Builds failing with OutOfMemoryErrors(Heap or Permgen space) on Jenkins

https://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/Builds+failing+with+OutOfMemoryErrors

众所周知，Jenkins默认情况下可以实现项目更新(通过SVN)，和项目发布，通过（MAVEN插件），但是这种情况下发布到一些容器底下（如Tomcat）时，经过多次发布后JVM会报OutOfMemoryError PermGen space，这个原因是由于这些容器在覆盖老项目后并不会释放老项目内存永久区的资源，久而久之，导致系统永久区内存溢出。为解决这个问题，我们只有通过发布后重新启动容器(sudo service jenkins restart)才能解决该问题。那有什么办法可以使容器在发布新项目后自动重启呢？重启过程中，我们希望容器正在处理的作业安全完成后（如quartz作业执行完后），容器再重启，如何做到？本文要与大家分享的便是其中一种便利安全的方法。

I once experienced similar errors: jenkins was executing maven builds, which included surefire tests execution. I discovered that the version of maven I was using (V2 something) did not pass my JVM memory options to the surefire process fork, and some tests were failing because of this. MAVEN_OPTS, JAVA_OPTS, none did work.

I ended up passing my memory options directly in the settings.xml, and the PermGen errors were gone.

Here are the options I used (the app was fairly big):

-Xms512m -Xmx1024m -XX:PermSize=512m -XX:MaxPermSize=1024m

• Builds running out of memory?
  • Heap or Permgen?
  • Various Build Tools
    • Maven2/3 Project Type
    • Freestyle projects with Maven Build Steps
    • Gradle build steps
    • Ant build steps

Builds running out of memory?

As your project grows, and you use new tools to either build or analyze your code, you will inevitably exceed the memory settings which your JVM provides by default. This is especially true on 64 bit JVM's since they double the size of the reference pointer. This page aims to show you how to increase the memory available to your build process.

Heap or Permgen?

There are two OutOfMemoryErrors which people usually encounter. The first is related to heap space: java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Heap space When you see this, you need to increase the maximum heap space. You can do this by adding the following to your JVM arguments -Xmx200m where you replace the number 200 with the new heap size in megabytes.

The second is related to PermGen: java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space. When you see this, you need to increase the maximum Permanent Generation space, which is used for things like class files and interned strings. You can do this by adding the following to your JVM arguments -XX:MaxPermSize=128m where you replace the number 128 with the new PermGen size in megabytes.

Various Build Tools

This section demonstrates how to set these JVM switches depending on the kind of build you are running.

Maven2/3 Project Type

If you are using a Maven2/3 project type, you can set the -Xmx or -XX:MaxPermSize in your Jenkins global configuration. To do this, navigate to Jenkins global configuration page (Manage Jenkins -> Configure System) and look for the Maven Project Configuration. Add the necessary JVM settings to the Global MAVEN_OPTS field and press save. Subsequent Maven2/3 builds will use these new settings.

You can adjust the MAVEN_OPTS individually per job by navigating to the job, then clicking "configure" on the job menu, then under the "Build" section clicking advanced, then specifying a setting for the MAVEN_OPTS option.

Freestyle projects with Maven Build Steps

If you have a Freestyle project with a "Invoke Top Level Maven Targets" build step, you can add the appropriate JVM switches for a given build by clicking the Advanced button on the build step and entering the JVM arguments in the JVM Options field.

Alternatively, you can affect all free style Maven build steps by adding a MAVEN_OPTS global environment variable in the Jenkins global configuration. To do this, click Manage Jenkins, then Configure System. In the Global properties section, click the Environment Variables checkbox, then add a new environment variable called MAVEN_OPTS with the value set appropriately:

   

Gradle build steps

You can set the -Xmx or -XX:MaxPermSize by adding a GRADLE_OPTS global environment variable in the Jenkins global configuration. To do this, click Manage Jenkins, thenConfigure System. In the Global properties section, click the Environment Variables checkbox, then add a new environment variable called GRADLE_OPTS with the value set appropriately, similar to the screen shot above regarding MAVEN_OPTS

Ant build steps

For Ant steps, there is no global environment variable; you must set the Ant options in each individual build step. In the configuration for the build, find the Invoke Ant step, clickAdvanced, and enter the options into the Java Options box.