Is there a way to trigger Travis CI build for repository X each time there's a push to repository Y? Specifically, I want my builds to start each time there's a push to http://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow
Good question! Here are some solutions that I could think of:
If you have admin privileges on the repo (or know someone who does), you could create a webhook that subscribes to the push event and when triggered, start a build on Travis CI using the Travis API.
This would entail:
Creating a new GitHub webhook over on http://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/settings/hooks/new. While of course, customizing the settings as you see fit, but with the information I have, I recommend using the application/json content type and only have GitHub trigger the webhook with the push event.
Write a small web app expecting the HTTP POST payloads from GitHub and start builds using Travis CI's API. This web app can be written in any language but it must be deployed to somewhere that is always awake and listening (to prevent missing builds).
Here's my example of that.
post "/push-webhook" do
uri = URI.parse("https://api.travis-ci.org/repo/your-org/your-repo/requests")
request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri.request_uri)
request["Content-Type"] = "application/json"
request["Accept"] = "application/json"
request["Travis-API-Version"] = "3"
request["Authorization"] = "token your-token"
body = { "request" => { "branch" => "master" } }
request.body = body.to_json
response = http.request(request)
end
And voila! Once this web app is deployed, and your GitHub webhook is configured properly, you should see builds to run on Travis CI with every new push on http://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow.
Helpful documentation
https://docs.travis-ci.com/user/triggering-builds/
https://developer.github.com/webhooks/
https://developer.github.com/webhooks/configuring/
However, if you do not have admin privileges on the repo, you could create a mirror of repository that is in your control and then follow the instructions above (with a few differences). From the little research I did, it's not possible (or at least not easy) to create a mirror of a repository all on GitHub without admin access of the original/official repository.
With that said, I found a workaround that should work.
Import tensorflow/tensorflow to GitLab and use the Mirror Repository feature so it mirrors http://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow as your GitLab repo's upstream.
From there, follow the instructions above as normal except use GitLab's webhook API instead of GitHub's to send push events to trigger our web app to start builds on Travis CI.
Helpful documentation
https://about.gitlab.com/2016/12/01/how-to-keep-your-fork-up-to-date-with-its-origin/
https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/user/project/integrations/webhooks.html
I hope this information was helpful. Please let me know if you have any other questions and I'd be happy to help in any way I can. :)
Related
In my code hosted on GitHub, we perform some tests and quite a bit of post-processing using GitHub Actions. Now, we would like to (or, actually, have to) use Gitlab runners hosted by a supercomputing center to do some further testing and benchmarking. This cannot be done with self-hosted GitHub runners, because I cannot influence their decision. We do not want to move the whole workflow and community over to some Gitlab instance either. So here's my (general) question: Is there a way to use Gitlab runners from within GitHub Actions?
What I have tried and what kind of works is to mirror the repository over to the Gitlab instance and let the runners do their magic there. Using this neat approach, the GitHub Action will wait for the results of the runners and integrate them into its own results. However, this does not work if contributors fork the repository and make pull requests.
In principle, it looks like this could be doable if the contributors also have accounts and corresponding permissions at the Gitlab instance. This is fine for now, because the community is small and the Gitlab instance is accessible to external contributors. Note that manual action from the maintainers of the code (i.e., me) is required before contributors can execute code with the runners for the first time, so we should be fine concerning security.
However, I cannot get this to work for pull requests, because I fail to mirror them. As said, direct pushes are fine, but nothing else works. This leads me to the more specific questions: How can I mirror a pull request from GitHub to a Gitlab repository? How can I enable this for both pull request and pushes (and do I need even more cases)?
Any help is appreciated! I'm really no expert on GitHub Actions, Gitlab runners or even git itself (beyond the basics). If there's a better way to achieve this, I'm happy to hear about it!
I can think of several workarounds:
1. Change what triggers your pipelines
Since you cannot mirror pull requests, but you can mirror branches, adapt the pipeline triggers in Gitlab so the pipelines are launched whenever there is a new commit, instead of a new PR.
You can always use a staging branch if you want to limit the pipeline executions.
2. Use webhooks
If the Gitlab instance is available on the internet, create a GitHub action that triggers a Gitlab pipeline execution whenever there is a PR on Github, or even open a PR directly in Gitlab. It is well documented:
Trigger a pipeline using curl
API to create merge request
UseCase: My current use case is to react on new Issues and post automatic comments. This is mainly specific to one or two repositories.
Thus I guess webhooks on a repository as well as Github Apps can be used. Although Github has some really good documentation on both, I'm unsure which one to use for my scenario.
What advantages / disadvantages do they have when compared?
One advantage of Github Apps is that they don't need to add a WebHook to the repository according to this answer. - Not sure why that is an advantage.
