Jenkins sort method behaviour not as expected - sorting

Question

I'm getting different results in jenkins pipeline when trying to sort a list compared to jenkins script console.
Jenkins version: 2.134
groovy version: 2.4.11
Code
def items = [[1, "09-Aug-2018 11:13" ],
[2, "11-Jul-2018 13:27" ],
[3, "02-Oct-2018 15:48" ],
[4, "03-Sep-2018 14:27" ],
[5, "08-Sep-2018 10:07" ],
[6, "11-Jul-2018 14:06" ],
[7, "08-Sep-2018 10:16" ],
[8, "09-Aug-2018 09:53" ],
[9, "16-Jul-2018 12:59" ],
[10, "08-Aug-2018 15:14" ],
[11, "12-Jul-2018 09:04" ],
[12, "08-Aug-2018 14:32" ],
[13, "08-Sep-2018 10:59" ],
[14, "08-Sep-2018 09:50" ],
[15, "16-Aug-2018 09:12" ],
[16, "19-Sep-2018 09:59" ],
[17, "18-Jul-2018 10:25" ],
[18, "11-Sep-2018 14:45" ],
[19, "12-Jul-2018 09:36" ],
[20, "02-Oct-2018 09:18" ]]
def itemsDateNotString = items.collect { [it[0], new Date().parse("dd-MMM-yyyy H:m", it[1])] }
println(itemsDateNotString)
def itemsSorted = itemsDateNotString.sort{ it[1] }
println(itemsSorted)
def itemsSortedReversed = itemsSorted.reverse()
println(itemsSortedReversed)
Results on my laptop and on Jenkins script console:
itemsDateNotString
[[1, Thu Aug 09 11:13:00 GMT 2018], [2, Wed Jul 11 13:27:00 GMT 2018], [3, Tue Oct 02 15:48:00 GMT 2018], [4, Mon Sep 03 14:27:00 GMT 2018], [5, Sat Sep 08 10:07:00 GMT 2018], [6, Wed Jul 11 14:06:00 GMT 2018], [7, Sat Sep 08 10:16:00 GMT 2018], [8, Thu Aug 09 09:53:00 GMT 2018], [9, Mon Jul 16 12:59:00 GMT 2018], [10, Wed Aug 08 15:14:00 GMT 2018], [11, Thu Jul 12 09:04:00 GMT 2018], [12, Wed Aug 08 14:32:00 GMT 2018], [13, Sat Sep 08 10:59:00 GMT 2018], [14, Sat Sep 08 09:50:00 GMT 2018], [15, Thu Aug 16 09:12:00 GMT 2018], [16, Wed Sep 19 09:59:00 GMT 2018], [17, Wed Jul 18 10:25:00 GMT 2018], [18, Tue Sep 11 14:45:00 GMT 2018], [19, Thu Jul 12 09:36:00 GMT 2018], [20, Tue Oct 02 09:18:00 GMT 2018]]
itemsSorted:
[[2, Wed Jul 11 13:27:00 GMT 2018], [6, Wed Jul 11 14:06:00 GMT 2018], [11, Thu Jul 12 09:04:00 GMT 2018], [19, Thu Jul 12 09:36:00 GMT 2018], [9, Mon Jul 16 12:59:00 GMT 2018], [17, Wed Jul 18 10:25:00 GMT 2018], [12, Wed Aug 08 14:32:00 GMT 2018], [10, Wed Aug 08 15:14:00 GMT 2018], [8, Thu Aug 09 09:53:00 GMT 2018], [1, Thu Aug 09 11:13:00 GMT 2018], [15, Thu Aug 16 09:12:00 GMT 2018], [4, Mon Sep 03 14:27:00 GMT 2018], [14, Sat Sep 08 09:50:00 GMT 2018], [5, Sat Sep 08 10:07:00 GMT 2018], [7, Sat Sep 08 10:16:00 GMT 2018], [13, Sat Sep 08 10:59:00 GMT 2018], [18, Tue Sep 11 14:45:00 GMT 2018], [16, Wed Sep 19 09:59:00 GMT 2018], [20, Tue Oct 02 09:18:00 GMT 2018], [3, Tue Oct 02 15:48:00 GMT 2018]]
itemsSortedReversed:
[[3, Tue Oct 02 15:48:00 GMT 2018], [20, Tue Oct 02 09:18:00 GMT 2018], [16, Wed Sep 19 09:59:00 GMT 2018], [18, Tue Sep 11 14:45:00 GMT 2018], [13, Sat Sep 08 10:59:00 GMT 2018], [7, Sat Sep 08 10:16:00 GMT 2018], [5, Sat Sep 08 10:07:00 GMT 2018], [14, Sat Sep 08 09:50:00 GMT 2018], [4, Mon Sep 03 14:27:00 GMT 2018], [15, Thu Aug 16 09:12:00 GMT 2018], [1, Thu Aug 09 11:13:00 GMT 2018], [8, Thu Aug 09 09:53:00 GMT 2018], [10, Wed Aug 08 15:14:00 GMT 2018], [12, Wed Aug 08 14:32:00 GMT 2018], [17, Wed Jul 18 10:25:00 GMT 2018], [9, Mon Jul 16 12:59:00 GMT 2018], [19, Thu Jul 12 09:36:00 GMT 2018], [11, Thu Jul 12 09:04:00 GMT 2018], [6, Wed Jul 11 14:06:00 GMT 2018], [2, Wed Jul 11 13:27:00 GMT 2018]]
