GSoC Midterm Update, Modernizing and Stabilizing the Jenkins Tekton Plugin
Hello everyone!
I’m Maeve, a Computer Science student at Lehigh University, currently participating in Google Summer of Code 2025. My project involves modernizing the Jenkins Tekton Plugin to create a stable, production-ready integration between Jenkins and Kubernetes-native Tekton pipelines.
As we reach the midpoint of the coding period, I wanted to share the progress and achievements from the first half of this exciting journey.
Major Achievements This Period
The work accomplished so far has focused on establishing a solid foundation for the plugin:
Technical Modernization
I’ve successfully upgraded the plugin’s core infrastructure from outdated Java 8 and Jenkins 4.18 to Java 17 and Jenkins 2.440+.
This modernization effort involved updating numerous dependencies and API calls to ensure the plugin works seamlessly with current Jenkins installations.
Testing Revolution
The testing landscape has been completely transformed. I migrated the entire test suite from JUnit 4 to JUnit 5, converting 21 existing unit tests while implementing modern testing patterns including parameterized tests and improved lifecycle management. The broken test logic has been rewritten to align with current plugin behavior.
End-to-End Testing Infrastructure
Perhaps the most significant achievement is the creation of comprehensive E2E testing capabilities. I’ve built four new integration tests that automatically provision Kind Kubernetes clusters, install Tekton components, create Jenkins jobs, and verify complete workflow execution. These tests run in our GitHub Actions pipeline and complete in just 3 - 4 minutes.
Technical Insights and Learning
Working on this project has provided deep insights into the challenges of maintaining compatibility between different CI/CD paradigms. The integration between Jenkins' traditional approach and Kubernetes-native Tekton execution requires careful consideration of resource management, authentication, and error propagation.
The E2E testing approach has proven particularly valuable - these tests catch integration issues that would be impossible to detect through unit testing alone. Watching real Tekton TaskRuns and PipelineRuns execute in our test clusters provides confidence that the plugin works correctly in real-world scenarios.
Upcoming Development Focus
The remaining coding period will concentrate on several key areas:
Dynamic CRD Support
Implementing support for dynamic Tekton Custom Resource Definitions will enable users to leverage advanced Tekton features and create more flexible integration patterns.
Enhanced User Experience
Focus will shift toward improving error handling, expanding documentation, and providing clear examples for common use cases to make the plugin more accessible to users.
Community and Mentorship
This experience has highlighted the value of open-source collaboration. Working with experienced Jenkins community members has provided insights not just into technical implementation, but into the broader ecosystem considerations that make plugins successful.
The mentorship aspect of GSoC has been particularly enriching - having access to experts who understand both the Jenkins plugin architecture and Kubernetes ecosystem nuances has accelerated the learning process significantly.
Midterm Demonstration
During our recent midterm presentation, I demonstrated the current capabilities, including the automated testing pipeline and real-world integration scenarios. For those interested in the technical details of our testing strategy and modernization approach, the presentation recording is available on the Jenkins in Google Summer of Code page.
Project Repository
Development progress can be tracked at: GitHub Repository
The foundation is now solid, and I’m energized to continue building features that will help development teams seamlessly integrate cloud-native CI/CD practices into their existing Jenkins workflows!
About the author