'bot' user that will be used for communication with GitHub (however you can use your own account if you want).
• The user needs to have push rights for your repository (must be collaborator (user repo) or must have Push & Pull rights (organization repo)).
• If you want to use GitHub hooks have them set automatically the user needs to have administrator rights for your repository (must be owner (user repo) or must have Push, Pull & Administrative rights (organization repo))

Installation:

• Install the plugin.

• Go to Manage Jenkins -> Configure System -> GitHub Pull Request Builder section.

• Add GitHub usernames of admins (these usernames will be used as defaults in new jobs).

• Under Advanced, you can modify:

  • The phrase for adding users to the whitelist via comment. (Java regexp)
  • The phrase for accepting a pull request for testing. (Java regexp)
  • The phrase for starting a new build. (Java regexp)
  • The crontab line. This specify default setting for new jobs.
  • Github labels for which the build will not be triggered (Separated by newline characters)

• Under Application Setup

  • There are global and job default extensions that can be configured for things like:
    • Commit status updates
    • Build status messages
    • Adding lines from the build log to the build result message
    • etc.

• Save to preserve your changes.

Using Groovy

If you wish to configure your Jenkins master using Groovy, you can use a script such as the one below to configure the plugin:

import jenkins.model.*
import org.jenkinsci.plugins.ghprb.*

GhprbTrigger.DescriptorImpl descriptor = Jenkins.instance.getDescriptorByType(org.jenkinsci.plugins.ghprb.GhprbTrigger.DescriptorImpl.class)

List<GhprbGitHubAuth> githubAuths = descriptor.getGithubAuth()

String serverAPIUrl = 'https://api.github.com'
String jenkinsUrl = 'https://your.jenkins.url/'
String credentialsId = 'credentials-id'
String description = 'Anonymous connection'
String id = 'github-auth-id'
String secret = null
githubAuths.add(new GhprbGitHubAuth(serverAPIUrl, jenkinsUrl, credentialsId, description, id, secret))

descriptor.save()

Credentials

• If you are using Enterprise GitHub set the Server API URL in GitHub Server API URL. Otherwise leave there https://api.github.com.
• Set the Jenkins URL if you need to override the default (e.g. it's behind a firewall)
• A GitHub API token or username password can be used for access to the GitHub API
• To setup credentials for a given GitHub Server API URL:
  • Click Add next to the Credentials drop down
    • For a token select Kind -> Secret text
      • If you haven't generated an access token you can generate one in Test Credentials....
        • Set your 'bot' user's GitHub username and password.
        • Press the Create Access Token button
        • Jenkins will create a token credential, and give you the id of the newly created credentials. The default description is: serverAPIUrl + " GitHub auto generated token credentials".
    • For username/password use Kind -> Username with password
      • The scope determines what has access to the credentials you are about to create
    • The first part of the description is used to show different credentials in the drop down, so use something semi-descriptive
    • Click Add
  • Credentials will automatically be created in the domain given by the GitHub Server API URL field.
  • Select the credentials you just created in the drop down.
  • The first fifty characters in the Description are used to differentiate credentials per job, so again use something semi-descriptive
• Add as many GitHub auth sections as you need, even duplicate server URLs

Creating a job:

• Create a new job.
• Add the project's GitHub URL to the GitHub project field (the one you can enter into browser. eg: https://github.com/janinko/ghprb)
• Select Git SCM.
• Add your GitHub Repository URL.
• Under Advanced, set Name to origin and:
  • If you just want to build PRs, set refspec to +refs/pull/${ghprbPullId}/*:refs/remotes/origin/pr/${ghprbPullId}/*
  • If you want to build PRs and branches, set refspec to +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/* +refs/pull/${ghprbPullId}/*:refs/remotes/origin/pr/${ghprbPullId}/* (see note below about parameterized builds)
• In Branch Specifier, instead of the default */master, enter
  • ${ghprbActualCommit} if you want to use the head of the pull request branch (e.g. refs/pull/4/head); or
  • ${sha1}, to use GitHub's tentative merge of the compare and base branches (e.g. refs/pull/4/merge) if the PR can be automatically merged or the head of the pull request branch (e.g. refs/pull/4/head) if they can not be automatically merged.
• In the Pipeline SCM section, uncheck Lightweight checkout.
• Under Build Triggers, check GitHub Pull Request Builder.
  • Add admins for this specific job.
  • If you want to use GitHub hooks for automatic testing, read the help for Use github hooks for build triggering in job configuration. Then you can check the checkbox.
  • In Advanced, you can modify:
    • The crontab line for this specific job. This schedules polling to GitHub for new changes in Pull Requests.
    • The whitelisted users for this specific job.
    • The organisation names whose members are considered whitelisted for this specific job.
• Save to preserve your changes.

