ElasticSearch fails to start (java.lang.RuntimeException: starting java failed) in Bitbucket Server

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Platform notice: Server and Data Center only. This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Server and Data Center platforms.

Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.

*Except Fisheye and Crucible

Summary

Elasticsearch service fails to start with the 'Error opening log file 'logs/gc.log': Permission denied' error.

Environment

Bitbucket Server 7.6.0 with Bundled ES. It can happen in any version of Bitbucket.

Diagnosis

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.RuntimeException: starting java failed with [1]
Nov 13 17:19:25 sso-services-ppr start-bitbucket.sh[16873]: output:
Nov 13 17:19:25 sso-services-ppr start-bitbucket.sh[16873]: [0.002s][error][logging] Error opening log file 'logs/gc.log': Permission denied
Nov 13 17:19:25 sso-services-ppr start-bitbucket.sh[16873]: [0.002s][error][logging] Initialization of output 'file=logs/gc.log' using options 'filecount=5,filesize=20M' failed.

Cause

The Bitbucket installation folder - /$BITBUCKET_INSTALL/elasticsearch/logs - doesn't have the write permissions for the Bitbucket user.

Solution

  • Confirm Bitbucket user owns the directory by running chown -R atlbitbucket:atlbitbucket *
  • Change the permission of the folder above to have write permissions for the Bitbucket user by running chmod 755 
Last modified on Oct 17, 2023

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