[JENKINS-17681] LastSuccessful and LastStable symlinks are invalid under Windows

[jenkins-infra-bot]

The lastStable and LastSuccessful links are created as invalid symlinks with no destination under Windows. These Files cause the backup to fail, since they are not valid and cause all sorts of zip archivers to fail.

---

Originally reported by fabian_tietz, imported from: LastSuccessful and LastStable symlinks are invalid under Windows

• assignee: jglick
• status: Resolved
• priority: Major
• component(s): core
• label(s): 1.509.3-fixed
• resolution: Fixed
• resolved: 2013-07-15T14:24:05+00:00
• votes: 0
• watchers: 15
• imported: 2025-11-24

Raw content of original issue

The lastStable and LastSuccessful links are created as invalid symlinks with no destination under Windows. These Files cause the backup to fail, since they are not valid and cause all sorts of zip archivers to fail. 

• environment: Windows Server 2008, NTFS, Jenkins runs as Windows Service

[jenkins-infra-bot]

markewaite:

• Original comment link
• Raw content of original comment:

  This problem is also visible in Jenkins 1.509.1 LTS release candidate.  It appears as a stack trace
  
  
  WARNING: Failed to update hudson.model.FreeStyleProject@1b7e8eff[jenkins-demo] l
  astSuccessfulBuild permalink for jenkins-demo #24
  java.nio.file.NoSuchFileException: C:\Users\Mark\.jenkins\jobs\jenkins-demo\builds\lastSuccessfulBuild.tmp
          at sun.nio.fs.WindowsException.translateToIOException(WindowsException.java:79)
          at sun.nio.fs.WindowsException.rethrowAsIOException(WindowsException.java:97)
          at sun.nio.fs.WindowsException.rethrowAsIOException(WindowsException.java:102)
          at sun.nio.fs.WindowsLinkSupport.readLink(WindowsLinkSupport.java:56)
          at sun.nio.fs.WindowsFileSystemProvider.readSymbolicLink(WindowsFileSystemProvider.java:636)
          at java.nio.file.Files.readSymbolicLink(Files.java:1382)
          at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor125.invoke(Unknown Source)
          at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
          at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
          at hudson.Util.resolveSymlink(Util.java:1188)
          at jenkins.model.PeepholePermalink.updateCache(PeepholePermalink.java:146)
          at jenkins.model.PeepholePermalink.resolve(PeepholePermalink.java:118)
          at hudson.model.Job.getLastSuccessfulBuild(Job.java:802)
          at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor213.invoke(Unknown Source)
          at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
          at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
          at org.kohsuke.stapler.Function$InstanceFunction.invoke(Function.java:288)
          at org.kohsuke.stapler.MetaClass$4.doDispatch(MetaClass.java:203)
          at org.kohsuke.stapler.NameBasedDispatcher.dispatch(NameBasedDispatcher.java:53)
          at org.kohsuke.stapler.Stapler.tryInvoke(Stapler.java:677)
          at org.kohsuke.stapler.Stapler.invoke(Stapler.java:770)
          at org.kohsuke.stapler.MetaClass$6.doDispatch(MetaClass.java:241)
          at org.kohsuke.stapler.NameBasedDispatcher.dispatch(NameBasedDispatcher.java:53)
          at org.kohsuke.stapler.Stapler.tryInvoke(Stapler.java:677)
          at org.kohsuke.stapler.Stapler.invoke(Stapler.java:770)
          at org.kohsuke.stapler.Stapler.invoke(Stapler.java:583)
          at org.kohsuke.stapler.Stapler.service(Stapler.java:214)
          at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:45)
          at winstone.ServletConfiguration.execute(ServletConfiguration.java:248)
          at winstone.RequestDispatcher.forward(RequestDispatcher.java:333)
          at winstone.RequestDispatcher.doFilter(RequestDispatcher.java:376)
          at hudson.util.PluginServletFilter$1.doFilter(PluginServletFilter.java:95)
          at hudson.util.PluginServletFilter.doFilter(PluginServletFilter.java:87)
          at winstone.FilterConfiguration.execute(FilterConfiguration.java:194)
          at winstone.RequestDispatcher.doFilter(RequestDispatcher.java:366)
          at hudson.security.csrf.CrumbFilter.doFilter(CrumbFilter.java:48)
          at winstone.FilterConfiguration.execute(FilterConfiguration.java:194)
          at winstone.RequestDispatcher.doFilter(RequestDispatcher.java:366)
          at hudson.security.ChainedServletFilter$1.doFilter(ChainedServletFilter.java:84)
          at hudson.security.ChainedServletFilter.doFilter(ChainedServletFilter.java:76)
          at hudson.security.HudsonFilter.doFilter(HudsonFilter.java:164)
          at winstone.FilterConfiguration.execute(FilterConfiguration.java:194)
          at winstone.RequestDispatcher.doFilter(RequestDispatcher.java:366)
          at org.kohsuke.stapler.compression.CompressionFilter.doFilter(CompressionFilter.java:50)
          at winstone.FilterConfiguration.execute(FilterConfiguration.java:194)
          at winstone.RequestDispatcher.doFilter(RequestDispatcher.java:366)
          at hudson.util.CharacterEncodingFilter.doFilter(CharacterEncodingFilter.java:81)
          at winstone.FilterConfiguration.execute(FilterConfiguration.java:194)
          at winstone.RequestDispatcher.doFilter(RequestDispatcher.java:366)
          at winstone.RequestDispatcher.forward(RequestDispatcher.java:331)
          at winstone.RequestHandlerThread.processRequest(RequestHandlerThread.java:227)
          at winstone.RequestHandlerThread.run(RequestHandlerThread.java:150)
          at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:471)
          at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:334)
          at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:166)
  
