Jenkins: Ignore failure in pipeline build step

Solution 1:

To ignore a failed step in declarative pipeline you basically have two options:

1. Use script step and try-catch block (similar to previous proposition by R_K but in declarative style)

stage('someStage') {
    steps {
        script {
            try {
                build job: 'system-check-flow'
            } catch (err) {
                echo err.getMessage()
            }
        }
        echo currentBuild.result
    }
}

2. Use catchError

stage('someStage') {
    steps {
        catchError {
            build job: 'system-check-flow'
        }
        echo currentBuild.result
    }
}

In both cases the build won't be aborted upon exception in build job: 'system-check-flow'. In both cases the echo step (and any other following) will be executed.

But there's one important difference between these two options. In first case if the try section raises an exception the overall build status won't be changed (so echo currentBuild.result => SUCCESS). In the second case you overall build will fail (so echo currentBuild.result => FAILURE).

This is important, because you can always fail the overall build in first case (by setting currentBuild.result = 'FAILURE') but you can't repair build in second option (currentBuild.result = 'SUCCESS' won't work).

Solution 2:

In addition to simply making the stage pass, it is now also possible to fail the stage, but continue the pipeline and pass the build:

pipeline {
    agent any
    stages {
        stage('1') {
            steps {
                sh 'exit 0'
            }
        }
        stage('2') {
            steps {
                catchError(buildResult: 'SUCCESS', stageResult: 'FAILURE') {
                    sh "exit 1"
                }
            }
        }
        stage('3') {
            steps {
                sh 'exit 0'
            }
        }
    }
}

In the example above, all stages will execute, the pipeline will be successful, but stage 2 will show as failed:

As you might have guessed, you can freely choose the buildResult and stageResult, in case you want it to be unstable or anything else. You can even fail the build and continue the execution of the pipeline.

Just make sure your Jenkins is up to date, since this feature is only available since "Pipeline: Basic Steps" 2.16 (May 14, 2019). Before that, catchError is still available but without parameters:

        steps {
            catchError {
                sh "exit 1"
            }
        }