The main purpose here is to utilize the Linux Cron facility to Transition Issues, rather than using the almost useless JIRA builtin services, or buying an expensixe cron/scheduling plugin for JIRA
The solution is pretty flexible for all issue types, by making the "--step "Initiate" a parameter instead of hardcoded, all issuetypes can be transitioned.
Prerequsites
Linux User
All scripts and the crontab stuff assumes that there is a "jira" user with access to /opt/jira-cron/
Atlassian CLI
The Atlassian CLI must be installed and prepared
Workflow
My IssueType is called "Repeatable Task" and has a very small workflow:
Upon the Transition of Initiate, the Post Function:
- creates a copy of the Issue as a subtask
- sets the the issue back to Status "Frozen"
A custom Field for crontab values
The Issuetype has a custom field called "Cron Scheduling", as this will hold the schedules for the Issue:
In the script, the field has the JIRA identifier customfield_12821 - You must change this to fit Your field.
Location
I have my stuff in /opt/jira-cron
user@myserver:/opt/jira-cron$ ls -l total 152 -rw-rw-rw- 1 jira root 121906 2014-04-02 13:39 jiraMakeCrontab.log -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1454 2014-04-02 13:44 jiraMakeCrontab.sh -rw-rw-rw- 1 jira root 18132 2014-04-05 05:00 jiraTransitionIssue.log -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 909 2014-02-17 11:51 jiraTransitionIssue.sh user@myserver:/opt/jira-cron$
The usefull Scripts
Make the crontab script
The scripts makes and enables a crontab for the "jira" user. It search for issues that satisfies:
Issuetype=Repeatable Task
Status=Frozen
Cron Scheduling has a value
#!/bin/bash
IFS=$(echo -en "\n\b")
TransitionScript="/opt/jira-cron/jiraTransitionIssue.sh"
JIRAFilter="issuetype = \"Repeatable Task\" AND status in (Frozen) and \"Cron Scheduling\" IS NOT NULL"
FIELD="12821"
CHAR="'"
CRONTABUSER="jira"
rm /tmp/crontab 2> /dev/null
rm /tmp/value 2> /dev/null
echo " --------- " >>/opt/jira-cron/jiraMakeCrontab.log
issueList=`/opt/atlassian-cli/jira.sh --action getIssueList --search "$JIRAFilter" --outputFormat 200 | grep -v "issues" | grep -v "Created"`
for issue in $issueList
do
issueKey=`echo $issue | awk '{print $1}' | sed 's/,//g'`
CustomFieldValue=`/pack/atlassian-cli/jira.sh --action GetFieldValue --issue "$issueKey" --field "customfield_$FIELD" --file /tmp/value`
if [ -f /tmp/value ]
then
crontabEntry=`cat /tmp/value | sed 's/'"$CHAR"'//g'`
echo "#Crontabs for $issueKey" >> /tmp/crontab
for cronEntry in $crontabEntry
do
echo "$cronEntry $TransitionScript $issueKey >> /opt/jira-cron/jiraTransitionIssue.log 2>&1" >> /tmp/crontab
echo "Added: $cronEntry $TransitionScript $issueKey to /tmp/crontab" >> /opt/jira-cron/jiraMakeCrontab.log
done
echo "" >> /tmp/crontab
fi
rm /tmp/value 2> /dev/null
done
rm /tmp/value 2> /dev/null
#Replace JIRA Users crontab
su - jira -c "crontab /tmp/crontab"
After running the script the /var/spool/cron/crontabs/jira (on Ubuntu LTS) should look like this:
#Crontabs for SUPPORT-513 * * 1 * * /opt/jira-cron/jiraTransitionIssue.sh SUPPORT-513 >> /opt/jira-cron/jiraTransitionIssue.log 2>&1 #Crontabs for HOMEPAGE-3846 0 5 2 * * /opt/jira-cron/jiraTransitionIssue.sh HOMEPAGE-3846 >> /opt/jira-cron/jiraTransitionIssue.log 2>&1 #Crontabs for HOMEPAGE-2933 0 0 1 * * /opt/jira-cron/jiraTransitionIssue.sh HOMEPAGE-2933 >> /opt/jira-cron/jiraTransitionIssue.log 2>&1 #Crontabs for PROJECTTOOLS-2467 0 5 5 * * /opt/jira-cron/jiraTransitionIssue.sh PROJECTTOOLS-2467 >> /opt/jira-cron/jiraTransitionIssue.log 2>&1
Make the Transition Script
#!/bin/bash
# CLI Reference: https://bobswift.atlassian.net/wiki/display/JCLI/JIRA+Command+Line+Interface
IFS=$(echo -en "\n\b")
CHAR="'"
OKSTATUS="Frozen (10003)"
issueKey=$1
if [ $issueKey != '' ]
then
StatusFieldValue=`/opt/atlassian-cli/jira.sh --action GetFieldValue --issue "$issueKey" --field "Status" --file /tmp/value`
if [ -f /tmp/value ]
then
Status=`cat /tmp/value | sed 's/'"$CHAR"'//g'`
if [ $Status == $OKSTATUS ]
then
# Transition issue
/opt/atlassian-cli/jira.sh --action progressIssue --issue "$issueKey" --step "Initiate" >> /opt/jira-cron/jiraTransitionIssue.log 2>&1
else
echo "Issue $issueKey was not in $OKSTATUS State, but in $Status"
fi
fi
else
echo "No IssueKey as parameter"
fi
The Master Cron
To make the JIRA users crontab on a regular basis, I use /etc/crontab on Ubuntu:
0 20 * * * root /opt/jira-cron/jiraMakeCrontab.sh
Troubleshooting
Make sure the Atlassian CLI users has proper access to the Issues that are being Transitioned, this is not good:
Remote error: com.atlassian.jira.rpc.exception.RemotePermissionException: This issue does not exist or you don't have permission to view it. Could not find issue with key: 'PORTAL-4283'
Make sure the crontab is functioning, look in /var/log/syslog for tings like:
Cron reloading the new crontab for JIRA user:
Apr 5 13:28:50 myserver crontab[12857]: (jira) REPLACE (jira) Apr 5 13:29:01 myserver cron[4946]: (jira) RELOAD (crontabs/jira)
Transitions via jira users cron entries:
Apr 5 05:00:01 myserver: CRON[1563]: (jira) CMD (/opt/jira-cron/jiraTransitionIssue.sh HOMEPAGE-2467 >> /opt/jira-cron/jiraTransitionIssue.log 2>&1)