Seemingly Random Functionality Fails Due to Outdated JSP Work Directory

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Symptoms

JIRA behaves erratically, with unpredictable errors affecting the standard functionalities. There are multiple in stack trace errors in which this can manifest:

2010-10-28 15:14:06,743 http-8080-8 ERROR 914x942x1 1dhnhfx [webwork.util.ValueStack] query="actions" {[id="actions" type="8" values=""]}
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
	at webwork.util.InjectionUtils$DefaultInjectionImpl.invoke(InjectionUtils.java:70)
	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)

OR:

2010-10-28 15:16:12,946 http-8080-8 ERROR  916x957x1 110wk6l [atlassian.renderer.v2.V2Renderer] Unable to render content due to system error: com/atlassian/renderer/v2/components/list/ListRenderable
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/atlassian/renderer/v2/components/list/ListRenderable
	at com.atlassian.renderer.v2.components.list.ListBlockRenderer.renderNextBlock(ListBlockRenderer.java:48)
	at com.atlassian.renderer.v2.components.block.BlockRendererComponent.render(BlockRendererComponent.java:64)
	at com.atlassian.renderer.v2.V2Renderer.render(V2Renderer.java:53)
	at com.atlassian.renderer.v2.V2RendererFacade.convertWikiToXHtml(V2RendererFacade.java:57)
	at com.atlassian.jira.issue.fields.renderer.wiki.AtlassianWikiRenderer.render(AtlassianWikiRenderer.java:23)
	at org.apache.jsp.includes.panels.issue.actions_jsp._jspx_meth_webwork_005fproperty_005f5(actions_jsp.java:806)
	at org.apache.jsp.includes.panels.issue.actions_jsp._jspService(actions_jsp.java:163)

When searching for issues using Issue Navigator:

java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.atlassian.jira.issue.views.util.SearchRequestHeader.getSearchSortReverseDescriptions(SearchRequestHeader.java:96)
at com.atlassian.jira.issue.views.util.SearchRequestHeader.getHeader(SearchRequestHeader.java:57)
at com.atlassian.jira.issue.views.SearchRequestPrintableView.writeSearchResults(SearchRequestPrintableView.java:53)

While attempting to add Gadgets to JIRA Dashboards:

java.lang.NullPointerException
	at com.atlassian.gadgets.dashboard.internal.rest.GadgetResource.updateUserPrefsViaPOST(GadgetResource.java:375)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)  <+19> (DispatchProviderHelper.java:234) 

When attempting to access issues:

2012-11-12 23:29:57,208 http-8280-10 ERROR      [500ErrorPage.jsp] Exception caught in 500 page File &quot;/secure/views/browser/browseheader-createissue-links.jsp&quot; not found
javax.servlet.ServletException: File &quot;/secure/views/browser/browseheader-createissue-links.jsp&quot; not found
	at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.handleMissingResource(JspServlet.java:335)
	at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:301)
	at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:260)
	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)

Cause

The root cause of the issue if that the work directory of tomcat contains outdated/corrupt compiled files. This is usually caused by updates or upgrades of plugins and/or JIRA which could leave the work directory having the old compiled files which in turn will cause exceptions while working with the newer upgrades/updates. These files will be rebuilt upon startup if the work directory is cleared.

Resolution

  1. Shutdown JIRA
  2. Delete the contents of <JIRA_INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY|CATALINA_BASE>/work folder. The directory can be deleted and recreated as well, but keep a note of the next point.
  3. Verify the user running the JIRA application process has Read/Write permission to the <JIRA_INSTALLATION_DIRECTORY|CATALINA_BASE>/work directory.
  4. Restart the JIRA application container to rebuild the files.
Last modified on Mar 30, 2016

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