Bitbucket pipeline build fails with error "Step exceeded processing limits"

Summary

A Bitbucket Pipelines build hangs for 2 hours. Then, it fails, and the build's page shows the following error next to the build log:

"Step exceeded processing limits and has timed out"

Cause

If we concatenate the names and values of all Workspace, Repository, and Deployment variables available to this build, the resulting string must not exceed 120,000 characters. This is a limitation in Bitbucket Pipelines.

The most likely cause for the build hanging and after 2 hours showing the error "Step exceeded processing limits and has timed out" is that the string is over 120,000 characters for this build.

Diagnosis

Concatenate the names and values of all Workspace, Repository, and Deployment variables available to this build and then check if the length of the concatenated string exceeds 120,000 characters.

Please keep in mind that the values of secured variables cannot be retrieved from the UI or Bitbucket's API. You'll need to know their values.

Solution

Reduce string length of total build string

If the number of characters in the concatenated string exceeds 120,000, you'll need to either remove some variables or change the values of very long variables to a shorter value, so that the total does not exceed the limit.

If the length of the concatenated string is less than 120,000 characters and you still get the same error, please raise a Support Ticket and share the Pipeline build URL from bitbucket.org.

Additional resources

BCLOUD-20105 tracks a feature request to provide an informative error in the UI for such cases.