Pub-Sub light plugin can cause pipeline builds to fail

Issue

Intermittently, you observe that your pipeline builds stop working. When trying to trigger the build you see some log entries like the ones shown below:

XXXXXX [id=12594374] WARNING j.model.lazy.LazyBuildMixIn#newBuild: A new build could not be created in job XXXXXX
java.lang.IllegalStateException: JENKINS-23152: /var/lib/jenkins/jobs/DXXXXXX/X already existed; will not overwrite with XXXXXX #X
at hudson.model.RunMap.put(RunMap.java:189)
at jenkins.model.lazy.LazyBuildMixIn.newBuild(LazyBuildMixIn.java:182)
at jenkins.model.ParameterizedJobMixIn$ParameterizedJob.createExecutable(ParameterizedJobMixIn.java:510)
at jenkins.model.ParameterizedJobMixIn$ParameterizedJob.createExecutable(ParameterizedJobMixIn.java:320)
at hudson.model.Executor$1.call(Executor.java:365)
at hudson.model.Executor$1.call(Executor.java:347)
at hudson.model.Queue._withLock(Queue.java:1457)
at hudson.model.Queue.withLock(Queue.java:1318)
at hudson.model.Executor.run(Executor.java:347)
XXXXXX [id=12594374] SEVERE hudson.model.Executor#run: Executor #-1 for controller: Unexpected executor death
java.lang.IllegalStateException: JENKINS-23152: /var/lib/jenkins/jobs/DXXXXXX/X already existed; will not overwrite with XXXXXX #X
at hudson.model.RunMap.put(RunMap.java:189)
at jenkins.model.lazy.LazyBuildMixIn.newBuild(LazyBuildMixIn.java:182)
Caused: java.lang.Error
at jenkins.model.lazy.LazyBuildMixIn.newBuild(LazyBuildMixIn.java:190)
at jenkins.model.ParameterizedJobMixIn$ParameterizedJob.createExecutable(ParameterizedJobMixIn.java:510)
at jenkins.model.ParameterizedJobMixIn$ParameterizedJob.createExecutable(ParameterizedJobMixIn.java:320)
at hudson.model.Executor$1.call(Executor.java:365)
at hudson.model.Executor$1.call(Executor.java:347)
at hudson.model.Queue._withLock(Queue.java:1457)
at hudson.model.Queue.withLock(Queue.java:1318)
at hudson.model.Executor.run(Executor.java:347)

Environment

Resolution

Under some circumstances, pub-sub light, which according to its documentation here is a A light-weight Publish-Subscribe (async) event notification module for Jenkins. can face some problems when one of the items subscribed or publishing is not in the queue anymore. This can potentially cause a memory leak that can block pipeline builds and make the instance unstable.

In a heap dump taken on the instance while the issue is happening, you should be able to see a big region of the heap containing org.jenkinsci.plugins.pubsub.Message objects.

The fix for this potential issue is included in Pub-sub light 1.16

Workaround

A temporary workaround for this issue is to restart the instance, but the long term fix requires the plugin to be upgraded to version 1.16 as mentioned above.

Tested product/plugin versions

Pub-sub light 1.14
Jenkins LTS 2.263.2

This article is part of our Knowledge Base and is provided for guidance-based purposes only. The solutions or workarounds described here are not officially supported by CloudBees and may not be applicable in all environments. Use at your own discretion, and test changes in a safe environment before applying them to production systems.