GitHub required status checks from Jenkins for forks vs local branches

Question

I have a GitHub repository established with a Multibranch Pipeline job in Jenkins, and until now have been content to require the continuous-integration/jenkins/branch status check, as Jenkins posts when building a local branch from the repo. However, I've now got a pull request from an external fork, and Jenkins has posted a continuous-integration/jenkins/pr-merge status check for that. And because the continuous-integration/jenkins/branch status check is required, the PR is blocked from being merged.

What's the expected approach here, for a project that will have a combination of local branches (from its primary maintainers) and forks (from occasional outside contributors)? Must I forgo having either of the status checks be required on the GitHub side? Or is there some other way to get Jenkins to post a stable status check context regardless of the PR's source?

Answer 1

I had the same issue, with thanks to a helpful colleague I found that, by default, the branch source plugin builds branches that aren't necessarily associated with any pull request.

(Relates to the tickbox "Build origin branches" in the link: https://go.cloudbees.com/docs/cloudbees-documentation/cje-user-guide/index.html#_controlling_what_is_built )

This is what creates the status check of "continuous-integration/jenkins/branch".

I unticked that option and ticked the "Build origin PRs (merged with base branch" option, and both status checks now have the same context "continuous-integration/jenkins/pr-merge" and PRs both from forks and branches now trigger the same status check.

In my setup, the tickboxes are in the organisation configuration (since I am also using the GitHub organisation plugin), under Projects > GitHub organisation > Advanced, hopefully on yours, the same options show in your multibranch pipeline config.

Hope this helps