Jenkins
ExplainedTool
Open-source automation server for CI/CD, extensible with hundreds of plugins.
Jenkins, explained
Written by EduVerseWhat it is
Jenkins is an open-source automation server, mostly used for CI/CD. A company installs it on its own servers, and it runs jobs such as building the code, running the tests and deploying. The steps of a pipeline usually live in a Jenkinsfile in the repository, written in a syntax based on Groovy.
Why teams use it
Jenkins has been around a long time, runs almost anywhere, and its plugins connect it to a very wide range of tools, so many companies have years of pipelines built on it. The price is maintenance: someone has to keep the server and plugins up to date. Hosted options like GitHub Actions take that work away.
An example from work
After your change is merged, the team channel posts a link to a Jenkins build. You open it and see the stages from the Jenkinsfile: Checkout, Build, Test, Deploy. Test is red. You open Console Output, scroll to the bottom and find the failing test with its stack trace.
Our own explanation, not a quote from the book.
Where it fits
CI/CD pipelines, build automation, deployment
Coverage in the book
Explained and compared with alternatives, so you know where and why it’s used.