However when I run this code as part of the jenkins pipeline it thows and exception and the results are below:
itemsDateNotString
[[1, Thu Aug 09 11:13:00 GMT 2018], [2, Wed Jul 11 13:27:00 GMT 2018], [3, Tue Oct 02 15:48:00 GMT 2018], [4, Mon Sep 03 14:27:00 GMT 2018], [5, Sat Sep 08 10:07:00 GMT 2018], [6, Wed Jul 11 14:06:00 GMT 2018], [7, Sat Sep 08 10:16:00 GMT 2018], [8, Thu Aug 09 09:53:00 GMT 2018], [9, Mon Jul 16 12:59:00 GMT 2018], [10, Wed Aug 08 15:14:00 GMT 2018], [11, Thu Jul 12 09:04:00 GMT 2018], [12, Wed Aug 08 14:32:00 GMT 2018], [13, Sat Sep 08 10:59:00 GMT 2018], [14, Sat Sep 08 09:50:00 GMT 2018], [15, Thu Aug 16 09:12:00 GMT 2018], [16, Wed Sep 19 09:59:00 GMT 2018], [17, Wed Jul 18 10:25:00 GMT 2018], [18, Tue Sep 11 14:45:00 GMT 2018], [19, Thu Jul 12 09:36:00 GMT 2018], [20, Tue Oct 02 09:18:00 GMT 2018]]
itemsSorted:
Wed Jul 11 13:27:00 GMT 2018
[Pipeline] }
[Pipeline] // stage
[Pipeline] }
[Pipeline] // node
[Pipeline] }
[Pipeline] // podTemplate
[Pipeline] End of Pipeline
hudson.remoting.ProxyException: groovy.lang.MissingMethodException: No signature of method: java.util.Date.reverse() is applicable for argument types: () values: []
Possible solutions: every(), every(groovy.lang.Closure), before(java.util.Date), parse(java.lang.String), parse(java.lang.String, java.lang.String), parse(java.lang.String, java.lang.String, java.util.TimeZone)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.ScriptBytecodeAdapter.unwrap(ScriptBytecodeAdapter.java:58)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.PojoMetaClassSite.call(PojoMetaClassSite.java:49)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.CallSiteArray.defaultCall(CallSiteArray.java:48)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.callsite.AbstractCallSite.call(AbstractCallSite.java:113)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.sandbox.DefaultInvoker.methodCall(DefaultInvoker.java:20)
at tmpDeleteArtifacts.printItems(<PATH>)
at tmpDeleteArtifacts.call(<PATH>)
at standardPipeline.call(<PATH>)
at ___cps.transform___(Native Method)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.impl.ContinuationGroup.methodCall(ContinuationGroup.java:57)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.impl.FunctionCallBlock$ContinuationImpl.dispatchOrArg(FunctionCallBlock.java:109)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.impl.FunctionCallBlock$ContinuationImpl.fixName(FunctionCallBlock.java:77)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor251.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.impl.ContinuationPtr$ContinuationImpl.receive(ContinuationPtr.java:72)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.impl.ConstantBlock.eval(ConstantBlock.java:21)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.Next.step(Next.java:83)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.Continuable$1.call(Continuable.java:174)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.Continuable$1.call(Continuable.java:163)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.GroovyCategorySupport$ThreadCategoryInfo.use(GroovyCategorySupport.java:122)
