Jenkins fails when running "service start jenkins"

Question

I installed jenkins on Centos 7 using the following:

sudo wget -O /etc/yum.repos.d/jenkins.repo http://pkg.jenkins.io/redhat-stable/jenkins.repo sudo rpm --import http://pkg.jenkins.io/redhat-stable/jenkins.io.key yum install jenkins 

as described on the official documentation

However when I run:

service start jenkins 

I get the following error message:

Starting jenkins (via systemctl):  Job for jenkins.service failed because the control process exited with error code. See "systemctl status jenkins.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.                                                            [FAILED] 

Running systemctl status jenkins.service gives me this:

● jenkins.service - LSB: Jenkins Continuous Integration Server    Loaded: loaded (/etc/rc.d/init.d/jenkins)    Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2016-09-21 16:45:28 BST; 3min 59s ago      Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)   Process: 2818 ExecStart=/etc/rc.d/init.d/jenkins start (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)  Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib jenkins[2818]: at com.sun.akuma.JavaVMArguments.of(JavaVMArguments...04) Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib jenkins[2818]: at com.sun.akuma.JavaVMArguments.current(JavaVMArgu...92) Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib jenkins[2818]: at com.sun.akuma.Daemon.daemonize(Daemon.java:106) Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib jenkins[2818]: at com.sun.akuma.Daemon.all(Daemon.java:88) Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib jenkins[2818]: ... 6 more Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib systemd[1]: jenkins.service: control process exited, code=exited s...s=1 Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib systemd[1]: Failed to start LSB: Jenkins Continuous Integration Server. Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib systemd[1]: Unit jenkins.service entered failed state. Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib systemd[1]: jenkins.service failed. Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib jenkins[2818]: [FAILED] Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full. 

and running journalctl -xe gives me this:

Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib jenkins[2818]: at com.sun.akuma.JavaVMArguments.of(JavaVMArguments.java: Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib jenkins[2818]: at com.sun.akuma.JavaVMArguments.current(JavaVMArguments. Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib jenkins[2818]: at com.sun.akuma.Daemon.daemonize(Daemon.java:106) Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib jenkins[2818]: at com.sun.akuma.Daemon.all(Daemon.java:88) Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib jenkins[2818]: ... 6 more Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib runuser[2819]: pam_unix(runuser:session): session closed for user jenkin Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib systemd[1]: jenkins.service: control process exited, code=exited status= Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib systemd[1]: Failed to start LSB: Jenkins Continuous Integration Server. -- Subject: Unit jenkins.service has failed -- Defined-By: systemd -- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel -- -- Unit jenkins.service has failed. -- -- The result is failed. Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib systemd[1]: Unit jenkins.service entered failed state. Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib systemd[1]: jenkins.service failed. Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib jenkins[2818]: [FAILED] Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib polkitd[1392]: Unregistered Authentication Agent for unix-process:2813:8 Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib dhclient[1390]: DHCPREQUEST on eno16777984 to 192.168.15.254 port 67 (xi Sep 21 16:45:28 webstack.local.caplib dhclient[1390]: DHCPACK from 192.168.15.254 (xid=0x2ab6e6bc) Sep 21 16:45:30 webstack.local.caplib dhclient[1390]: bound to 192.168.15.120 -- renewal in 865 seconds. Sep 21 16:45:36 webstack.local.caplib systemd[1]: Starting Cleanup of Temporary Directories... -- Subject: Unit systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service has begun start-up -- Defined-By: systemd -- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel -- -- Unit systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service has begun starting up. Sep 21 16:45:36 webstack.local.caplib systemd[1]: Started Cleanup of Temporary Directories. -- Subject: Unit systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service has finished start-up -- Defined-By: systemd -- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel -- -- Unit systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service has finished starting up. -- -- The start-up result is done. 

Both of which is really unhelpful. How do I fix this issue?

Answer 1

Similar problem on Ubuntu 16.04.

Setting up jenkins (2.72) ... Job for jenkins.service failed because the control process exited with error code. See "systemctl status jenkins.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details. invoke-rc.d: initscript jenkins, action "start" failed. ● jenkins.service - LSB: Start Jenkins at boot time Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/jenkins; bad; vendor preset: enabled) Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2017-08-01 05:39:06 UTC; 7ms ago Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8) Process: 3700 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/jenkins start (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)  Aug 01 05:39:06 ip-0 systemd[1]: Starting LSB: Start Jenkins .... Aug 01 05:39:06 ip-0 jenkins[3700]: ERROR: No Java executable ... Aug 01 05:39:06 ip-0 jenkins[3700]: If you actually have java ... Aug 01 05:39:06 ip-0 systemd[1]: jenkins.service: Control pro...1 Aug 01 05:39:06 ip-0 systemd[1]: Failed to start LSB: Start J.... Aug 01 05:39:06 ip-0 systemd[1]: jenkins.service: Unit entere.... Aug 01 05:39:06 ip-0 systemd[1]: jenkins.service: Failed with.... 

To fix the issue manually install Java Runtime Environment:

JDK version 9:

sudo apt install openjdk-9-jre 

JDK version 8:

sudo apt install openjdk-8-jre 

Open Jenkins configuration file:

sudo vi /etc/init.d/jenkins 

Finally, append path to the new java executable (line 16):

PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/bin/