Symptoms

Bitbucket Server does not start and the following message can be seen in the logs:

May 10, 2012 11:41:28 AM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
SEVERE: StandardWrapper.Throwable java.lang.IllegalStateException: No WebApplicationContext found: no ContextLoaderListener registered?
... 

On the web browser the following is displayed:

http://localhost:7990/fatal.jsp
 
A fatal error has occurred

The following problem occurred which prevents Atlassian Bitbucket Server from starting correctly:
The Spring WebApplicationContext could not be started

Cause

There are five possible causes:

1.  A trailing slash ( \ ) in the end of the BITBUCKET_HOME environment variable.  This was fixed in the Bitbucket Server 1.0.4 release:  BSERV-2520 - Getting issue details... STATUS
2. The hostname you are using must be resolvable (try ping $HOSTNAME). E.g. The hostname localhost has not been added to /etc/hosts. Refer to Bitbucket Server Fails to Start Up with java.net.UnknownHostException Exception
3. The JAVA_HOME variable is not configured.
4. Bitbucket Server Does Not Start - Unable to clean the cache directory .
5. Bitbucket Server fails to start - The Spring WebApplicationContext could not be started - Unresolved constraint in bundle
6. If your server does not have enough free physical RAM to allocate to the JVM for Bitbucket Server.

Resolution

Regarding the first three possible causes mentioned above there are three resolutions:

1. Even though this issue has been fixed, instead of:

    BITBUCKET_HOME=C:\Trial\atlassian-bitbucket-1.0.1\

   it should be (no trailing slash in the end):

   BITBUCKET_HOME=C:\Trial\atlassian-bitbucket-1.0.1

2. Add the name of the Bitbucket Server instance in /etc/hosts associating it to 127.0.0.1 and restart Bitbucket Server. The entry in /etc/hosts should resemble the following:

   127.0.0.1    hostname

3. Create a JAVA_HOME variable for the user who is running Bitbucket Server:

   JAVA_HOME=/PATH/TO/THE/JAVA/ROOT/DIRECTORY