The Understand Jenkins plugin¶
There are two ways to run Understand under Jenkins. Pick based on how much you want the job to be form-driven vs. scripted.
| Approach | What it is | Use when |
|---|---|---|
| Understand Jenkins plugin | A dedicated Jenkins plugin with build steps for create/analyze/CodeCheck/metrics; can forward violations to Warnings Next Generation. | You want a UI-configured job and native Warnings-NG reporting. |
| CLI in an Execute-Shell step | Call und directly from a shell/batch build step. |
You want full control, portability across CI systems, or don't want an extra plugin. |
The plugin is a separate download, not part of Understand
The Understand Jenkins plugin is not shipped in the Understand install. It is a standalone,
open-source Jenkins plugin hosted on SciTools' GitHub:
https://github.com/stinb/understand-jenkins-plugin. It drives the same und CLI you can call
yourself, so it requires an Understand (or CLI-kit) install on the agent regardless.
What the plugin does¶
The plugin provides an easy interface to run Understand from Jenkins — creating and analyzing projects, inspecting your code for violations, and exporting useful metrics about your code. CodeCheck violations can be sent to the Warnings Next Generation Jenkins plugin for reporting and issue tracking. It was introduced alongside Understand 6.3.
Install and configure it from the plugin's GitHub page (that repo is the authoritative, versioned source for install steps and step names — they are not part of the Understand source tree, so this page does not restate them).
Prefer the CLI? (Execute-Shell)¶
You do not need the plugin. A Jenkins Freestyle → Execute Shell step calling und covers the same
ground and works on every CI system. That recipe — analyze changed files, run a saved config scoped to
the commit with -exitstatus to fail the job, and email the report — is
documented in detail on
Run CodeCheck in CI (Jenkins), and the broader multi-stage pipeline
(analyze + CodeCheck + metrics) is on Run Understand in a CI pipeline.
Which page is which
- This page — the dedicated Jenkins plugin and how it differs from scripting the CLI.
- Run CodeCheck in CI (Jenkins) — the CLI-in-Jenkins recipe for CodeCheck, including SciTools' own Execute-Shell setup.