at org.codehaus.groovy.runtime.GroovyCategorySupport.use(GroovyCategorySupport.java:261)
at com.cloudbees.groovy.cps.Continuable.run0(Continuable.java:163)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.SandboxContinuable.access$101(SandboxContinuable.java:34)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.SandboxContinuable.lambda$run0$0(SandboxContinuable.java:59)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.scriptsecurity.sandbox.groovy.GroovySandbox.runInSandbox(GroovySandbox.java:108)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.SandboxContinuable.run0(SandboxContinuable.java:58)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsThread.runNextChunk(CpsThread.java:182)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsThreadGroup.run(CpsThreadGroup.java:332)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsThreadGroup.access$200(CpsThreadGroup.java:83)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsThreadGroup$2.call(CpsThreadGroup.java:244)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsThreadGroup$2.call(CpsThreadGroup.java:232)
at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsVmExecutorService$2.call(CpsVmExecutorService.java:64)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
at hudson.remoting.SingleLaneExecutorService$1.run(SingleLaneExecutorService.java:131)
at jenkins.util.ContextResettingExecutorService$1.run(ContextResettingExecutorService.java:28)
at jenkins.security.ImpersonatingExecutorService$1.run(ImpersonatingExecutorService.java:59)
at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
Finished: FAILURE
Provided that the code works on jenkins script consolei'm not sure why the pipeline is giving different results. I believe it's the sort function because I would expect it to sort the list in date order however it is returning an single date in the pipeline whereas the script console is returning the sorted list.
Thanks in advance,
Jay.

Answer 1

It happens to you, because you run list transformation in Groovy CPS mode, which has plenty of limitations when running in continuation passing style. Solution is fairly simple - extract your Groovy code to a function annotated with #NonCPS so Jenkins executes it outside CPS mode. Take a look at this simple example:
Jenkinsfile:
node {
stage("Test") {
def items = [[1, "09-Aug-2018 11:13" ],
[2, "11-Jul-2018 13:27" ],
[3, "02-Oct-2018 15:48" ],
[4, "03-Sep-2018 14:27" ],
[5, "08-Sep-2018 10:07" ],
[6, "11-Jul-2018 14:06" ],
[7, "08-Sep-2018 10:16" ],
[8, "09-Aug-2018 09:53" ],
[9, "16-Jul-2018 12:59" ],
[10, "08-Aug-2018 15:14" ],
[11, "12-Jul-2018 09:04" ],
[12, "08-Aug-2018 14:32" ],
[13, "08-Sep-2018 10:59" ],
[14, "08-Sep-2018 09:50" ],
[15, "16-Aug-2018 09:12" ],
[16, "19-Sep-2018 09:59" ],
[17, "18-Jul-2018 10:25" ],
[18, "11-Sep-2018 14:45" ],
[19, "12-Jul-2018 09:36" ],
