Glossary
General Terms
- Agent
-
An agent is typically a machine, or container, which connects to a Jenkins controller and executes tasks when directed by the controller.
- Artifact
-
An immutable file generated during a Build or Pipeline run which is archived onto the Jenkins Controller for later retrieval by users.
- Build
-
Result of a single execution of a job
- Cloud
-
A System Configuration which provides dynamic Agent provisioning and allocation, such as that provided by the Azure VM Agents or Amazon EC2 plugins.
- Controller
-
The central, coordinating process which stores configuration, loads plugins, and renders the various user interfaces for Jenkins.
- Core
-
The primary Jenkins application (
jenkins.war
) which provides the basic web UI, configuration, and foundation upon which Plugins can be built. - Downstream
-
A configured Pipeline or job which is triggered as part of the execution of a separate Pipeline or Job.
- Executor
-
A slot for execution of work defined by a Pipeline or job on a Node. A Node may have zero or more Executors configured which corresponds to how many concurrent Jobs or Pipelines are able to execute on that Node.
- Fingerprint
-
A hash considered globally unique to track the usage of an Artifact or other entity across multiple Pipelines or jobs.
- Folder
-
An organizational container for Pipelines and/or jobs, similar to folders on a file system.
- Item
-
An entity in the web UI corresponding to either a: Folder, Pipeline, or job.
- Jenkins URL
-
The main url for the jenkins application, as visited by a user. e.g. https://ci.jenkins.io/
- Job
-
A user-configured description of work which Jenkins should perform, such as building a piece of software, etc.
- Kubernetes
-
Kubernetes (K8s) is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. See Installing Jenkins / Kubernetes for more info.
- Label
-
User-defined text for grouping Agents, typically by similar functionality or capability. For example
linux
for Linux-based agents ordocker
for Docker-capable agents. - LTS
-
A long-term support Release line of Jenkins products, becoming available for downloads every 12 weeks. See this page for more info.
- Master
-
A deprecated term, synonymous with Controller.
- Node
-
A machine which is part of the Jenkins environment and capable of executing Pipelines or jobs. Both the Controller and Agents are considered to be Nodes.
- Project
-
A deprecated term, synonymous with job.
- Pipeline
-
A user-defined model of a continuous delivery pipeline, for more read the Pipeline chapter in this handbook. https://plugins.jenkins.io/: An extension to Jenkins functionality provided separately from Jenkins Core.
- Publisher
-
Part of a Build after the completion of all configured Steps which publishes reports, sends notifications, etc. A publisher may report Stable or Unstable result depending on the result of its processing and its configuration. For example, if a JUnit test fails, then the whole JUnit publisher may report the build result as Unstable.
- Resource Root URL
-
A secondary url used to serve potentially untrusted content (especially build artifacts). This url is distinct from the Jenkins URL.
- Release
-
An event, indicating availability of Jenkins distribution products or one of Jenkins plugins. Jenkins products belong either to LTS or weekly Release lines.
- Stage
-
stage
is part of Pipeline, and used for defining a conceptually distinct subset of the entire Pipeline, for example: "Build", "Test", and "Deploy", which is used by many plugins to visualize or present Jenkins Pipeline status/progress. - Step
-
A single task; fundamentally steps tell Jenkins what to do inside of a Pipeline or job. See Pipelines / Getting Started and Pipeline / Using a jenkinsfile for more info.
- Trigger
- Update Center
-
Hosted inventory of plugins and plugin metadata to enable plugin installation from within Jenkins.
- Upstream
-
A configured Pipeline or job which triggers a separate Pipeline or Job as part of its execution.
- View
-
A way of displaying the data of Jenkins in a dashboard style. This is an extensible object, so there are lots of different ways to list jobs, show trends, and analyze data.
- Workspace
-
A disposable directory on the file system of a Node where work can be done by a Pipeline or job. Workspaces are typically left in place after a Build or Pipeline run completes unless specific Workspace cleanup policies have been put in place on the Jenkins Controller.
Build Status
- Aborted
-
The Build was interrupted before it reaches its expected end. For example, the user has stopped it manually or there was a time-out.
- Failed
-
The Build had a fatal error.
- Stable
-
The Build was Successful and no Publisher reports it as Unstable.
- Successful
-
The Build has no compilation errors.
- Unstable
-
The Build had some errors but they were not fatal. A Build is unstable if it was built successfully and one or more publishers report it unstable. For example if the JUnit publisher is configured and a test fails then the Build will be marked unstable.