Preparing for Jira 8.3

This documentation is intended for Jira developers who want to ensure that their existing apps are compatible with Jira 8.3. 

All changes and EAPs

Below, you can see the summary of changes, and more details about them organized by the EAP they've been implemented in.

Summary of changes

In this section we'll provide an overview of the changes we intend to make in Jira 8.3, so you can start thinking how it might impact your apps. Once they're ready, we'll indicate when a change has been implemented, and in which milestone. 

Support for Oracle 12c Release 2

Status: IMPLEMENTED (EAP 02)

We have introduced support for Oracle 12c Release 2 database, which remains under Oracle's Premier Support.

atlassian-jslibs bumped to 1.4.1

Status: IMPLEMENTED (for details, see EAP 02)

We have upgraded the atlassian-jslibs plugin from version 1.2.5 to 1.4.1 and are now bundling React 16.8.6 , ReactDOM 16.8.6 factory, and Marionette 4.1.2 with Jira. 

New filters to search for custom fields

Status: IMPLEMENTED (for details, see EAP 02)

We've extended the number of options you can use to search for custom fields.

List of custom changes after upgrade

Status: IMPLEMENTED (for details, see EAP 02)

When you upgrade you need to re-apply the changes you've made to your old Jira files to the same files in the upgraded version of Jira so that your custom changes are preserved. Up till 8.3 we were not able to tell you exactly which files you've modified. However, as of 8.3 we can. When you start your Jira after upgrade, you'll see a list of files which have been modified so that you can easily transfer the changes. 

Content Delivery Network (CDN) for Jira Data Center

Status: IMPLEMENTED (for details, see EAP 01)

Jira 8.3 will support using a CDN for Jira Data Center.

Cluster lock mechanism improved in Data Center

Status: IMPLEMENTED (for details, see EAP 01)

We improved the cluster lock mechanism in Jira DC by introducing lock timeouts. 

Migrating from Jira Cloud to Server 

Status: IMPLEMENTED (EAP 01)

To fix some issues with importing a backup from Jira Cloud into Jira Server, we needed to change the database column size. As a result, Jira might start up a bit slower just after upgrade, especially if you are using MySQL database. On the upside, the migration process finishes with no exceptions.

Re-indexing got a face lift

Status: IMPLEMENTED (for details, see EAP 01)

We’ve improved the user experience around re-indexing, which will be especially visible for our Data Center users. Some of the changes include more context around the re-indexing options so you can choose more easily, confirmation modals with extra warnings to prevent you from re-indexing by mistake, and a new field that shows the node that will be used for re-indexing. You will also see your current node and the “re-indexing” node when re-indexing is in progress, just to give you more details on what’s going on in your Data Center cluster.

AdoptOpenJDK 8 bundled with Jira

Status: IMPLEMENTED (for details, see EAP 01)

Jira is no longer bundled with Oracle JRE and comes with AdoptOpenJDK JRE 8 instead. This applies only to Jira installers, as the archives don’t include any Java. If you’re an Oracle fan, Oracle JDK is still supported, so feel free to use it.

GDPR changes in Jira

Status: ONGOING (for details, see GDPR changes in Jira) (EAP 02)

Now, we are we’re implementing an API for disabling users who leave the company and an API for user anonymization. As a plugin vendor, you can now remain compliant with GDPR requirements as this API will allow you to respond when an anonymization request is processed in the system and anonymize any personal data related to the request in your app.

Encrypting database password

Status: IMPLEMENTED (for details, see EAP 01)

You can now encrypt your database password that is stored in the dbconfig.xml file. 

Implemented changes

Changes in this milestone

Support for Oracle 12c Release 2

We have introduced support for Oracle 12c Release 2 database, which remains under Oracle's Premier Support.

GDPR changes in JIRA - new API 

To improve the compliance of Jira Server with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we'll be introducing a set of changes in Jira over the next few months.

Now, we are we’re implementing an API for disabling users who leave the company and an API for user anonymization. This will save time and workload for enterprise admins and allow admins to  automate processes.

atlassian-jslibs bumped to 1.4.1

We have upgraded the atlassian-jslibs plugin from version 1.2.5 to 1.4.1 and are now bundling React 16.8.6 , ReactDOM 16.8.6 factory, and Marionette 4.1.2 with Jira. 

We've also upgraded the Browse projects page to the latest version of Marionette, which gave it a significant performance boost.

List of custom changes after upgrade

This change is a part of a bigger project to help you plan and speed up your upgrade. In the planning phase, you can already see the changed files in the Pre-upgrade planning page in the Administration > System > General configuration. This can hep you estimate the time required to transfer the changes and make sure none have been lost. When you transfer the changes from the old to the new files, remember to only copy these exact changed parts not the entire files. 

New filters to search for custom fields

Now, you can find a custom field even if you do not know its exact name. You can use one or a collection of the additional three multi-select filters and search through your custom fields based on 

• projects using custom field
• custom field types
• screens connected to a custom field.
  

Changes in this milestone

Content Delivery Network (CDN) for Jira Data Center

Jira 8.3 will support using a CDN for Jira Data Center. This means that Jira will be caching static assets that are stored in your plugin in every Data Center instance that enables this feature. You can check if your plugin is compatible with CDN by using a REST endpoint. For more info, see Content Delivery Network (CDN) for Jira Data Center.

Cluster lock mechanism improved in Data Center

We improved the cluster lock mechanism in Jira DC by introducing lock timeouts. Now, when a node loses a cluster lock it will be automatically recoverable without any actions from administrator. Previously this situation could only be resolved by restarting the node. You can read more about this issue here.

Re-indexing got a face lift

We’ve improved the user experience around re-indexing, which will be especially visible for our Data Center users. Learn more

AdoptOpenJDK 8 bundled with Jira

As you may know, Oracle stopped providing public updates for Oracle JDK 8, which means that only Oracle customers with a paid subscription are eligible for updates. To give you an option for a free JDK, we first added support for OpenJDK in Jira 7.13, and now it’s time to tighten the relations with OpenJDK even more!

Jira is no longer bundled with Oracle JDK and comes with AdoptOpenJDK JRE 8 instead. This applies only to Jira installers, as the archives don’t include any Java. If you’re an Oracle fan, Oracle JDK is still supported, so feel free to use it.

Encrypting database password

You can now encrypt your database password that is stored in the dbconfig.xml file. We've prepared two encryption methods for basic and advanced users, and also a way to create your own Cipher. For more information, see Encrypting database password.