[20, "02-Oct-2018 09:18" ]]
sortExample(items)
}
}
#NonCPS
def sortExample(items) {
def itemsDateNotString = items.collect { [it[0], new Date().parse("dd-MMM-yyyy H:m", it[1])] }
println(itemsDateNotString)
def itemsSorted = itemsDateNotString.sort{ it[1] }
println(itemsSorted)
def itemsSortedReversed = itemsSorted.reverse()
println(itemsSortedReversed)
}
Output:
[Pipeline] node
Running on Jenkins in /var/jenkins_home/workspace/test-pipeline
[Pipeline] {
[Pipeline] stage
[Pipeline] { (Test)
[Pipeline] echo
[[1, Thu Aug 09 11:13:00 UTC 2018], [2, Wed Jul 11 13:27:00 UTC 2018], [3, Tue Oct 02 15:48:00 UTC 2018], [4, Mon Sep 03 14:27:00 UTC 2018], [5, Sat Sep 08 10:07:00 UTC 2018], [6, Wed Jul 11 14:06:00 UTC 2018], [7, Sat Sep 08 10:16:00 UTC 2018], [8, Thu Aug 09 09:53:00 UTC 2018], [9, Mon Jul 16 12:59:00 UTC 2018], [10, Wed Aug 08 15:14:00 UTC 2018], [11, Thu Jul 12 09:04:00 UTC 2018], [12, Wed Aug 08 14:32:00 UTC 2018], [13, Sat Sep 08 10:59:00 UTC 2018], [14, Sat Sep 08 09:50:00 UTC 2018], [15, Thu Aug 16 09:12:00 UTC 2018], [16, Wed Sep 19 09:59:00 UTC 2018], [17, Wed Jul 18 10:25:00 UTC 2018], [18, Tue Sep 11 14:45:00 UTC 2018], [19, Thu Jul 12 09:36:00 UTC 2018], [20, Tue Oct 02 09:18:00 UTC 2018]]
[Pipeline] echo
[[2, Wed Jul 11 13:27:00 UTC 2018], [6, Wed Jul 11 14:06:00 UTC 2018], [11, Thu Jul 12 09:04:00 UTC 2018], [19, Thu Jul 12 09:36:00 UTC 2018], [9, Mon Jul 16 12:59:00 UTC 2018], [17, Wed Jul 18 10:25:00 UTC 2018], [12, Wed Aug 08 14:32:00 UTC 2018], [10, Wed Aug 08 15:14:00 UTC 2018], [8, Thu Aug 09 09:53:00 UTC 2018], [1, Thu Aug 09 11:13:00 UTC 2018], [15, Thu Aug 16 09:12:00 UTC 2018], [4, Mon Sep 03 14:27:00 UTC 2018], [14, Sat Sep 08 09:50:00 UTC 2018], [5, Sat Sep 08 10:07:00 UTC 2018], [7, Sat Sep 08 10:16:00 UTC 2018], [13, Sat Sep 08 10:59:00 UTC 2018], [18, Tue Sep 11 14:45:00 UTC 2018], [16, Wed Sep 19 09:59:00 UTC 2018], [20, Tue Oct 02 09:18:00 UTC 2018], [3, Tue Oct 02 15:48:00 UTC 2018]]
[Pipeline] echo
[[3, Tue Oct 02 15:48:00 UTC 2018], [20, Tue Oct 02 09:18:00 UTC 2018], [16, Wed Sep 19 09:59:00 UTC 2018], [18, Tue Sep 11 14:45:00 UTC 2018], [13, Sat Sep 08 10:59:00 UTC 2018], [7, Sat Sep 08 10:16:00 UTC 2018], [5, Sat Sep 08 10:07:00 UTC 2018], [14, Sat Sep 08 09:50:00 UTC 2018], [4, Mon Sep 03 14:27:00 UTC 2018], [15, Thu Aug 16 09:12:00 UTC 2018], [1, Thu Aug 09 11:13:00 UTC 2018], [8, Thu Aug 09 09:53:00 UTC 2018], [10, Wed Aug 08 15:14:00 UTC 2018], [12, Wed Aug 08 14:32:00 UTC 2018], [17, Wed Jul 18 10:25:00 UTC 2018], [9, Mon Jul 16 12:59:00 UTC 2018], [19, Thu Jul 12 09:36:00 UTC 2018], [11, Thu Jul 12 09:04:00 UTC 2018], [6, Wed Jul 11 14:06:00 UTC 2018], [2, Wed Jul 11 13:27:00 UTC 2018]]
[Pipeline] }
[Pipeline] // stage
[Pipeline] }
[Pipeline] // node
[Pipeline] End of Pipeline
"Use #NonCPS-annotated functions for slightly more complex work. This means more involved processing, logic, and transformations. This lets you leverage additional Groovy & functional features for more powerful, concise, and performant code."
Source: https://jenkins.io/blog/2017/02/01/pipeline-scalability-best-practice/