Demo Job Configuration History Plugin

• Automatically archives every job and system configuration change
• Provides side-by-side diff views for quick comparison
• Restores older versions and recovers deleted jobs

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Plugin Features

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1. Installing the Plugin

1. Navigate to Manage Jenkins > Manage Plugins.
2. Under the Available tab, search for Job Configuration History.
3. Select the plugin, click Install without restart, then restart Jenkins:
   • Via Manage Jenkins > Restart
   • Or manually restart the Jenkins service

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2. Navigating Configuration History

• View All Configuration History
• Filter by Job Changes, System Changes, Created Jobs, or Deleted Jobs
• Inspect individual revisions and metadata

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3. Tracking Job Configuration Changes

1. Open Dasher_testJob from the Jenkins dashboard.
2. Click Configure, disable any restriction rules, then Save.
3. In Build, add an Execute Shell step:
   echo "Hello Testing a new Plugin"
   
4. Save and select Build Now.
5. Re-enter Configure, add:
   sleep 5
   
6. Save and Build Now again.

<!-- First revision -->
<command>echo Hello Testing a new Plugin</command>

<!-- Second revision -->
<command>echo Hello Testing a new Plugin</command>
<command>sleep 5</command>

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3.1 Per-Job History and Diff View

• Open Dasher_testJob > Job Config History
• You’ll see a list of revisions with user, timestamp, and operation
• Click Show Difference for a side-by-side XML diff

<!-- Older configuration -->
<command>echo Hello Testing a new Plugin</command>

<!-- Newer configuration -->
<command>echo Hello Testing a new Plugin</command>
<configuredLocalRules/>
<hudson.tasks.Shell/>
<command>sleep 5</command>
<configuredLocalRules/>

echo "Hello Testing a new Plugin"

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4. Restoring Deleted Jobs

1. Delete Dasher_testJob from the dashboard.
2. Go to Job Config History and filter by Deleted Jobs.
3. Find the delete event and click Restore to recover the job.

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5. Plugin Settings and Storage Location

1. Navigate to Manage Jenkins > Configure System.
2. Scroll to Job Config History settings:
   • History Root Directory (default: /var/lib/jenkins/config-history)
   • Max entries per config
   • Max age of entries

cd /var/lib/jenkins
ls -l
cd config-history/jobs/Dasher_testJob
ls -l
# drwxr-xr-x  8 jenkins jenkins 4096 Oct 2 09:55 .

<?xml version='1.1' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<hudson.plugins.jobConfigHistory.HistoryDescr plugin='jobConfigHistory@1268.V75ce751da_911'>
  <user>siddharth</user>
  <userId>siddharth</userId>
  <operation>Changed</operation>
  <timestamp>2024-10-02_09-52-27</timestamp>
</hudson.plugins.jobConfigHistory.HistoryDescr>

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References

• Job Configuration History Plugin
• Jenkins User Documentation
• Managing Jenkins Plugins