System directories like 'workspace' sporadically lose their exec bit resulting in a permission denial exception. A sample log is below:

===============================================
Started by an SCM change
Building on master in workspace /<...>/workspace
Cleaning local Directory .
Checking out http://<...>
ERROR: Failed to check out http://<...>
org.tmatesoft.svn.core.SVNException: svn: E204899: Cannot create new file '/<...>/workspace/.svn/lock': Permission denied
at org.tmatesoft.svn.core.internal.wc.SVNErrorManager.error(SVNErrorManager.java:85)
at org.tmatesoft.svn.core.internal.wc.SVNFileUtil.createEmptyFile(SVNFileUtil.java:358)
at org.tmatesoft.svn.core.internal.wc.admin.SVNAdminArea14.createVersionedDirectory(SVNAdminArea14.java:1584)
at org.tmatesoft.svn.core.internal.wc.admin.SVNAdminArea15Factory.doCreateVersionedDirectory(SVNAdminArea15Factory.java:30)
at org.tmatesoft.svn.core.internal.wc.admin.SVNAdminAreaFactory.createVersionedDirectory(SVNAdminAreaFactory.java:241)
at org.tmatesoft.svn.core.internal.wc.admin.SVNAdminAreaFactory.createVersionedDirectory(SVNAdminAreaFactory.java:248)
at org.tmatesoft.svn.core.internal.wc16.SVNUpdateClient16.doCheckout(SVNUpdateClient16.java:964)
at org.tmatesoft.svn.core.internal.wc2.old.SvnOldCheckout.run(SvnOldCheckout.java:19)
at org.tmatesoft.svn.core.internal.wc2.old.SvnOldCheckout.run(SvnOldCheckout.java:8)
at org.tmatesoft.svn.core.internal.wc2.SvnOperationRunner.run(SvnOperationRunner.java:20)
at org.tmatesoft.svn.core.wc2.SvnOperationFactory.run(SvnOperationFactory.java:1221)
at org.tmatesoft.svn.core.wc2.SvnOperation.run(SvnOperation.java:292)
at org.tmatesoft.svn.core.wc.SVNUpdateClient.doCheckout(SVNUpdateClient.java:781)
at hudson.scm.subversion.CheckoutUpdater$1.perform(CheckoutUpdater.java:85)
at hudson.scm.subversion.WorkspaceUpdater$UpdateTask.delegateTo(WorkspaceUpdater.java:144)
at hudson.scm.SubversionSCM$CheckOutTask.perform(SubversionSCM.java:789)
at hudson.scm.SubversionSCM$CheckOutTask.invoke(SubversionSCM.java:770)
at hudson.scm.SubversionSCM$CheckOutTask.invoke(SubversionSCM.java:753)
at hudson.FilePath.act(FilePath.java:865)
at hudson.FilePath.act(FilePath.java:838)
at hudson.scm.SubversionSCM.checkout(SubversionSCM.java:743)
at hudson.scm.SubversionSCM.checkout(SubversionSCM.java:685)
at hudson.model.AbstractProject.checkout(AbstractProject.java:1342)
at hudson.model.AbstractBuild$AbstractBuildExecution.defaultCheckout(AbstractBuild.java:683)
at jenkins.scm.SCMCheckoutStrategy.checkout(SCMCheckoutStrategy.java:88)
at hudson.model.AbstractBuild$AbstractBuildExecution.run(AbstractBuild.java:588)
at hudson.model.Run.execute(Run.java:1567)
at hudson.model.FreeStyleBuild.run(FreeStyleBuild.java:46)
at hudson.model.ResourceController.execute(ResourceController.java:88)
at hudson.model.Executor.run(Executor.java:237)
Caused by: java.io.IOException: Permission denied
at java.io.UnixFileSystem.createFileExclusively(Native Method)
at java.io.File.createNewFile(File.java:883)
at org.tmatesoft.svn.core.internal.wc.SVNFileUtil.createNewFile(SVNFileUtil.java:372)
at org.tmatesoft.svn.core.internal.wc.SVNFileUtil.createEmptyFile(SVNFileUtil.java:344)
... 28 more
FATAL: null
java.lang.NullPointerException
at java.util.ArrayList.addAll(ArrayList.java:472)
at hudson.scm.SubversionSCM.checkout(SubversionSCM.java:743)
at hudson.scm.SubversionSCM.checkout(SubversionSCM.java:685)
at hudson.model.AbstractProject.checkout(AbstractProject.java:1342)
at hudson.model.AbstractBuild$AbstractBuildExecution.defaultCheckout(AbstractBuild.java:683)
at jenkins.scm.SCMCheckoutStrategy.checkout(SCMCheckoutStrategy.java:88)
at hudson.model.AbstractBuild$AbstractBuildExecution.run(AbstractBuild.java:588)
at hudson.model.Run.execute(Run.java:1567)
at hudson.model.FreeStyleBuild.run(FreeStyleBuild.java:46)
at hudson.model.ResourceController.execute(ResourceController.java:88)
at hudson.model.Executor.run(Executor.java:237)
===============================================

Once and again I am forced to chmod the directories manually, to make the jobs built.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks!

Kind regards,
Anatoly Varakin