[ci.jenkins.io] Provides both powershell and pwsh on all agent templates

[dduportal]

Service(s)

ci.jenkins.io

Summary

As per jenkinsci/workflow-basic-steps-plugin#203, it seems that powershell cannot be used on the Jenkins inbound images with nanoserver.

• Jenkins error (as per [JENKINS-49707] Interpreting ErrorCondition jenkinsci/workflow-basic-steps-plugin#203 (comment)):

java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "powershell" (in directory "…"): CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified

• Can be reproduced on a Windows Docker CE (ref. [JENKINS-49707] Interpreting ErrorCondition jenkinsci/workflow-basic-steps-plugin#203 (comment)):

$ docker run --rm -ti --entrypoint=powershell jenkins/jnlp-agent-maven:windows-nanoserver
docker: Error response from daemon: container dd73e4c79e13c68fb1d113ddf0bb3ce966102591fb4d9fe0acd54e940caf83c7 encountered an error during hcsshim::System::CreateProcess: failure in a Windows system call: The system cannot find the file specified. (0x2)
[Event Detail:  Provider: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000]
[Event Detail:  Provider: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000]
[Event Detail: onecore\vm\compute\management\orchestration\vmhostedcontainer\processmanagement.cpp(173)\vmcomputeagent.exe!00007FF7FC739F4B: (caller: 00007FF7FC6EE13A) Exception(6) tid(39c) 80070002 The system cannot find the file specified.
    CallContext:[\Bridge_ProcessMessage\VmHostedContainer_ExecuteProcess]
 Provider: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000].

• Since feat: use Jenkins Infra inbound-agent Windows Docker image jenkins-infra#2203, the infra team can quickly add a fix as we manage our own base images (time to have the fix integrated on the upstream community image).

• As per @jnord comment in [JENKINS-49707] Interpreting ErrorCondition jenkinsci/workflow-basic-steps-plugin#203 (comment)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/powershell-on-nano-server#differences-in-powershell-on-nano-server powershell (core) should be available by default?

it seems that there is an issue on the upstream image jenkins/jnlp-agent-maven:windows-nanoserver .

Work is going on checking the base image of jenkins/jnlp-agent-maven:windows-nanoserver and check the status before trying to find a solution: Jesse was ablme to use "bat" instead of "powershell" for the tests so no blocker.

Reproduction steps

No response

[dduportal]

So, the "absence" of powershell CLI comes from the base image which is used:

docker run --rm -ti --entrypoint=powershell jenkins/inbound-agent:4.13-2-jdk11-nanoserver-1809
docker: Error response from daemon: container 24926b5ebd54922df0fabb9dd5853b0882e00b67a924c2d1f7139b2092eec75b encountered an error during hcsshim::System::CreateProcess: failure in a Windows system call: The system cannot find the file specified. (0x2)
[Event Detail:  Provider: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000]
[Event Detail:  Provider: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000]
[Event Detail: onecore\vm\compute\management\orchestration\vmhostedcontainer\processmanagement.cpp(173)\vmcomputeagent.exe!00007FF7FC739F4B: (caller: 00007FF7FC6EE13A) Exception(6) tid(3a0) 80070002 The system cannot find the file specified.
    CallContext:[\Bridge_ProcessMessage\VmHostedContainer_ExecuteProcess] 
 Provider: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000].

(https://github.com/jenkinsci/docker-inbound-agent/blob/master/11/windows/nanoserver-1809/Dockerfile#L25 -> https://github.com/jenkinsci/docker-agent/blob/master/11/windows/nanoserver-1809/Dockerfile#L30)

[lemeurherve]

docker run --rm -ti --entrypoint=powershell mcr.microsoft.com/powershell:nanoserver-1809
docker: Error response from daemon: container 2dde7b4e7fc5f0e6ac4a356971c71debe5c5aeab054d2a62497f57bc2a6ddf43 encountered an error during hcsshim::System::CreateProcess: failure in a Windows system call: The system cannot find the file specified. (0x2).

Same for the base Microsoft nanoserver image (?)

[lemeurherve]

Oh...
It's pwsh and not powershell: https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell-Docker/blob/master/release/7-2/nanoserver1809/docker/Dockerfile#L90

docker run --rm -ti --entrypoint=pwsh mcr.microsoft.com/powershell:nanoserver-1809
PowerShell 7.2.4
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.

https://aka.ms/powershell
Type 'help' to get help.

[dduportal]

I think we are missing something with the pwsh.exe command line, that seems to be the default entrypoint (https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell-Docker/blob/master/release/7-2/nanoserver1809/docker/Dockerfile#L90).

[dduportal]

OK, I'm 200% confused by the pipeline steps:

• https://www.jenkins.io/doc/pipeline/steps/workflow-durable-task-step/#powershell-windows-powershell-script
• https://www.jenkins.io/doc/pipeline/steps/workflow-durable-task-step/#pwsh-powershell-core-script

Ping @jnord if you have any pointer to explain the difference for mere mortals such as us 😅

[jtnord]

right.
powershell core is a cut down version and is more cross platform (this is what you get with the linux distros) binary is pwsh.exe vs powershell.exe..
hence the 2 steps - we just forgot and used the wrong one...

[dduportal]

right. powershell core is a cut down version and is more cross platform (this is what you get with the linux distros) binary is pwsh.exe vs powershell.exe.. hence the 2 steps - we just forgot and used the wrong one...

Oh I see. I assume that jenkins is not able to "guess" based on what it discovers on its PATH, is that correct?

Would the proposal of @lemeurherve make sense (e.g. adding a powershell alias) to avoid end user to step in the same trap?

[lemeurherve]

I think I'll make sure pwsh.exe is available on all our agents, then update the shared pipeline to use pwsh instead of powershell

[lemeurherve]

I'll also intend to install Windows Powershell 5.1 (powershell.exe) alongside Powershell 7 (pwsh.exe) so either command could be used.

IMO favoring pwsh instad of powershell in pipelines should be emphasized in doc somehow (maybe on the pipeline syntax reference page?), at least a note about their differences.
(last one I've noticed, the operator || isn't recognized with powershell)

[jglick]

should be emphasized in doc somehow

Feel free to file a documentation PR to workflow-durable-task-step-plugin.

[lemeurherve]

After spending too much time trying to install Windows PowerShell in our nanoserver images, and PowerShell Core in our windowsserver images, I'm closing this issue since:

• both powershell are installed in our VM images
• the doc has been updated to warn users to check which version is available before using powershell or pwsh in their pipeline
• our docker inbound agent images will be replaced by packer images in the long term