I would like to see a documentation change that explains whether or not the Atlassian Bitbucket Server Integration Jenkins plugin (https://plugins.jenkins.io/atlassian-bitbucket-server-integration/#documentation) is supported when Application Links are not configured.  If it is unsupported, I would like for you to consider supporting that scenario.

Apologies for the long rationale - it requires explaining my use case:

Use Case

I work on a software development team that runs its own Jenkins server, but uses a corporate Bitbucket Server instance. I have configured my Jenkins server to use the Bitbucket Server plugin but have not set up an Application Link on the Bitbucket Server.  I do not have Administration access to the Bitbucket Server and cannot create an Application Link.

It is not clear to me if this is supported (or even tested). The documentation for the plugin seems to consider it mandatory to use Application Links.

I believe many development teams manage their own Jenkins servers, but do not have Administration access on their Bitbucket Server. Many corporate IT teams are reluctant to expose their applications (e.g., Bitbucket Server) to Jenkins. I do not anticipate success if I ask my IT team to install an Application Link for me.

Background

I had configured our Jenkins jobs to use the Atlassian Bitbucket Server Integration Jenkins plugin quite a while ago, and was very happy with it.  At the time the Bitbucket Server instance that we are using did not support Application Links, so I didn't configure one.  I do not believe that documentation for early versions of the plugin required configuration of App Links, but now the documentation does not describe a configuration where an App Link is not created.

From my point of view this seemed irrelevant, because I don't administer Bitbucket Server. I think it would be common for many of your users to maintain their own Jenkins servers, but rely on an IT team for Bitbucket.

My corporate Bitbucket Server was recently updated to version 7.6, which would support Application Links for Jenkins integration, as I understand it.  

I have not set up an Application Link. I may request IT to do so, but they usually shy away from making a change that would in some way expose a new way of interacting with Bitbucket.  It may be that they would accept my request, and it may be that it would be a headache.  For now I'm not particularly interested in the features of App Links.  I primarily care about simplified git setup and build job notifications - two features that work fine without App Links.

I don't know if it is a coincidence or not, but since the upgrade of the Bitbucket Server to 7.6, performance on my Jenkins server has plummeted, but only for interacting with build jobs that use the Bitbucket Server plugin.  Other build jobs that use a git plugin directly do not have that problem. I made sure to update to the latest plugin available at the time of this writing (2.1.0) but still have this performance issue.

It (now) takes a browser 30 seconds to a minute to load the "landing" page for a Jenkins build job that is using the Bitbucket Server plugin. Build jobs that do not use the plugin do not have this problem.

I am working with our DevOps team to understand if there is an intranet issue that is slowing down the Bitbucket Server plugin's interaction with Bitbucket Server, but that may not bear fruit. They are busy and are not Jenkins experts.

TL;DR

Because I don't know if I am using a supported (or even tested) configuration of the plugin, it's not clear to me which step to take next.

• If I knew that it was supported to use the plugin without an App Link (and tested) I would be more likely to pursue network or Jenkins issues.
• If I was told that I need an App Link, I would either work with my IT team to get an App Link, or I would stop using the plugin (and use the git plugin and curl to post build statuses, which is painful for non-experts to set up and maintain).