Isn't that what the /b flag is for?

well that depends on your perspective.

There is no other cmd.exe interpreter in the view of the user - so they would logically assume that the script is run with cmd.exe /k the_contents_of_the_stuff.

regardless of that, the end result is not good - having a task running that has died looks bad for Jenkins and gives the impression of a Jenkins issue even if it is PEBKAC.

Since I have no idea what /b or /k do I am passing back to you!

cmd.exe /?
    Starts a new instance of the Windows command interpreter
    /K      Carries out the command specified by string but remains

> help exit
Quits the CMD.EXE program (command interpreter) or the current batch
script.

EXIT [/B] [exitCode]
  /B          specifies to exit the current batch script instead of
              CMD.EXE.  If executed from outside a batch script, it
              will quit CMD.EXE

basically if you forget to add /b to your dos script (e.g. if you want to terminate early using exit) you will kill the cmd.exe process and Jenkins will sit until the end of days and not realize...

Using /k rather than /c to run the wrapper script does not seem to have any effect. Easily seen outside Jenkins:

C:\Documents and Settings\Jesse Glick\JENKINS-27419>type main.bat wrap.bat

main.bat


echo hello world
exit 1

wrap.bat


call "main.bat" > "log.txt" 2>&1
echo %ERRORLEVEL% > "result.txt"

C:\Documents and Settings\Jesse Glick\JENKINS-27419>cmd /k wrap.bat

C:\Documents and Settings\Jesse Glick\JENKINS-27419>call "main.bat"  1>"log.txt" 2>&1

C:\Documents and Settings\Jesse Glick\JENKINS-27419>type log.txt

C:\Documents and Settings\Jesse Glick\JENKINS-27419>echo hello world
hello world

C:\Documents and Settings\Jesse Glick\JENKINS-27419>exit 1

C:\Documents and Settings\Jesse Glick\JENKINS-27419>type result.txt
The system cannot find the file specified.

C:\Documents and Settings\Jesse Glick\JENKINS-27419>

If you use exit /b 1 in main.bat then it works (with /c or /k).

Any other ideas?

I think I got it: use cmd rather than call in the wrapper script.

Code changed in jenkins
User: Jesse Glick
Path:
src/main/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/durabletask/WindowsBatchScript.java
src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/durabletask/WindowsBatchScriptTest.java
http://jenkins-ci.org/commit/durable-task-plugin/c0edb1d21c9963f4fe865dc024536972381d5d32
Log:
[FIXED JENKINS-27419] Properly handle scripts that call exit without /b.

Code changed in jenkins
User: Jesse Glick
Path:
src/main/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/durabletask/WindowsBatchScript.java
src/test/java/org/jenkinsci/plugins/durabletask/WindowsBatchScriptTest.java
http://jenkins-ci.org/commit/durable-task-plugin/807eca36b3ca37d00518e957940117dd1ea3df54
Log:
Merge pull request #12 from jglick/exitCommand-JENKINS-27419

JENKINS-27419 Properly handle scripts that call exit without /b

Compare: https://github.com/jenkinsci/durable-task-plugin/compare/d652a99ee282...807eca36b3ca

I've just experienced the same issue even while using the /b key and doing promotion.
So in build promotion windows script if you do exit /b 255 it will result Pending promotion status to remain forever

arturkor This issue is about the Durable Task Plugin, not the Promoted Builds Plugin.