Map out dependency count and version conflicts across installed Jenkins plugins.
Every Jenkins plugin an administrator installs directly can pull in a chain of transitive plugin dependencies, so the real plugin count managed by the controller is almost always larger than what was explicitly chosen. The update risk score combines three signals — how large a share of the installed base is outdated, how much dependency sprawl transitive plugins add relative to direct installs, and how deep the dependency chains run — since deeper, more sprawling, more outdated plugin graphs are harder to safely update without breaking compatibility somewhere in the chain.
riskScore = outdatedPercent × 0.5 + transitiveRatio × 10 + avgDepth × 5
Updating a direct plugin can force version bumps in its transitive dependencies, which may themselves be depended on by other, unrelated direct plugins — deep and sprawling dependency graphs increase the chance that a single update triggers a cascade of version conflicts across seemingly unrelated plugins.
Regularly audit and remove unused direct plugins (which also removes their transitive dependencies if nothing else needs them), keep plugins updated incrementally rather than batching many major updates at once, and test plugin updates in a staging controller before applying to production.
Yes — the 'Advanced' tab of Manage Plugins and the plugin installation manager show a dependency graph, and `jenkins-cli` / the Plugin Installation Manager Tool can list the full resolved dependency tree for a given plugin set.