[JENKINS-25508] Git plugin doesn't parse changelog (false "First time build")

The job is triggered because of SCM change:

[poll] Last Built Revision: Revision 3281126a340c0e863f12c11a7f9ccd31bceb587a (origin/master)

[git] $ sh -e /DATA/jenkins/app-data/tools/git/hudson598255919908413882.sh

 > git ls-remote -h [CENSURED] master # timeout=10

[poll] Latest remote head revision is: e72acfe796b818f51ba549991a8f1876657d8986

Done. Took 0.32 sec

Changes found

But in the run git log we see that it skips changelog becuase of "First time build" -falsely:

16:27:52  > /usr/bin/git checkout -f e72acfe796b818f51ba549991a8f1876657d8986

16:27:55  > /usr/bin/git rev-list 3281126a340c0e863f12c11a7f9ccd31bceb587a # timeout=10

16:27:55 First time build. Skipping changelog.

Looking at the current code of Git Plugin I see there's some kind of condition on "exclusion" but I've yet understood what sets it:

  private void computeChangeLog(GitClient git, Revision revToBuild, TaskListener listener, BuildData previousBuildData, FilePath changelogFile, BuildChooserContext context) throws IOException, InterruptedException {

Writer out = new OutputStreamWriter(changelogFile.write(),"UTF-8");


boolean executed = false;

ChangelogCommand changelog = git.changelog();

changelog.includes(revToBuild.getSha1());

try {

    boolean exclusion = false;

    ChangelogToBranch changelogToBranch = getExtensions().get(ChangelogToBranch.class);

    if (changelogToBranch != null) {

listener.getLogger().println("Using 'Changelog to branch' strategy.");

changelog.excludes(changelogToBranch.getOptions().getRef());

exclusion = true;

    } else {

for (Branch b : revToBuild.getBranches()) {

    Build lastRevWas = getBuildChooser().prevBuildForChangelog(b.getName(), previousBuildData, git, context);

    if (lastRevWas != null && git.isCommitInRepo(lastRevWas.getSHA1())) {

changelog.excludes(lastRevWas.getSHA1());

exclusion = true;

    }

}

    }

    if (!exclusion) {

// this is the first time we are building this branch, so there's no base line to compare against.

// if we force the changelog, it'll contain all the changes in the repo, which is not what we want.

listener.getLogger().println("First time build. Skipping changelog.");

    } else {

changelog.to(out).max(MAX_CHANGELOG).execute();

executed = true;

    }

} catch (GitException ge) {

    ge.printStackTrace(listener.error("Unable to retrieve changeset"));

} finally {

    if (!executed) changelog.abort();

    IOUtils.closeQuietly(out);

}

    }

I might take the task to fix it on my own - but maybe for some of you it may be obvious...

---
Originally reported by or_shachar, imported from: Git plugin doesn't parse changelog (false "First time build")

• status: Open
  
• priority: Major
  
• component(s): git-plugin
  
• label(s): changelog, git, git-client
  
• resolution: Unresolved
  
• votes: 5
  
• watchers: 11
  
• imported: 2025-12-02
  

The job is triggered because of SCM change:

Poll log


[poll] Last Built Revision: Revision 3281126a340c0e863f12c11a7f9ccd31bceb587a (origin/master)

[git] $ sh -e /DATA/jenkins/app-data/tools/git/hudson598255919908413882.sh

 > git ls-remote -h [CENSURED] master # timeout=10

[poll] Latest remote head revision is: e72acfe796b818f51ba549991a8f1876657d8986

Done. Took 0.32 sec

Changes found





But in the run git log we see that it skips changelog becuase of "First time build" -falsely:

Run log


16:27:52  > /usr/bin/git checkout -f e72acfe796b818f51ba549991a8f1876657d8986

16:27:55  > /usr/bin/git rev-list 3281126a340c0e863f12c11a7f9ccd31bceb587a # timeout=10

16:27:55 First time build. Skipping changelog.





Looking at the current code of Git Plugin I see there's some kind of condition on "exclusion" but I've yet understood what sets it:


from GitSCM.java


  private void computeChangeLog(GitClient git, Revision revToBuild, TaskListener listener, BuildData previousBuildData, FilePath changelogFile, BuildChooserContext context) throws IOException, InterruptedException {

        Writer out = new OutputStreamWriter(changelogFile.write(),"UTF-8");


        boolean executed = false;

        ChangelogCommand changelog = git.changelog();

        changelog.includes(revToBuild.getSha1());

        try {

            boolean exclusion = false;

            ChangelogToBranch changelogToBranch = getExtensions().get(ChangelogToBranch.class);

            if (changelogToBranch != null) {

                listener.getLogger().println("Using 'Changelog to branch' strategy.");

                changelog.excludes(changelogToBranch.getOptions().getRef());

                exclusion = true;

            } else {

                for (Branch b : revToBuild.getBranches()) {

                    Build lastRevWas = getBuildChooser().prevBuildForChangelog(b.getName(), previousBuildData, git, context);

                    if (lastRevWas != null && git.isCommitInRepo(lastRevWas.getSHA1())) {

                        changelog.excludes(lastRevWas.getSHA1());

                        exclusion = true;

                    }

                }

            }

            if (!exclusion) {

                // this is the first time we are building this branch, so there's no base line to compare against.

                // if we force the changelog, it'll contain all the changes in the repo, which is not what we want.

                listener.getLogger().println("First time build. Skipping changelog.");

            } else {

                changelog.to(out).max(MAX_CHANGELOG).execute();

                executed = true;

            }

        } catch (GitException ge) {

            ge.printStackTrace(listener.error("Unable to retrieve changeset"));

        } finally {

            if (!executed) changelog.abort();

            IOUtils.closeQuietly(out);

        }

    }





I might take the task to fix it on my own - but maybe for some of you it may be obvious...

environment

```
Jenkins 1.565.2, 1.580.3

Git-Client 1.11.0, 1.14.1

Git plugin 2.2.7, 2.3.4

SCM-API 0.2

Both master and slave works on RHEL 6.3 with Java 7u51
```