When a job runs in the console log for that job 'p4 changes -m1' is run for every branch that matches the multibranch project source. For example the following job is running for '//streams/main':
p4 client -i
Client jenkinsTemp-c31cbc7b-5563-4c2e-96e4-60fc95703f4b saved.(p4):stop:8
(p4):cmd:
... View:
//depot/multibranch/dev1/Jenkinsfile //jenkinsTemp-c31cbc7b-5563-4c2e-96e4-60fc95703f4b/Jenkinsfile
p4 client -i
Client jenkinsTemp-c31cbc7b-5563-4c2e-96e4-60fc95703f4b saved.(p4):stop:17
(p4):cmd:
... View:
//depot/multibranch/dev2/Jenkinsfile //jenkinsTemp-c31cbc7b-5563-4c2e-96e4-60fc95703f4b/Jenkinsfile
p4 client -i
Client jenkinsTemp-c31cbc7b-5563-4c2e-96e4-60fc95703f4b saved.(p4):stop:26
(p4):cmd:
... View:
//depot/multibranch/main/Jenkinsfile //jenkinsTemp-c31cbc7b-5563-4c2e-96e4-60fc95703f4b/Jenkinsfile
Note that clients are created for 'dev1', 'dev2' and 'main' even though we only need to probe for changes to 'main' in this job execution. (Full console log attached)
I would expect this in the Multibranch Scan Log but not every job execution.
Reproduction steps:
(1) Create following folders in Perforce and submit a Jenkinsfile to each:
//depot/multibranch/dev1/...
//depot/multibranch/dev2/...
//depot/multibranch/main/...
(2) Create a multibranch project with Helix Branches as the source and 'include branches' set to:
//depot/multibranch/...
and Scan Multibranch triggers set to '5 minutes'.
(3) Manually build each job.
(4) Submit a new file to '//depot/multibranch/main/...'.
(5) Manually build the job. See that all branches are scanned in the console log for the main build job.
(6) Submit another new file to '//depot/multibranch/main/...'.
(7) Wait 5 minutes. See that all branches are scanned in the console.log and the Multibranch scan log.
- is duplicated by
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JENKINS-68374 Disable all branch scanning when triggering specific branch
-
- Closed
-
[JENKINS-64946] Branch indexing occurring for every multibranch job execution
Mathew Bailey
added a comment - Hi,
This issue is causing us quite a delay at the start of every job. Is there a workaround for it, or a likely ETA for a fix? Is it possible to stop the Perforce account from being able to see the streams? I've experimented with the viewstreamspec permission but it didn't do what I was hoping for.
Kind regards,
Mat Bailey
Mathew Bailey
added a comment - Hi,
This issue is causing us quite a delay at the start of every job. Is there a workaround for it, or a likely ETA for a fix? Is it possible to stop the Perforce account from being able to see the streams? I've experimented with the viewstreamspec permission but it didn't do what I was hoping for.
Kind regards,
Mat Bailey 
Karl Wirth
added a comment - Hi unit2matbailey,
One of the developers just told me to try using the 'Include Filter' and for me that works around the problem. For example my simple test above where I restrict to only 'main':
I only see 'p4 changes' against main:
Started [Mon Mar 14 14:06:51 UTC 2022] Starting branch indexing... ... p4 dirs //depot/multibranch/* + ... p4 changes -m1 -ssubmitted //jenkinsTemp-dbaa6e37-1a10-4aa1-8d90-5ebc1be67950/...@2___ + P4: no revisions under //jenkinsTemp-dbaa6e37-1a10-4aa1-8d90-5ebc1be67950/...@2259,2359 ... p4 changes -m1 //depot/multibranch/main/...@2259,2359 + Scanning for //depot/multibranch/main/Jenkinsfile ... p4 files -e //depot/multibranch/main/Jenkinsfile + ‘Jenkinsfile’ found No changes detected: main (still at 107) ... p4 client -d jenkinsTemp-dbaa6e37-1a10-4aa1-8d90-5ebc1be67950 + [Mon Mar 14 14:06:52 UTC 2022] Finished branch indexing. Indexing took 91 ms Finished: SUCCESS
You can also use the Advanced... > Exclude Pattern. For example:
Are you able to test that?
Regards,
Karl
Karl Wirth
added a comment - Hi unit2matbailey ,
One of the developers just told me to try using the 'Include Filter' and for me that works around the problem. For example my simple test above where I restrict to only 'main':
I only see 'p4 changes' against main:
Started
[Mon Mar 14 14:06:51 UTC 2022] Starting branch indexing...
... p4 dirs //depot/multibranch/* +
... p4 changes -m1 -ssubmitted //jenkinsTemp-dbaa6e37-1a10-4aa1-8d90-5ebc1be67950/...@2___ +
P4: no revisions under //jenkinsTemp-dbaa6e37-1a10-4aa1-8d90-5ebc1be67950/...@2259,2359
... p4 changes -m1 //depot/multibranch/main/...@2259,2359 +
Scanning for //depot/multibranch/main/Jenkinsfile
... p4 files -e //depot/multibranch/main/Jenkinsfile +
‘Jenkinsfile’ found
No changes detected: main (still at 107)
... p4 client -d jenkinsTemp-dbaa6e37-1a10-4aa1-8d90-5ebc1be67950 +
[Mon Mar 14 14:06:52 UTC 2022] Finished branch indexing. Indexing took 91 ms
Finished: SUCCESS
You can also use the Advanced... > Exclude Pattern. For example:
Are you able to test that?
Regards,
Karl 
Paul Allen
added a comment - Ready for release. Paul Allen
added a comment - Released in 1.12.3 
It will be helpful to avoid the Jenkins p4 plugin prebuilt scanning of every branch because the job is already running on a known path.
In our case, the plug-in scans up to 400 paths (not related to our Jenkins job) and it takes up to 17 minutes on our larger paths. This extra scanning is time-consuming and generates thousands of unnecessary output lines.