Make sure you DON'T have Prune remote branches before build advanced option selected, since it will prune the branch created to test this build.

Parameterized Builds

If you want to manually build the job, in the job setting check This build is parameterized and add string parameter named sha1 with a default value of master. When starting build give the sha1 parameter commit id you want to build or refname (eg: origin/pr/9/head).

Job DSL Support

Since the plugin contains an extension for the Job DSL plugin to add DSL syntax for configuring the build trigger and the pull request merger post-build action.

It is also possible to set Downstream job commit statuses when displayBuildErrorsOnDownstreamBuilds() is set in the upstream job's triggers and downstreamCommitStatus block is included in the downstream job's wrappers.

Here is an example showing all DSL syntax elements:

job('upstreamJob') {
    scm {
        git {
            remote {
                github('test-owner/test-project')
                refspec('+refs/pull/*:refs/remotes/origin/pr/*')
            }
            branch('${sha1}')
        }
    }

    triggers {
        githubPullRequest {
            admin('user_1')
            admins(['user_2', 'user_3'])
            userWhitelist('[email protected]')
            userWhitelist(['[email protected]', '[email protected]'])
            orgWhitelist('my_github_org')
            orgWhitelist(['your_github_org', 'another_org'])
            cron('H/5 * * * *')
            triggerPhrase('special trigger phrase')
            onlyTriggerPhrase()
            useGitHubHooks()
            permitAll()
            autoCloseFailedPullRequests()
            displayBuildErrorsOnDownstreamBuilds()
            whiteListTargetBranches(['master','test', 'test2'])
            blackListTargetBranches(['master','test', 'test2'])
            whiteListLabels(['foo', 'bar'])
            blackListLabels(['baz'])
            allowMembersOfWhitelistedOrgsAsAdmin()
            extensions {
                commentFilePath {
                    commentFilePath("relative/path/to/file")
                }
                commitStatus {
                    context('deploy to staging site')
                    triggeredStatus('starting deployment to staging site...')
                    startedStatus('deploying to staging site...')
                    addTestResults(true)
                    statusUrl('http://mystatussite.com/prs')
                    completedStatus('SUCCESS', 'All is well')
                    completedStatus('FAILURE', 'Something went wrong. Investigate!')
                    completedStatus('PENDING', 'still in progress...')
                    completedStatus('ERROR', 'Something went really wrong. Investigate!')
                }
                buildStatus {
                    completedStatus('SUCCESS', 'There were no errors, go have a cup of coffee...')
                    completedStatus('FAILURE', 'There were errors, for info, please see...')
                    completedStatus('ERROR', 'There was an error in the infrastructure, please contact...')
                }
            }
        }
    }
    publishers {
        mergeGithubPullRequest {
            mergeComment('merged by Jenkins')
            onlyAdminsMerge()
            disallowOwnCode()
            failOnNonMerge()
            deleteOnMerge()
        }
    }
}

job('downstreamJob') {
    wrappers {
        downstreamCommitStatus {
            context('CONTEXT NAME')
            triggeredStatus("The job has triggered")
            startedStatus("The job has started")
            statusUrl()
            completedStatus('SUCCESS', "The job has passed")
            completedStatus('FAILURE', "The job has failed")
            completedStatus('ERROR', "The job has resulted in an error")
        }
    }
}

Updates

See CHANGELOG

FAQ

See FAQ

Style Guide

See STYLE GUIDE