  
  

This problem is also visible in Jenkins 1.509.1 LTS release candidate. It appears as a stack trace

WARNING: Failed to update hudson.model.FreeStyleProject@​1b7e8eff[jenkins-demo] l
astSuccessfulBuild permalink for jenkins-demo #24
java.nio.file.NoSuchFileException: C:\Users\Mark\.jenkins\jobs\jenkins-demo\builds\lastSuccessfulBuild.tmp
at sun.nio.fs.WindowsException.translateToIOException(WindowsException.java:79)
at sun.nio.fs.WindowsException.rethrowAsIOException(WindowsException.java:97)
at sun.nio.fs.WindowsException.rethrowAsIOException(WindowsException.java:102)
at sun.nio.fs.WindowsLinkSupport.readLink(WindowsLinkSupport.java:56)
at sun.nio.fs.WindowsFileSystemProvider.readSymbolicLink(WindowsFileSystemProvider.java:636)
at java.nio.file.Files.readSymbolicLink(Files.java:1382)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor125.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
at hudson.Util.resolveSymlink(Util.java:1188)
at jenkins.model.PeepholePermalink.updateCache(PeepholePermalink.java:146)
at jenkins.model.PeepholePermalink.resolve(PeepholePermalink.java:118)
at hudson.model.Job.getLastSuccessfulBuild(Job.java:802)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor213.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
at org.kohsuke.stapler.Function$InstanceFunction.invoke(Function.java:288)
at org.kohsuke.stapler.MetaClass$4.doDispatch(MetaClass.java:203)
at org.kohsuke.stapler.NameBasedDispatcher.dispatch(NameBasedDispatcher.java:53)
at org.kohsuke.stapler.Stapler.tryInvoke(Stapler.java:677)
at org.kohsuke.stapler.Stapler.invoke(Stapler.java:770)
at org.kohsuke.stapler.MetaClass$6.doDispatch(MetaClass.java:241)
at org.kohsuke.stapler.NameBasedDispatcher.dispatch(NameBasedDispatcher.java:53)
at org.kohsuke.stapler.Stapler.tryInvoke(Stapler.java:677)
at org.kohsuke.stapler.Stapler.invoke(Stapler.java:770)
at org.kohsuke.stapler.Stapler.invoke(Stapler.java:583)
at org.kohsuke.stapler.Stapler.service(Stapler.java:214)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:45)
at winstone.ServletConfiguration.execute(ServletConfiguration.java:248)
at winstone.RequestDispatcher.forward(RequestDispatcher.java:333)
at winstone.RequestDispatcher.doFilter(RequestDispatcher.java:376)
at hudson.util.PluginServletFilter$1.doFilter(PluginServletFilter.java:95)
at hudson.util.PluginServletFilter.doFilter(PluginServletFilter.java:87)
at winstone.FilterConfiguration.execute(FilterConfiguration.java:194)
at winstone.RequestDispatcher.doFilter(RequestDispatcher.java:366)
at hudson.security.csrf.CrumbFilter.doFilter(CrumbFilter.java:48)
at winstone.FilterConfiguration.execute(FilterConfiguration.java:194)
at winstone.RequestDispatcher.doFilter(RequestDispatcher.java:366)
at hudson.security.ChainedServletFilter$1.doFilter(ChainedServletFilter.java:84)
at hudson.security.ChainedServletFilter.doFilter(ChainedServletFilter.java:76)
at hudson.security.HudsonFilter.doFilter(HudsonFilter.java:164)
at winstone.FilterConfiguration.execute(FilterConfiguration.java:194)
at winstone.RequestDispatcher.doFilter(RequestDispatcher.java:366)
at org.kohsuke.stapler.compression.CompressionFilter.doFilter(CompressionFilter.java:50)
at winstone.FilterConfiguration.execute(FilterConfiguration.java:194)
at winstone.RequestDispatcher.doFilter(RequestDispatcher.java:366)
at hudson.util.CharacterEncodingFilter.doFilter(CharacterEncodingFilter.java:81)
at winstone.FilterConfiguration.execute(FilterConfiguration.java:194)
at winstone.RequestDispatcher.doFilter(RequestDispatcher.java:366)
at winstone.RequestDispatcher.forward(RequestDispatcher.java:331)
at winstone.RequestHandlerThread.processRequest(RequestHandlerThread.java:227)
at winstone.RequestHandlerThread.run(RequestHandlerThread.java:150)
at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:471)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:334)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:166)

