Library Sources
The Jenkins Templating Engine provides a mechanism for using the same pipeline across multiple applications, regardless of what tools they are using.
To do this, there has to be a way to organize different implementations of the same step. For example, if two teams are using gradle and maven to build their respective applications via a build step invoked from a template - then there must be a way of storing and labeling these different implementations.
That’s where libraries come in. In this example, we would create a maven and gradle library, each contributing a build step via a file called build.groovy.
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As this example illustrates, you can think of the pipeline templates you create as an api that libraries and primitives implement. Therefore, libraries that are meant to be interchangeable should contribute steps with the same name. This way, multiple teams can use the same pipeline template by specifying different libraries to load in their pipeline configuration file. |
A Library Source is a reference to a place from which libraries can be found for loading.
Following the governance model JTE lays out, Library Sources can be defined globally under Manage Jenkins >> Configure System >> Jenkins Templating Engine and become available to every pipeline on the Jenkins instance.
Alternatively, access to libraries can be scoped to jobs within a Folder in Jenkins by defining the Library Source on the Folder.
Library Source Structure
In general, individual libraries are just directories within the configured library source.
The library is referenceable in your pipeline_config.groovy file via the directory name.
Each groovy file within a library directory (besides the library configuration file) will be loaded as a step invokable from a pipeline template where the step name is equal to the base file name.
Library Providers
Libraries can come from different sources. The current two storage mechanisms for libraries are Source Code Repositories and packaging libraries into a separate Jenkins plugin. Both of these options have benefits and draw backs that are outlined on their respective pages.
| Type | Description |
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Find libraries in a Source Code Repository |
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Package libraries into a Jenkins Plugin |