Bitbucket Pipelines really slow in build setup

[René Dyhr]

We're slowly merging from Jenkins to use Bitbucket Pipelines instead.

Though, we're experiencing that build setup is very slow and it seems like it's git clone that's slow.

I've set clone depth to 1 to try and mitigate it a bit, but it still takes 1 minute per step just for cloning...

Our repo size is 2.4GB, but that can't be the whole reason for it, can it?

The pipeline is taking its time with 12 steps all taking 1 minute just for build setup and first then start the actual pipeline scripts.

[Theodora Boudale · Accepted solution]

Hi René and welcome to the community!

Does this repo have any large binary files on the branch/commit where the build runs? Such files may cause slowness in Git operations.

Does this Pipelines build run on Atlassian's infrastructure or are you using a self-hosted runner? In case you use a self-hosted runner, clone times may be affected by network issues between the server where the runner runs and Bitbucket Cloud.

If the build runs on Atlassian's infrastructure, I suggest cloning on your computer the branch where the affected Pipelines build runs. If you observe that the time taken is not similar to the time the cloning takes in Pipelines, then please create a ticket with the support team and share the URL of one of the affected builds for further investigation.

You can create a ticket via https://support.atlassian.com/contact/#/, in "What can we help you with?" select "Technical issues and bugs" and then Bitbucket Cloud as product. When you are asked to provide the workspace URL, please make sure you enter the URL of the workspace that is on a paid billing plan to proceed with ticket creation.

Kind regards,
Theodora

[René Dyhr]

Hi Theodora,

Thank you for the answer and tips!

I might be a problem that we have a fair few mp4 files in our repo, this could potentially add up and therefor be slow, it makes sense.

We are using Atlassian's infrastructure, so it would be even slower on our own hardware with the network etc.

[Theodora Boudale]

Hi René,

Indeed, I believe that the mp4 files are most likely causing the slowness during clone.

If you don't need these files during the build, you could migrate the repo to Git LFS (track the mp4 files with Git LFS):

• https://support.atlassian.com/bitbucket-cloud/docs/use-bfg-to-migrate-a-repo-to-git-lfs/

Git LFS files do not get cloned during build setup by default and there is a flag to download them in a certain step if needed:

• https://support.atlassian.com/bitbucket-cloud/docs/git-clone-behavior/#LFS

Please keep in mind that migrating a repo to Git LFS is a process that includes history rewrite, so the commit hashes of the repo will change. If you would like to convert the repo to use Git LFS, I recommend discussing this with your team first to avoid any confusion.

Kind regards,
Theodora