[jenkins-infra-bot]

jglick:

• Original comment link
• Raw content of original comment:

  Just checked in a Jenkins dev build on 2008 R2 SP1 x64 using JDK 7u11 and the symlinks seemed to be fine from what I could see from Explorer and running dir. Send to » Compressed (zipped) folder did not work (the error message was generic). Jenkins did not report any error, either after the builds or after a restart.
  

Just checked in a Jenkins dev build on 2008 R2 SP1 x64 using JDK 7u11 and the symlinks seemed to be fine from what I could see from Explorer and running dir. Send to » Compressed (zipped) folder did not work (the error message was generic). Jenkins did not report any error, either after the builds or after a restart.

[jenkins-infra-bot]

markewaite:

• Original comment link
• Raw content of original comment:

  Is it possible that you're running with UAC disabled?  I'm using JDK 7u21 and I consistently see that stack on multiple machines, though they all run with user account control enabled.
  

Is it possible that you're running with UAC disabled? I'm using JDK 7u21 and I consistently see that stack on multiple machines, though they all run with user account control enabled.

[jenkins-infra-bot]

markewaite:

• Original comment link
• Raw content of original comment:

  http://superuser.com/questions/104845/permission-to-make-symbolic-links-in-windows-7 seems to suggest that creating symlinks as a normal user is not allowed.
  

http://superuser.com/questions/104845/permission-to-make-symbolic-links-in-windows-7 seems to suggest that creating symlinks as a normal user is not allowed.

[jenkins-infra-bot]

jglick:

• Original comment link
• Raw content of original comment:

  I do not really know if I am running with UAC enabled or disabled, it is just a test installation. I know creating symlinks is only allowed under conditions on versions of Windows which support it, which is why PeepholePermalink.updateCache calls createSymlink and then checks resolveSymlink to see if it worked or not. The latter method is supposed to return null if the file is not a symlink, but it is assumed the file at least exists, and PeepholePermalink fails to check this.
  

I do not really know if I am running with UAC enabled or disabled, it is just a test installation. I know creating symlinks is only allowed under conditions on versions of Windows which support it, which is why PeepholePermalink.updateCache calls createSymlink and then checks resolveSymlink to see if it worked or not. The latter method is supposed to return null if the file is not a symlink, but it is assumed the file at least exists, and PeepholePermalink fails to check this.

[jenkins-infra-bot]

markewaite:

• Original comment link
• Raw content of original comment:

  I just checked on a Windows 8 machine and confirmed that the command program "mklink.exe" requires administrator privileges to create a file symlink.
  
