theonedev/onedev · error · ValidationException

Error validating build spec (project: %s, commit: %s, locati

Error message

Error validating build spec (project: %s, commit: %s, location: %s, message: %s)

What it means

DefaultJobService.validateBuildSpec runs bean-validation (javax validator) against the parsed .onedev-buildspec content for a commit. If any constraint violation is found (invalid job names, missing fields, bad references), a ValidationException is thrown with project, commit, the violation's property path, and its message, so the offending part of the build spec can be located.

Source

Thrown at server-core/src/main/java/io/onedev/server/job/DefaultJobService.java:270

	private volatile IMap<String, Date> sequentialKeys;

	private volatile Map<String, List<JobSchedule>> branchSchedules;
	
	private volatile String maintenanceTaskId;
	
	private volatile String branchSchedulesTaskId;

	public Object writeReplace() throws ObjectStreamException {
		return new ManagedSerializedForm(JobService.class);
	}

	private void validateBuildSpec(Project project, ObjectId commitId, BuildSpec buildSpec) {
		Project.push(project);
		try {
			for (ConstraintViolation<?> violation : validator.validate(buildSpec)) {
				String message = String.format("Error validating build spec (project: %s, commit: %s, location: %s, message: %s)",
						project.getPath(), commitId.name(), violation.getPropertyPath(), violation.getMessage());
				throw new ValidationException(message);
			}
		} finally {
			Project.pop();
		}
	}

	@Transactional
	@Override
	public Build submit(User user, Project project, ObjectId commitId, String jobName, 
						Map<String, List<String>> paramMap, String refName, 
						PullRequest request, Issue issue, String reason) {
		Lock lock = LockUtils.getLock("job-manager: " + project.getId() + "-" + commitId.name());
		transactionService.mustRunAfterTransaction(() -> lock.unlock());

		JobAuthorizationContext.push(new JobAuthorizationContext(project, commitId, request));
		try {
			// Lock to guarantee uniqueness of build (by project, commit, job and parameters)
			lock.lockInterruptibly();

View on GitHub (pinned to d44925c47c)

Solutions

1. Read the 'location' and 'message' in the error to find the exact property path in the build spec and fix it.
2. Validate the .onedev-buildspec YAML against the current OneDev version's schema/examples.
3. If triggered after an upgrade, check release notes for changed/removed build spec fields and migrate.
4. Use the project's build spec editor in the UI instead of hand-editing to get inline validation.

Example fix

// .onedev-buildspec before
jobs:
- name: build
  steps: []   # missing required steps content
// after
jobs:
- name: build
  steps:
  - !<CommandLineStep>
    commands:
    - mvn package

BuildSpec spec = project.getBuildSpec(commitId);
if (spec != null) {
  Set<ConstraintViolation<BuildSpec>> vs = validator.validate(spec);
  if (!vs.isEmpty()) throw new ValidationException(vs.stream().map(v -> v.getPropertyPath()+": "+v.getMessage()).collect(joining("; ")));
}

try { jobService.submit(...); } catch (ValidationException e) { log.error("Build spec invalid: {}", e.getMessage()); reportToUser(e.getMessage()); }

When it happens

Trigger: Submitting/building a job whose commit contains a build spec that violates schema constraints — e.g. invalid property values, missing required job fields, wrong references — detected by validator.validate(buildSpec). Called from submit, on(project/commit events), doResubmit, and cacheBranchSchedules.

Common situations: Hand-editing .onedev-buildspec with syntax/semantic mistakes; upgrading OneDev where new validation rules reject old specs; copy-pasting a spec from another project with project-specific references; interpolated properties producing invalid values.

Understand the failure class

Background: Schema validation failed / invalid input schema: payload rejected because its shape doesn't match the expected schema — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• This build is not authorized to sync to project:
• Loopback address not allowed for target docker image of push
• Step template not found:
• Invalid build id/number
• Build spec not defined (project: %s, commit: %s)

AI-assisted analysis of theonedev/onedev@d44925c47c (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0229e09b8973348d. Report an issue: GitHub.