How do I attach a build log to an e-mail notification with the Jenkins plugin Email-ext?

Question

Version 2.15 of Jenkins plug-in Email-ext added support for attaching files to build notification e-mails. I would like to have the build log attached to build notification e-mails, but I can't figure out how to do it.

The build log appears to be stored on the Jenkins master node (in this case, Ubuntu Linux). For example, /var/lib/jenkins/jobs/<PROJECT_NAME>/builds/<DATE_TIME>/log. Naturally, the build log path changes with every build. The Email-ext file attachment feature defaults to using files from within the project workspace, which is on the Jenkins slave build machine (in this case, Mac OS X). For example, I configured my slave to use the folder /Users/<USERNAME>/Jenkins/build_agent/workspace/<PROJECT_NAME>/.

Is there any way to get Email-ext to attach a file from the master's file system, instead of the workspace on the slave build machine?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer some advice. The Email-ext wiki page currently does not contain an example of how to configure attachments.

Berners

Answer 1

The plugin DOES support attaching the build log, you just need to check the box in the project configuration.

Type

This button always unchecks itself after I click save/apply. Have you ever encountered this? See here: #15813994 Thank you – Plate

Did they remove this feature again? I have the newest (2.87) version and dont have this checkbox. – Transcendentalistic

It's no longer a checkbox, see stackoverflow.com/a/48661940 – Type

Answer 2

You may just use ${BUILD_LOG, maxLines, escapeHtml} token in the body of the e-mail to include the build log.

Quoting the email-ext plugin doc (available here):

"To see a list of all available email tokens and what they display, you can click the "?" (question mark) associated with the Content Token Reference at the top bottom of the email-ext section on the project configuration screen"

Astrophotography

Thanks Vladisld. That's a good answer. However, I am already using ${BUILD_LOG, maxLines=9999, escapeHtml=false} in the Email-ext content. My log file is almost a thousand lines long, so I'd like to take it out of the message body and have it as an attachment. – Berners

Answer 3

After sleeping on the problem and doing more research, I came to the conclusion that Email-ext does not support the attachment of a build log to a build notification e-mail.

However, I did come up with a sneaky work-around to use until such a feature is available: I use the Jenkins build tokens to generate the appropriate command to copy the log file from the master server to the slave's build workspace (see note below).

In the project, after the main compilation step, I added a new Execute shell step to generate the appropriate scp (secure copy) command. This is the command (replace USER and HOSTNAME with your own values, and you'll probably need to tailor the path to suit your individual server):

scp USER@HOSTNAME:/var/lib/jenkins/jobs/$JOB_NAME/builds/$BUILD_ID/log build.log

Then, in the Email-ext Attachments field of the Email-ext plugin, I entered:

build.log

Now the build log is copied from the master to the slave's workspace and attached to build notification e-mail messages. I have removed the $BUILD_LOG token from the message body template.

Note: to use this particular technique, you'll need to have passwordless ssh configured between the slave and the master, perhaps using an OpenSSH key passphrase. If you need help with that, search around the web for information on the ssh-keygen command, and perhaps check tutorials like this one. A similar approach should work on platforms that do not have built-in support for SSH. RoboCopy or similar should work on Windows systems.

EDIT: The Email-ext plug-in now has the ability to attach a build log to a notification message with a check-box on the job's configuration screen. See slide's answer for an example.

Berners

Answer 4

When using Jenkinsfile, add attachLog: true to the emailext configuration, like:

emailext attachLog: true, body: '', subject: ''

Credit to @Spencer Malone in Jenkins pipeline - Notify with console error log through email

Randalrandall

Answer 5

Firsl of all You have to install Email Ext plugin.After installing follow this step.

• Now in to the 'Add post-build action’ select Editable Email Notification and in that section you have option Attach build Log.select option as below in picture.

after that apply and save.Now you will definitely get Build Log in Email attachment. Thank You.

Howbeit

Answer 6

I have noticed that when i check the box to attach build log, it also unchecks after saving, however it is attached in my emails after the email has been submitted.

Ligula