  The command "mklink x.jar classworlds.jar" fails with the message:
  
  You do not have sufficient privilege to perform this operation.
  
  If I run that same command from a window that was started with Administrator privileges, then the link is created as expected.
  
  http://technet.microsoft.com/library/cc766301.aspx  gives the explanation that creating symlinks may expose security bugs in programs not designed to handle symlinks.
  

I just checked on a Windows 8 machine and confirmed that the command program "mklink.exe" requires administrator privileges to create a file symlink.

The command "mklink x.jar classworlds.jar" fails with the message:

You do not have sufficient privilege to perform this operation.

If I run that same command from a window that was started with Administrator privileges, then the link is created as expected.

http://technet.microsoft.com/library/cc766301.aspx gives the explanation that creating symlinks may expose security bugs in programs not designed to handle symlinks.

[jenkins-infra-bot]

jglick:

• Original comment link
• Raw content of original comment:

  In an administrator account, could reproduce the problem in a unit test. Why this does not happen when I actually run Jenkins, I am not sure, but perhaps because the test’s working directory is not on an NTFS volume. At any rate, that was enough to test my hypothesis and implement a fix; and I tried running in a regular user account and it seems to work.
  

In an administrator account, could reproduce the problem in a unit test. Why this does not happen when I actually run Jenkins, I am not sure, but perhaps because the test’s working directory is not on an NTFS volume. At any rate, that was enough to test my hypothesis and implement a fix; and I tried running in a regular user account and it seems to work.

[jenkins-infra-bot]

scm_issue_link:

• Original comment link
• Raw content of original comment:

  Code changed in jenkins
  User: Jesse Glick
  Path:
   core/src/main/java/jenkins/model/PeepholePermalink.java
   core/src/test/java/jenkins/model/PeepholePermalinkTest.java
  http://jenkins-ci.org/commit/jenkins/00d5e38759d08fa89ef366fd430e900f4138f0af
  Log:
    JENKINS-17681 Set up a test which passes on Unix but fails on Windows when symlinks are enabled on the platform but disabled for the current user.
  
  
  

Code changed in jenkins
User: Jesse Glick
Path:
core/src/main/java/jenkins/model/PeepholePermalink.java
core/src/test/java/jenkins/model/PeepholePermalinkTest.java
http://jenkins-ci.org/commit/jenkins/00d5e38759d08fa89ef366fd430e900f4138f0af
Log:
JENKINS-17681 Set up a test which passes on Unix but fails on Windows when symlinks are enabled on the platform but disabled for the current user.

[jenkins-infra-bot]

scm_issue_link:

• Original comment link
• Raw content of original comment:

  Code changed in jenkins
  User: Jesse Glick
  Path:
   changelog.html
   core/src/main/java/hudson/Util.java
   core/src/main/java/jenkins/model/PeepholePermalink.java
  http://jenkins-ci.org/commit/jenkins/3c2b50ecfe1c58f64b32d30a3f96e647671f7d03
  Log:
    [FIXED JENKINS-17681] Do not try to call resolveSymlink on a nonexistent link as you will just get an IOException, breaking peephole permalinks in some Windows environments.
  
  
  

Code changed in jenkins
User: Jesse Glick
Path:
changelog.html
core/src/main/java/hudson/Util.java
core/src/main/java/jenkins/model/PeepholePermalink.java
http://jenkins-ci.org/commit/jenkins/3c2b50ecfe1c58f64b32d30a3f96e647671f7d03
Log:
[FIXED JENKINS-17681] Do not try to call resolveSymlink on a nonexistent link as you will just get an IOException, breaking peephole permalinks in some Windows environments.

