Jenkins powershell plugin always builds successfully

I'm using Jenkins PowerShell plugin to build a project.

However, I found that Jenkins always considers my build successful no matter what I type inside `Windows PowerShell` command.

Here's an example:

[![enter image description here][1]][1]

As you can see, `asdf` isn't a legal command. Jenkins should give me `FAILURE` after the build.

But the console output gives me:

Started by user admin
Building in workspace C:\Users\Administrator\.jenkins\jobs\Test\workspace
[workspace] $ powershell.exe -NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy ByPass "& 'C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\hudson2092642221832331776.ps1'"
The term 'asdf' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\hudson2092642221832331776.ps1:1 char:5
+ asdf <<<<
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (asdf:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

Finished: SUCCESS

I think the execution result of PowerShell should depend on `$lastexitcode`.

Is this a bug of PowerShell plugin?

[1]:

Per the latest version of the plugin ([Version 1.3 Sept 18 2015](

[To see links please register here]

)), you must use $LastExitCode to fail a build.

> Version 1.3 (Sept 18 2015)
>
> - PowerShell now runs in Non-Interactive mode to prevent interactive prompts from hanging the build
> - PowerShell now runs with ExcecutionPolicy set to "Bypass" to avoid execution policy issues
> - **Scripts now exit with $LastExitCode, causing non-zero exit codes to mark a build as failed**
> - Added help and list of available environment variables (including English and French translations)

As of 1.3, the plugin will not handle exceptions such as those from missing commands. You can do this yourself with `try/catch`:

try
{
asdf
}
catch
{
write-host "Caught an exception"
exit 1
}

See [MSDN][1] for more.


[1]:

[To see links please register here]

"MSDN"

This is how I implemented RRIROWER's solution. Hope it helps.

<yourscript>.ps1; exit $lastexitcode




Make sure your powershell scripts does exit with the desired value.
Run `"exit <value>"` as the last line.

Ultimately, **I had to resort to the following configuration in Jenkins** as none of the solutions here worked for me. Chris Nelson's answer got me on the right track. We're invoking chef-client remotely so we had to do a little magic to get the remote PS session to talk the local and then pass status on to Jenkins.

- $res gives the output of chef-client.
- $lastsuccess is true or false according to PS rules of engagment.

Of course, you'll have to supply your own evironment variables! :)



Write-host "Deploying $env:Computer with $env:Databag data bag... "
$secstr = ConvertTo-SecureString $env:Password -AsPlainText -Force
$cred = new-object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -argumentlist $env:User, $secstr
$s = New-PSSession -ComputerName $env:Computer -Credential $cred
$res = Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock { try {chef-client} catch {exit 1}}
$lastsuccess = Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock {$?}
Remove-PSSession $s
write-host " --- "
write-host $res
write-host " --- "
if($lastsuccess)
{
write-host "chef deployment completed"
exit 0
}
write-host "chef deployment had errors"
exit 1

I want to add here that I just ran into a quirk: you must have the powershell script end with `exit` and not `return`.

My jenkins pipe looked like:
```java
script {
result = powershell(returnStatus: true, script: '''...if(error condition) { return 1 }''')

if(result) { error }
}
```

I was using `if(error condition) { return 1 }` and while the 1 was showing up as the return value in the jenkins console, it was _not_ failing the build. When i used `if(error condition) { exit 1 }`, the build failed as expected.

I think this is a helpful addition to this thread - the need to use `exit` and not `return`. But I don't understand this part: the pipe is checking for `result` to be non-zero. What is the difference between `exit` and `return` in a powershell directive that makes `if(result) { error }` not work as expected when using `return`?

**Update Feb-16-2021:** Coming back to this to add some more notes from my experience: I think what I was doing and what a lot of people do that confuses things, is to use `returnStdout` or `returnStatus` and not check them and/or not fully understand what's coming back.

If you use either of those params, Jenkins will _not_ do anything for you based on their value. You have to check them yourself and act accordingly. On the other hand, if you _don't_ use them, Jenkins _will_ recognize a failure code and fail the pipe if one comes back.

Think about it: If you set `returnStatus`, you're getting the exit code back from the step as a return value and not as something for Jenkins itself to worry about. If you set `returnStdout`, you're getting the `stdout` stream - and _not_ any error codes or anything from `stderr`. So you _must_ check the return for what you want or you will not get the behavior you are expecting.

What I've been doing for a while is actually not setting either of those params and making sure to set `$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'` at the start of any and all PowerShell scripts running in my pipes. That way any powershell failures automatically fail the pipe as expected, without having to check it.

For me, I wanted the script to stop and fail in Jenkins soon as it hit an error. This was accomplished by adding this to the start of the script:

> $ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"
>

This is discussed here: [How to stop a PowerShell script on the first error?][1]


[1]:

[To see links please register here]

. ..................

The following example shows that Powershell cmdlets do not set `$LASTEXITCODE`. Therefore, it is only useful if you're running an executable.

```powershell
$LASTEXITCODE = 0 # Success
try {
CommandDoesntExist
} catch {
# Exit code is unchanged
Write-Error $Error[0]
Write-Host "Exit Code $LASTEXITCODE"
}

>> Error Message...
>> Exit Code 0
```

For pure Powershell you need to handle the error and provide the exit code yourself. To avoid nesting the entire script in a try/catch you can use a [trap][1] instead. Local try/catch can still be used for handling blocks you expect to fail.

There is a "Gotcha" if `ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'` is set and you use `Write-Error` instead of `Write-Output` the trap would stop before getting to the exit.

```powershell
# Global error handling avoids nesting all
# code in a try/catch/finally.
trap { Write-Host $Error[0] -f Red; exit 1 }

# Block specific error handling
try {
throw "Worst case scenario"
} catch {
write-host "Handled error doesn't trigger trap"
}

# Finally example
try {
throw "Worst case scenario"
} finally {
write-host "I still cleanup"
}

exit 0
```


[1]:

[To see links please register here]