Issue

While the pipeline checkout step is running, my agent is trying to perform a git checkout operation ending with the following error in the Build Console Output:

hudson.plugins.git.GitException: Command "git checkout -f *****************************" returned status code 128:
stdout: 
stderr: Terminated
fatal: the remote end hung up unexpectedly

With a stack trace like the following:

	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl.launchCommandIn(CliGitAPIImpl.java:2450)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl.access$1100(CliGitAPIImpl.java:84)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl$9.execute(CliGitAPIImpl.java:2767)
Also:   hudson.remoting.Channel$CallSiteStackTrace: Remote call to *****************************
		at hudson.remoting.Channel.attachCallSiteStackTrace(Channel.java:1800)
		at hudson.remoting.UserRequest$ExceptionResponse.retrieve(UserRequest.java:356)
		at hudson.remoting.Channel.call(Channel.java:1001)
		at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.RemoteGitImpl$CommandInvocationHandler.execute(RemoteGitImpl.java:146)
		at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor998.invoke(Unknown Source)
		at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
		at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
		at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.RemoteGitImpl$CommandInvocationHandler.invoke(RemoteGitImpl.java:132)
		at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy150.execute(Unknown Source)
		at hudson.plugins.git.GitSCM.checkout(GitSCM.java:1349)
		at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.steps.scm.SCMStep.checkout(SCMStep.java:125)
		at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.steps.scm.SCMStep$StepExecutionImpl.run(SCMStep.java:93)
		at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.steps.scm.SCMStep$StepExecutionImpl.run(SCMStep.java:80)
		at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.steps.SynchronousNonBlockingStepExecution.lambda$start$0(SynchronousNonBlockingStepExecution.java:47)
		at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
		at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
		at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
		at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
Caused: hudson.plugins.git.GitException: Could not checkout *****************************
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl$9.execute(CliGitAPIImpl.java:2791)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.RemoteGitImpl$CommandInvocationHandler$GitCommandMasterToSlaveCallable.call(RemoteGitImpl.java:161)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.RemoteGitImpl$CommandInvocationHandler$GitCommandMasterToSlaveCallable.call(RemoteGitImpl.java:154)
	at hudson.remoting.UserRequest.perform(UserRequest.java:211)
	at hudson.remoting.UserRequest.perform(UserRequest.java:54)
	at hudson.remoting.Request$2.run(Request.java:376)
	at hudson.remoting.InterceptingExecutorService.lambda$wrap$0(InterceptingExecutorService.java:78)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
	at hudson.remoting.Engine$1.lambda$newThread$0(Engine.java:119)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
Finished: FAILURE

Status code 128 is a generic exit code and may be masking the root cause. To have a better understanding of what is happening it is necessary to activate the command line git debug output with environment variables. See the following article to activate it: How to trace git connections?

Once activated the following build execution will show a more specific error detail like this:

java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space
	at java.lang.StringCoding$StringDecoder.decode(StringCoding.java:149)
	at java.lang.StringCoding.decode(StringCoding.java:193)
	at java.lang.String.<init>(String.java:426)
	at java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream.toString(ByteArrayOutputStream.java:245)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl.launchCommandIn(CliGitAPIImpl.java:2446)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl.access$1100(CliGitAPIImpl.java:84)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl$9.execute(CliGitAPIImpl.java:2767)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.RemoteGitImpl$CommandInvocationHandler$GitCommandMasterToSlaveCallable.call(RemoteGitImpl.java:161)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.RemoteGitImpl$CommandInvocationHandler$GitCommandMasterToSlaveCallable.call(RemoteGitImpl.java:154)
	at hudson.remoting.UserRequest.perform(UserRequest.java:211)
	at hudson.remoting.UserRequest.perform(UserRequest.java:54)
	at hudson.remoting.Request$2.run(Request.java:376)
	at hudson.remoting.InterceptingExecutorService.lambda$wrap$0(InterceptingExecutorService.java:78)
	at hudson.remoting.InterceptingExecutorService$$Lambda$13/1790151125.call(Unknown Source)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
	at hudson.remoting.Engine$1.lambda$newThread$0(Engine.java:119)
	at hudson.remoting.Engine$1$$Lambda$14/827294602.run(Unknown Source)
Caused: hudson.plugins.git.GitException: Error performing git command: git checkout -f *****************************
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl.launchCommandIn(CliGitAPIImpl.java:2457)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl.access$1100(CliGitAPIImpl.java:84)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl$9.execute(CliGitAPIImpl.java:2767)

Environment

Explanation

As we can see after getting the specific error message of the git checkout command, the agent exceeds its heap memory trying to perform the operation. One of the causes of this lack of memory is due to trying to check out repositories that contain large files. Memory issues are thrown because the git plugin is trying to checkout the remote repository in an unoptimized way since the repository contains large files.

Resolution

Out Of Memory errors during the checkout stage in large repositories can be addressed by following the recommendations in the following document: Jenkins hints for large git repos

Additionally it is recommended to enable Git LFS in the remote repository and add the Git LFS pull after checkout behaviour at the Source Code Management tab located at the job configuration screen.