Managing build artifacts

In Jenkins, "build artifacts" are the files generated by the build process that are needed for deployment or further processing. Managing build artifacts in Jenkins involves storing and preserving the artifacts produced by builds and making them accessible to other parts of your software development process.

Here's how you can manage build artifacts in Jenkins:

1. Store build artifacts: Jenkins provides several options for storing build artifacts, including local file system storage and remote file storage using protocols such as FTP, SCP, and SMB. You can choose the option that best suits your needs and configure it in the Jenkins job configuration.

2. Preserve build artifacts: You can choose to preserve build artifacts for a specific number of builds or indefinitely. This can be useful if you need to roll back to a previous build or to keep a history of your builds. You can configure artifact preservation in the Jenkins job configuration.

3. Publish build artifacts: You can use the "Publish artifacts" build step in your Jenkins job to publish artifacts to a remote file server or to an artifact repository such as Nexus or Artifactory. This makes the artifacts accessible to other parts of your software development process, such as deployment or testing.

4. Access build artifacts: You can access build artifacts from the Jenkins web interface by navigating to the build page and clicking on the "Artifacts" link. From there, you can download the artifacts or view them directly in the browser if they are text files.

In conclusion, managing build artifacts in Jenkins is an important part of the software development process as it helps ensure that the artifacts produced by builds are stored, preserved, and made accessible to other parts of the pipeline. By properly managing build artifacts, teams can improve the efficiency and quality of their work and reduce the risk of errors and delays.