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debugging-e2e-failures

Testing & Quality
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Diagnose and fix failed e2e tests in tektoncd/catalog. Use when a CI run fails, a local test hangs, or a TaskRun/PipelineRun reaches an error state. Covers triage from GitHub Actions output to root cause, common failure patterns, and local reproduction.

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Debugging e2e Test Failures

Triage Workflow

Step 1: Identify which matrix leg failed

CI runs e2e tests against multiple Tekton Pipeline versions. Check the GitHub Actions summary to find which version(s) failed:

# From a PR, list failed checks
gh pr checks <PR-number> | grep -i fail

# Or view a specific workflow run
gh run view <run-id> --log-failed

The matrix legs are:

  • latest / lts-latest → Pipeline v1.9.0
  • lts-latest-minus-one → Pipeline v1.6.0
  • lts-latest-minus-two → Pipeline v1.3.0
  • lts-latest-minus-three → Pipeline v1.0.0

If the failure is only on older Pipeline versions, the task likely uses a feature not available in that version. Check tekton.dev/pipelines.minVersion.

Step 2: Find the failing task

The CI log will show lines like:

STARTING: <task-name>/<version>
FAILED: <task-name> task has failed to comeback properly

Search the log for FAILED: or ERROR to locate the failing task.

Step 3: Read the diagnostic dump

When a test fails, show_failure() in test/e2e-common.sh dumps:

  • All TaskRuns (YAML) in the test namespace
  • All PipelineRuns (YAML)
  • All pod container logs
  • API resources

Look for:

  • .status.conditions[].reason on the TaskRun/PipelineRun
  • Container logs from step-* containers
  • Events showing scheduling or image pull issues

Step 4: Reproduce locally

# Minimal Kind cluster with Tekton
kind create cluster --name debug-catalog
kubectl apply -f https://github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/releases/download/v1.0.0/release.yaml
kubectl wait --for=condition=ready pod -l app=tekton-pipelines-controller \
  -n tekton-pipelines --timeout=60s

# Run the failing test
./test/run-test.sh task <task-name> <version>

To match a specific CI matrix leg, use the matching Pipeline version:

kubectl apply -f https://github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/releases/download/<version>/release.yaml

Common Failure Patterns

TaskRun stuck in Pending

kubectl describe taskrun <name> -n <namespace>
kubectl get events -n <namespace> --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'

Causes:

  • Missing workspace PVC: the test needs a pre-apply-taskrun-hook.sh to create a PVC or use emptyDir
  • Missing Secret/ConfigMap: check if the test references resources that the hook should create
  • Resource quota: unlikely in Kind, but check node resources

ImagePullBackOff

kubectl describe pod <pod> -n <namespace> | grep -A5 "Events:"

Causes:

  • Digest changed: the image was rebuilt upstream and the pinned digest is stale. Update the digest in the task YAML
  • Registry rate limit: docker.io pulls are rate-limited. The Kind setup uses a pull-through cache at registry.local:5000, but it can fail if the cache is cold
  • Typo in image reference: check the image: field carefully

Script failure (exit code non-zero)

kubectl logs <pod> -n <namespace> -c step-<step-name>

Causes:

  • Missing tool in image: the script calls a binary not in the container
  • Parameter interpolation bug: if $(params.*) is used in a script block, values with special characters will break the shell
  • Network issue: the script tries to reach an external service. Use fixtures instead (see below)

Fixture/mock API failures

If the task uses tests/fixtures/ for API mocking:

# Check the go-rest-api-test sidecar logs
kubectl logs <pod> -n <namespace> -c go-rest-api

Causes:

  • Path mismatch: the fixture rule path doesn't match what the task actually calls. The sidecar logs show incoming requests
  • Method mismatch: POST vs GET vs PATCH
  • Missing fixture rule: a new API call was added but no fixture covers it

Timeout (10 minute limit)

The test runner polls for 60 iterations of 10 seconds (10 minutes total). If a TaskRun takes longer, it times out.

# Check what's still running
kubectl get taskrun -n <namespace> -o wide
kubectl get pods -n <namespace>

Causes:

  • Waiting for input: the script has an interactive prompt or read
  • Deadlock on workspace: two steps writing to the same file
  • Slow image pull: large images on a cold Kind cluster cache
  • Infinite loop in script: check the step logs for repeated output

test_yaml_can_install failure

This happens before any TaskRun is created — the Task YAML itself is invalid:

ERROR: task <name> can't be installed

Causes:

  • Invalid YAML syntax: run yamllint -c .yamllint <file>
  • Unknown API field: using a field from a newer Tekton version than the CI leg is testing against
  • Duplicate resource name: another task with the same metadata.name

Iterating Without Full Teardown

# Delete the test namespace and retry
kubectl delete ns <task>-<version> --ignore-not-found
./test/run-test.sh task <task-name> <version>

# Or just re-apply the task and re-run the TaskRun
kubectl delete taskrun --all -n <namespace>
kubectl delete task <task-name> -n <namespace>
kubectl apply -f task/<task-name>/<version>/<task-name>.yaml -n <namespace>
kubectl apply -f task/<task-name>/<version>/tests/run.yaml -n <namespace>

Cleanup

kind delete cluster --name debug-catalog
docker network prune -f