In a project I'm working on, we are using shell scripts to execute different tasks. Some are sh/bash scripts that run rsync, and some are PHP scripts. One of the PHP scripts is running some integration tests that output to JUnit XML, code coverage reports, and similar.
Jenkins is able to mark the jobs as successful / failed based on exit status. In PHP, the script exits with 1 if it has detected that the tests failed during the run. The other shell scripts run commands and use the exit codes from those to mark a build as failed.
// :: End of PHP script:
// If any tests have failed, fail the build
if ($build_error) exit(1);
In Jenkins Terminology, an unstable build is defined as:
A build is unstable if it was built successfully and one or more publishers report it unstable. For example if the JUnit publisher is configured and a test fails then the build will be marked unstable.
How can I get Jenkins to mark a build as unstable instead of only success / failed when running shell scripts?
Use the Text-finder plugin.
Instead of exiting with status 1 (which would fail the build), do:
if ($build_error) print("TESTS FAILED!");
Than in the post-build actions enable the Text Finder, set the regular expression to match the message you printed (TESTS FAILED!) and check the "Unstable if found" checkbox under that entry.