[JENKINS-75776] Option to turn off setting environment variable DESCRIPTION_SETTER_DESCRIPTION

When a parameterized Jenkins job runs and uses the Description Setter plugin to set the run description, that run ends up with two links to the Parameters page in the left navigation menu.  This creates minor confusion for the user.

I investigated a little and believe this quirk is caused by the call to build.addAction() in function setEnvironmentVariable() in file DescriptionSetterHelper.java.

In my case, I do not care about environment variable DESCRIPTION_SETTER_DESCRIPTION.  I didn't even know it existed until investigating this issue.

I noticed that there are several long-open Jira issues regarding the setting of DESCRIPTION_SETTER_DESCRIPTION.  This include JENKINS-43452">JENKINS-43452, which says that creating environment variables is now considered a security risk.

My proposal is that you add an option to disable the setting of DESCRIPTION_SETTER_DESCRIPTION.  I would use this option to avoid my issue of duplicate Parameters links on the project run page.  And this option would be of value to anybody else who is worried about the security ramifications of creating environment variables.

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Originally reported by bitbucket222, imported from: Option to turn off setting environment variable DESCRIPTION_SETTER_DESCRIPTION

• assignee: huybrechts
  
• status: Open
  
• priority: Minor
  
• component(s): description-setter-plugin
  
• resolution: Unresolved
  
• votes: 0
  
• watchers: 1
  
• imported: 20251216-182730
  

Raw content of original issue

When a parameterized Jenkins job runs and uses the Description Setter plugin to set the run description, that run ends up with two links to the Parameters page in the left navigation menu.  This creates minor confusion for the user.


I investigated a little and believe this quirk is caused by the call to build.addAction() in function setEnvironmentVariable() in file DescriptionSetterHelper.java.


In my case, I do not care about environment variable DESCRIPTION_SETTER_DESCRIPTION.  I didn't even know it existed until investigating this issue.


I noticed that there are several long-open Jira issues regarding the setting of DESCRIPTION_SETTER_DESCRIPTION.  This include JENKINS-43452, which says that creating environment variables is now considered a security risk.


My proposal is that you add an option to disable the setting of DESCRIPTION_SETTER_DESCRIPTION.  I would use this option to avoid my issue of duplicate Parameters links on the project run page.  And this option would be of value to anybody else who is worried about the security ramifications of creating environment variables.

environment

```
Operating system version: Windows 11 Enterprise (23H2)

Jenkins version: 2.504.2

Description Setter plugin version: 264.v1957f215dcd5

```

Start in DescriptionSetterHelper.java at setEnvironmentVariable(), especially the build.addAction() call described in the issue. Trace how the Description Setter plugin exposes configuration and verify that the new option can prevent DESCRIPTION_SETTER_DESCRIPTION from being set, avoiding the duplicate Parameters links.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.