Debug Cloud Run Build Failures | Generated by AI

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Question: The gcloud run deploy command failed with “Build failed; check build logs for details” and a traceback – how to find and fix the issue?

Answer:

Your deployment failed during the Cloud Build phase (triggered automatically by --source .), which handles building the container image from your source code and Dockerfile.

The key message is: “Build failed; check build logs for details” — this means the actual error (e.g. Maven compile failure, missing dependency, wrong Dockerfile instruction, permission issue, or timeout) is in the Cloud Build logs, not in the short gcloud output.

Step 1: Find the Build Logs (Quickest Ways)

1. In the Google Cloud Console (easiest – recommended first):
   • Go to: https://console.cloud.google.com/cloud-build/builds?project=YOUR-PROJECT-ID
   • Look at the Build history list (sort by most recent).
   • Find the latest build for your service (blog-server); it usually shows as “FAILED” or has a red status.
   • Click on it → you’ll see detailed step-by-step logs.
   • Scroll through steps (especially the Maven/build step or Dockerfile execution) to find red error lines (e.g. “Compilation failure”, “Could not resolve dependencies”, “COPY failed”, etc.).
   • The console often shows a direct link like:
     “Logs are available at https://console.cloud.google.com/cloud-build/builds/abc123-xyz?project=…”
     (gcloud sometimes prints this before failing – check your terminal scrollback).
2. Using gcloud CLI:
   • List recent builds to get the BUILD_ID (the most recent failed one):

     gcloud builds list --limit=5 --filter="status=FAILURE"
     

     • Look for the ID (long hex string like abcdef12-3456-...) and trigger/source info matching your deploy.
   • View full logs for that build:

     gcloud builds log BUILD_ID_HERE
     

     • Add --stream if you want real-time (but since it’s failed, normal is fine).
     • Or pipe to less/grep:

       gcloud builds log BUILD_ID_HERE | less
       gcloud builds log BUILD_ID_HERE | grep -i error
       

Step 2: Common Causes & Fixes for Java/Spring Boot + Dockerfile Projects

Once you see the logs, match against these frequent issues:

• Maven build errors (most common):
  • Dependency resolution failed → Check internet/proxy in build, or add Maven settings.xml if needed.
  • Tests failing → Skip tests in Dockerfile: add mvn clean package -DskipTests.
  • Out of memory → Increase build resources or add --set-build-env-vars MAVEN_OPTS="-Xmx2g".
• Dockerfile problems:
  • Wrong base image (use openjdk:17-jdk-slim or eclipse-temurin:17 for modern Java).
  • App not exposing/listening on $PORT (Cloud Run sets PORT=8080; your app must bind to 0.0.0.0:$PORT).
  • CMD/ENTRYPOINT wrong → Ensure it runs the JAR correctly, e.g.:

    CMD ["java", "-jar", "/app.jar", "--server.port=${PORT:-8080}"]
    

  • Multi-stage build failed in copy steps.
• Permission/Quota Issues:
  • Cloud Build service account missing roles → Ensure PROJECT_NUMBER@cloudbuild.gserviceaccount.com has roles/run.builder and roles/artifactregistry.writer (if using Artifact Registry).
  • Run: gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding YOUR-PROJECT-ID --member=serviceAccount:YOUR_PROJECT_NUMBER@cloudbuild.gserviceaccount.com --role=roles/run.builder
• Large upload / timeout:
  • Add .gcloudignore to exclude target/, .git/, etc. (as mentioned earlier).
• Buildpack fallback (if no Dockerfile or misdetected):
  • Sometimes it uses buildpacks instead → force Dockerfile detection or specify builder.

Step 3: Recommended Next Action (Faster & More Reliable)

Since source deploy is failing, switch to manual build + deploy (you control the build locally):

1. Build & test locally:

   docker build -t blog-server:test .
   docker run -p 8080:8080 -e PORT=8080 blog-server:test
   

   → Fix any errors here first.

2. Tag & push:

   IMAGE="asia-southeast1-docker.pkg.dev/YOUR-PROJECT-ID/my-repo/blog-server:latest"
   docker build -t $IMAGE .
   gcloud auth configure-docker asia-southeast1-docker.pkg.dev
   docker push $IMAGE
   

3. Deploy image directly:

   gcloud run deploy blog-server \
     --image $IMAGE \
     --region asia-southeast1 \
     --allow-unauthenticated \
     --port 8080 \
     --memory 1Gi
   

This skips the remote source upload/build entirely.

After checking logs, reply here with the specific error message from the build logs (e.g. the red part) — I can help pinpoint the exact fix.

References:

• Troubleshoot Cloud Run issues
• Troubleshooting build errors - Cloud Build
• Store and view build logs - Cloud Build
• gcloud builds log reference
• Deploy from source code - Cloud Run

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