Obviously a GitHub App can be installed in different repositories and also published in the marketplace. But I could also use the same URL for Webhooks in different repositories and thus mimmic that behavior with repository-webhooks to a certain extend.
What else?
The main difference is that while webhooks generate events and send them to a given URL Github. Apps have the right to access the repositories where you install them based on the permissions you give them.
If you have a webhook that fires every time an issue is updated you will receive an event at the URL you specified, but you will not have any rights to e.g. modify that issue in Github (e.g. through an API call).
If you instead have a Github App installed in your repository and the webhook URL set in the App settings, then the event will be sent to the URL as well. However, here's the difference: behind the webhook URL you will probably have a service that uses the Github App credentials (private key or temporary tokens) to make some modifications to your Github repo.
An example:
Webhook -> logging of Pull Request changes
Github App -> automate tagging of new pull requests
What else?
You can also use GitHub Actions. For your use case, there is the issues event (which is actually a webhook). It has several activity types, including opened:
on:
issues:
types: opened
This workflow only runs when an issue is created. Afterwards, you can use the REST API (e.g. via curl) to GET the newest issue and POST a comment.
As you said this is only relevent for "one or two repositories", I think it is fine to just copy & paste that workflow. If the number of repos grows, you may want to create a dedicated action.
Speaking of custom actions, there is also an existing Auto Comment action:
on: issues
jobs:
run:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: bubkoo/auto-comment#v1
with:
GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
issuesOpened: >
Your issue comment goes here.
This seems to be one of the more important, but less understood and documented features of GH and Jenkins, which seems to defeat the purpose of CI entirely ...
I'm trying to setup a simple, "kick off a build when a pull request is opened" Job in Jenkins. I've scanned though dozens of posts, some several years old, but have yet to find a solution that actually works, start-to-finish. I'm using GH 2.15.4 and Jenkins 2.89.3 with the GH Pull Request Builder plug-in. I've tried setting up a pipeline job, and a freestyle project, following various "how to" posts and docs. Nothing works as expected. Not even close. I've managed to get some functionality working, but not without a lot of trial-and-error experimenting, which doesn't leave me with a warm-fuzzy in using it. Webhooks are equally worthless in accomplishing what is needed, as nothing seems to fire off a job in Jenkins, regardless of how it is configured.
For starters, are there any references or docs that explain what the following status checks are that are automatically created by Jenkins:
continuous-integration/jenkins/branch
continuous-integration/jenkins/pr-head
continuous-integration/jenkins/pr-merge
Apparently there is no way to delete or edit these ... they just "appear" courtesy of Jenkins. I've seen some discussions, but some explanations contradict one another, so they may just be outdated, inaccurate, etc. I want to know "what does what" so I know which should be 'required' as part of the PR status check.
Any pointers would be appreciated!
I agree, this problem is tricky because Jenkins and its plugins have changed so much throughout the years. Let me tell you how I accomplished what you're asking for. I will post all of my version numbers (mostly up to date).
Jenkins Version: 2.176.1 (java -jar /usr/share/jenkins/jenkins.war --version)
Plugins
github 1.29.4
github-api 1.9
github-branch-source 2.5.3
github-pullrequest 0.2.5
pipeline-github-lib 1.0
Also, I use the Blue Ocean interface, which might affect things (who knows)
blueocean 1.17.0
blueocean-git-pipeline 1.17.0
blueocean-github-pipeline 1.17.0
Github Webhooks
First off, set up webhooks for your system. This is a good guide for Github Webhooks
Go to your Github repository and click on the Settings tab. Then select 'Webhooks' in the left menu:
The URL of my Jenkins setup is https://jenkinsci.dorian.com. So, in the 'Payload URL' box, I put https://jenkinsci.dorian.com/github-webhook/
I left the settings as "application/json" and "send me everything" and "active"
The Webhooks area has a handy 'Recent Deliveries' section which can show you if your webhooks are making it to Jenkins. At first, I had the wrong URL so mine has red Xs next to them. Now, they're all green checkmarks.
Github Access Token
Many guides suggest that you provide Jenkins with a personal access token to communicate with your repo. To do that, go to your account avatar in the top right and select Settings -> Developer Settings -> Personal access tokens->Generate Token
Put whatever you want for the description. Under 'select scopes', if you just want it to work, select every checkbox in the list.
I selected:
repo:status
write:repo_hook
read:repo_hook
admin:org_hook
Click save and you'll be shown your secret key. Copy this somewhere safe (we'll use it soon).
Configuring Jenkins
Now for the hard part. Try and install all of the plugins I've listed above.
Go to Jenkins-Manage Jenkins->Configure System
Locate the Github section and click Add Github Server
Name: Github
Api URL: https://api.github.com
Manage Hooks: true
Under credentials, click "Add." You'll be brought to a menu. Select "Secret Text"
Scope: Global
Secret: paste your access token from earlier
ID: (I left this blank)
Description: DorianGithubCreds
Hit save. Then, select DorianGithubCreds from the credentials list.
