Interview › Scripting (Bash, Groovy)
How do you handle errors and retries in a Groovy pipeline (try/catch, retry, timeout)? [Advanced]
Answer
In a Groovy pipeline, I handle errors with try/catch/finally, retry for transient failures, timeout for hung steps, and post blocks for cleanup or notifications. The design should distinguish expected flaky operations from real deterministic failures.
Technical explanation
retry repeats the enclosed block when a step fails, which is useful for network pulls or temporary API failures.
timeout prevents indefinite hangs and frees Jenkins executors.
try/finally or post { always { ... } } ensures cleanup and notifications happen even after failures.
Hands-on example
pipeline {
agent any
stages {
stage('Deploy') {
steps {
script {
timeout(time: 10, unit: 'MINUTES') {
retry(3) {
sh './deploy.sh prod'
}
}
}
}
}
}
post { always { cleanWs() } }
}
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