TeamCity PowerShell steps report success when the script actually failed

TL;DR

Make the script fail loudly: set $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' at the top, wrap risky calls in try/catch, and end the script with an explicit nonzero exit when something went wrong (e.g. exit 1 in the catch block).

Steps

1. Never trust the raw exit code of a -file PowerShell step. Make the script fail loudly: set $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' at the top, wrap risky calls in try/catch, and end the script with an explicit nonzero exit when something went wrong (e.g. exit 1 in the catch block). Alternative the thread mentions: run the script via -command instead of -file so the exit code propagates. Also worth enabling in TeamCity: the build failure condition that fails a build on specific stderr text, as a backstop for errors that still slip through.

When to use

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When not to use

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Versions

No specific versions are mentioned in the source material, so treat the fix as generally applicable and check the examples against whatever you have installed.

Why this happens

The original report does not dig into a root cause. It documents the symptom and the fix that resolved it.

Edge cases

• Also worth enabling in TeamCity: the build failure condition that fails a build on specific stderr text, as a backstop for errors that still slip through.

Source: Stack Overflow #15777492 (accepted answer, 79 votes): a PowerShell build step that throws an error still shows green. Root cause in the thread: the TeamCity runner invokes powershell.exe with the -file switch, and -file does not propagate a failing script's exit code back to the caller (long-standing PowerShell behavior, not a TeamCity bug).

Verified resolution: Never trust the raw exit code of a -file PowerShell step. Make the script fail loudly: set $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' at the top, wrap risky calls in try/catch, and end the script with an explicit nonzero exit when something went wrong (e.g. exit 1 in the catch block). Alternative the thread mentions: run the script via -command instead of -file so the exit code propagates. Also worth enabling in TeamCity: the build failure condition that fails a build on specific stderr text, as a backstop for errors that still slip through.

Source URL: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15777492/why-are-my-powershell-exit-codes-always-0