[jenkins-infra-bot]

dogfood:

• Original comment link
• Raw content of original comment:

  Integrated in  jenkins_main_trunk #2505
       JENKINS-17681 Set up a test which passes on Unix but fails on Windows when symlinks are enabled on the platform but disabled for the current user. (Revision 00d5e38759d08fa89ef366fd430e900f4138f0af)
  [FIXED JENKINS-17681] Do not try to call resolveSymlink on a nonexistent link as you will just get an IOException, breaking peephole permalinks in some Windows environments. (Revision 3c2b50ecfe1c58f64b32d30a3f96e647671f7d03)
  
       Result = SUCCESS
  Jesse Glick : 00d5e38759d08fa89ef366fd430e900f4138f0af
  Files : 
  
  	
  core/src/test/java/jenkins/model/PeepholePermalinkTest.java
  	
  core/src/main/java/jenkins/model/PeepholePermalink.java
  
  
  
  Jesse Glick : 3c2b50ecfe1c58f64b32d30a3f96e647671f7d03
  Files : 
  
  	
  core/src/main/java/jenkins/model/PeepholePermalink.java
  	
  core/src/main/java/hudson/Util.java
  	
  changelog.html
  
  
  

Integrated in jenkins_main_trunk #2505
JENKINS-17681 Set up a test which passes on Unix but fails on Windows when symlinks are enabled on the platform but disabled for the current user. (Revision 00d5e38)
[FIXED JENKINS-17681] Do not try to call resolveSymlink on a nonexistent link as you will just get an IOException, breaking peephole permalinks in some Windows environments. (Revision 3c2b50e)

Result = SUCCESS
Jesse Glick : 00d5e38759d08fa89ef366fd430e900f4138f0af
Files :

• core/src/test/java/jenkins/model/PeepholePermalinkTest.java
• core/src/main/java/jenkins/model/PeepholePermalink.java

Jesse Glick : 3c2b50ecfe1c58f64b32d30a3f96e647671f7d03
Files :

• core/src/main/java/jenkins/model/PeepholePermalink.java
• core/src/main/java/hudson/Util.java
• changelog.html

[jenkins-infra-bot]

imakowski:

• Original comment link
• Raw content of original comment:

  when this will be released to LTS? where can I download it?
  

when this will be released to LTS? where can I download it?

[jenkins-infra-bot]

jglick:

• Original comment link
• Raw content of original comment:

  Fix should be in 1.515. Marked a candidate for backporting to 1.509.2 if that is ever produced.
  

Fix should be in 1.515. Marked a candidate for backporting to 1.509.2 if that is ever produced.

[jenkins-infra-bot]

danlewis:

• Original comment link
• Raw content of original comment:

  We are running 1.514 and have this issue.  It causes tons of stack traces which slows performance.  I have filtered out the messages in the logging config which helps.
  
  +1 getting it into 1.509.2 because we want to move to LTS but won't until this is fixed
  

We are running 1.514 and have this issue. It causes tons of stack traces which slows performance. I have filtered out the messages in the logging config which helps.

+1 getting it into 1.509.2 because we want to move to LTS but won't until this is fixed

[jenkins-infra-bot]

jmmckinnon:

• Original comment link
• Raw content of original comment:

  Another 1 on LTS 1.509.2. I upgraded from 1.466.1 LTS to 1.509.1 and unfortunately could not roll back. I see 10,000 lines of exceptions in my log on startup (and frequently). It could be masking other issues...
  
  In the meantime I will run my master with Admin privileges as a workaround. 
  

Another 1 on LTS 1.509.2. I upgraded from 1.466.1 LTS to 1.509.1 and unfortunately could not roll back. I see 10,000 lines of exceptions in my log on startup (and frequently). It could be masking other issues...

In the meantime I will run my master with Admin privileges as a workaround.

[jenkins-infra-bot]

wolfwolfswinkel:

• Original comment link
• Raw content of original comment:

  Still having zip/backup issues with the lastStable and lastSuccessful symlinks on Windows 7 with 1.515. The links are created with a forward / in the target:
  
  
  05/22/2013  06:12 PM    <SYMLINK>      lastStable [builds/lastStableBuild]
  05/22/2013  06:12 PM    <SYMLINK>      lastSuccessful [builds/lastSuccessfulBuild]
  
  
  The forward / is incorrect, should be \ on Windows.
  

Still having zip/backup issues with the lastStable and lastSuccessful symlinks on Windows 7 with 1.515. The links are created with a forward / in the target:

05/22/2013  06:12 PM    <SYMLINK>      lastStable [builds/lastStableBuild]
05/22/2013  06:12 PM    <SYMLINK>      lastSuccessful [builds/lastSuccessfulBuild]

The forward / is incorrect, should be \ on Windows.