To test, hit "Test Connection." Mine returns 'Credentials verified for user dnrahamim', rate limit: 4998
Now go down to Github Pull Request Builder
GitHub Server API URL: https://api.github.com
Jenkins URL override: (blank)
Shared Secret: (blank)
Credentials: DorianGithubCreds
Auto-manage webhooks: true
Everything else is blank
Configure Job
Go to the job that should be building your repo
Select 'Configure' in the left menu
Under Projects->Github Organization
Credentials: DorianGithubCreds
Owner: Dorian
Behaviors:
Discover branches
Strategy: Exclude branches that are also filed as PRs
Discover pull requests from origin
Strategy: Merging the pull request with the current target branch revision
Discover pull requests from forks
Strategy: Merging the pull request with the current target branch revision
Trust: From users with Admin or Write permission
Project Recognizers
Pipeline Jenkinsfile
Path: Jenkinsfile (my Jenkinsfile is in the project root)
Build Strategies: (intentionally blank)
Notifications
Now, when I do a pull request, or whenever I post a change to a pull request, Jenkins run a fresh build for that branch.
The Pull Request itself in Github also lists its "Status Checks" at the bottom. When the build is pending, the status check is yellow. If it succeeds it gets a green checkmark. If it fails, it gets a red X.
I initially had a problem because I had an old Jenkins box which was also configured to manage Github webhooks and build pull requests. Its builds were failing so its notifications were the ones getting through to my pull request. I fixed that problem by preventing that old Jenkins box from building my newest branches. Once the old Jenkins box stopped building, the notifications from the new Jenkins box made it through to Github.
Wrapping up
That's it! That's everything I intentionally configured. Please try out my configuration and see if it works for you. Let me know if I left anything out.
The hard part with configuring Jenkins with Github is that, although there are many guides, the suggestions often conflict with each other and very many are out of date (sometimes even official documentation is out of date).
Nonetheless, here are some Resources:
This is a good guide for Github Webhooks
Github's Whitepaper on CI with Jenkins (It doesn't explain much in detail but it gives a good overview)
Github pull request builder plugin
Semi-official SO post for showing build status on Github repo
GitHub has "add webhook" feature which is accessible in the repository settings --> Webhooks section. This has 4 inputs
1. Payload URl - Enter the Jenkins url
2. Content Type - application/json
3. Secret - this is optional if you want to configure secret
4. Which events would you like to trigger this webhook? - select the option "Let me select individual events"
Bunch of checkbox options are visible, check "Pull requests" option. This option will send a request to Jenkins when Pull request is opened
Next step is create a job in Jenkins which will listen to GitHub events and kick off the build
Using an organization type project in jenkins, I expected the pull requests to get automatically built.
I have a github webhook created in github settings. but nothing seems to be done?
Is there anything i need to put in my jenkinsfile to make this happen
At my company we have a Github Enterprise instance keeping all of our source in line, and Jenkins servers to do continuous integration. I'm using the Jenkins github plugin on Jenkins, and installing a service on Github to call MYJENKINS/github-webhook.
I would see the POSTs arriving from github on the jenkins server, but nothing would happen. The access log reports a 400 error being returned to github.
To find out what was being returned, I put tcpdump on the port. I now see that Jenkins is returning "Error 400 Hook should contain event type". It returns that for all repository events.
I can probably capture the github POST payload with tcpdump, but haven't done that yet.
My only guess at the moment is that our Github Enterprise installation is an earlier version than what is expected by the Jenkins github plug-in.
Update: As an experiment, on Github, I changed the call from a Service ("Jenkins github plugin") to a Webhook, but using the same URL MY_JENKINS/github-webhook/. THAT succeeds, is parsed successfully by the github plugin, and triggers the jobs that are watching a project/branch.
Github Enterprise should have webhook functionality built-in, so I'm a little unsure what you mean when you say you're installing a service on Github.
You can set up new webhooks by going to the following tab:
https://github-enterprise.com/my-org/myrepo >> Settings >> Webhooks & services
Here is a screenshot:
The other place to check is the settings in Jenkins, to make sure that it is set up to work with Github.
Jenkins >> Manage Jenkins >> Configure System >> Find: GitHub Plugin Configuration
In here, you need to provide your credentials for Github as well as the Github api url:
https://<github-enterprise.com>/api/v3/
(You might be able to leave the 'Custom Github API URL' unchecked, but I haven't had good success with that.)
Here is a screenshot:
The 'Credentials' would be an access token from Github.
Github >> Personal settings >> Personal access tokens
It's been a while since I've done setup like this, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about anything.