Problem

Bamboo builds fail semi-randomly and you see messages like this in the server logs:

Build XXX had to be cancelled: it was marked as queued but was not present in the queue for (at least) the past 720 seconds.

Diagnosis

Environment

• In some cases this begins to happen after an upgrade to Bamboo 5.7 and above.

Causes

There are multiple causes of this problem, each with a different solution.

Cause A: Multiple builds triggered at the same time

Post-commit triggers are superior to polling because they reduce load on the build server and source control.  However if multiple commits occur rapidly this can cause a race condition.  In this case there may be "ghost" builds that result in the "not present in the queue for 720 seconds" messages.  BAM-17890 - Getting issue details... STATUS

Cause B: Conflict with Group Agent Plugin and Bamboo 5.7.x

There is an incompatibility between Bamboo 5.7.x. and the Group Agent plugin version 1.6.  If you are affected by this you will see errors when adding builds to the queue in your logs:

2014-11-21 09:41:59,766 INFO [3-DelayedChangeDetectionThread:pool-7-thread-3] [ChainExecutionManagerImpl] Build BCPRELEASE8-PAR-JOB1-331 has been dispatched
2014-11-21 09:41:59,767 INFO [AtlassianEvent::0-BAM::EVENTS:pool-3-thread-2] [BuildQueueManagerImpl] Attempting to queue BCP Release 8 - Parent - Run build #331 (BCPRELEASE8-PAR-JOB1-331).
2014-11-21 09:41:59,768 INFO [AtlassianEvent::0-BAM::EVENTS:pool-3-thread-2] [ExecutionPhaseServiceImpl] BCP Release 8 - Parent - Run build #331 (BCPRELEASE8-PAR-JOB1-331) queued
2014-11-21 09:41:59,802 ERROR [AtlassianEvent::0-BAM::EVENTS:pool-3-thread-2] [AsynchronousAbleEventDispatcher] There was an exception thrown trying to dispatch event '[com.atlassian.bamboo.v2.build.events.BuildTriggeredEvent[source=com.atlassian.bamboo.build.DefaultBuildExecutionManager@74793ec9], SingleParameterMethodListenerInvoker{method=public void com.atlassian.bamboo.v2.build.queue.BuildTriggeredListener.handleEvent(com.atlassian.bamboo.v2.build.events.BuildTriggeredEvent), listener=com.atlassian.bamboo.v2.build.queue.BuildTriggeredListener@2370e095}]' from the invoker 'java.lang.RuntimeException: com.edwardawebb.bamboo.groupagent.filter.GroupAgentFilter.filter(Lcom/atlassian/bamboo/v2/build/CommonContext;Ljava/util/Collection;Lcom/atlassian/bamboo/v2/build/agent/capability/MinimalRequirementSet;)Ljava/util/Collection;'

Cause C: Default setting for Bamboo versions older than 5.0

In versions of Bamboo prior to version 5.0 the default value of bamboo.send.filenames.to.agent is set to true which sometimes results in problems adding builds to the queue.  This only affects Bamboo versions less than 5.0.

Resolution

Resolution A: Add a 30 second quiet period to the linked repository associated with the build plan.

1. Edit the settings for your linked repository.
2. Expand the Advanced section.
3. Check the box for "Enable quiet period" and enter "30" in the text field.
4. Save the changes.

For more detailed instructions for all linked repository types available to Bamboo see Linking to source code repositories.

Resolution B: Upgrade the Group Agent Plugin to version 1.7 or greater

1. Go to Administration > Add-ons
2. Find "bamboo-group-agent" in the list of installed plugins

3. Click "Update" and wait for the process to complete.

4. Restart Bamboo for the plugin changes to take effect.

For full details see Installing Marketplace apps.

Resolution C: Change bamboo.send.filenames.to.agent to false

1. Edit the file BAMBOO_INSTALL/conf/wrapper.conf

2. Find the lines that start with wrapper.java.additional and add another line, incrementing the number that follows.  Example:

   wrapper.java.additional.1=-Dorg.eclipse.jetty.xml.XmlParser.Validating=false
   wrapper.java.additional.2=-XX:MaxPermSize=256m
   wrapper.java.additional.3=-Djava.awt.headless=true
   wrapper.java.additional.4=-Djava.io.tmpdir=%WINDIR%/Temp

3. Add another line beginning with wrapper.java.additional. plus the next number in the sequence, followed by =-Dbamboo.send.filenames.to.agent=false}.  Using the example above this would look like: 

   wrapper.java.additional.5=-Dbamboo.send.filenames.to.agent=false