Jira Software 8.8.x release notes
19 March 2020
We're pleased to present Jira Software 8.8.
Highlights
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Compatible applications
If you're looking for compatible Jira applications, look no further:
Good to know
If you're thinking to move to Data Center, check our recommendations first. See: Infrastructure recommendations for Jira.
Our Jira Pro Tip for this release
Do you know your optimal log retention period? Learn more...
Audit like a Pro with our revamped Audit log
Update: In Jira 8.8.1 we've added new events to track installed and uninstalled apps and created and removed application links. Learn more
Can audit logs be fun to work with? Our revamped Audit log sure is. First of all, it’s the way it looks. With the clear, user-friendly interface, you can easily find your way around it, adjust the settings, and filter the events. But as usual, it’s not all about the looks. It’s also what you can do with it. And there is plenty to talk about:
→ You are now in control: you can decide which events are logged and how long you want to keep them
→ You get full transparency: you can filter the events, expand each for further details, and export the audit log if necessary
→ You free up your auditing schedule: by getting an audit log that’s clear and categorized, you don’t need to spend time browsing through piles of events.
→ You have more insight: we’ve added plenty of new events for you to know exactly what’s happening on your instance. The new events are available in the Advanced and Full coverage level DATA CENTER
→ You can delegate some tasks: project admins now get access to the audit log for a specific space to monitor what’s going on there DATA CENTER
→ You can integrate with 3rd party tools: events are logged to a database and to a file in the local home directory. you can use this file to integrate with SumoLogic, ELK, Amazon CloudWatch and Splunk DATA CENTER
Check it out yourself by going to Administration> System > Audit log (Jira Server) or Administration > System > Advanced audit log (Jira Data Center) and experience the new era of auditing.
We migrate up to 10 million records from your old audit log to the new one.
For more about the feature, see Auditing in Jira.
Dates for future sprints
So far you were able to plan future work but could not assign any specific dates to future sprints. Now it's changing! Whenever you create a sprint a pop-up opens allowing you to enter dates for this sprint.
Alternatively, you can leave the date fields empty. However, adding dates to your sprint helps plan them better over time.
To help you monitor plans versus actual sprint start and completion dates, we've added those to sprint reports. What's more, from now on we're basing the guideline on burnup and burndown charts on the actual start date (not the planned start date as was the case) and planned completion date of the sprint. In this way, we're making sure the guideline shows correctly.
Jira 
accessibility
We want every team around the globe to be able to use Jira with the least amount of trouble, and our new accessibility improvements are the next step towards this goal. Whether your vision is impaired, you can’t really tell colors apart, or just strongly believe that blue, azure, and sapphire are the same thing—we’ve got you covered.
This release brings accessibility settings that every user can personalize. After going to User profile > Accessibility, you can opt in for two options: underlined links and unique patterns on issue statuses, which—frankly speaking—look so awesome that half of our office is using them although most of us are perfectly fine with greens and blues. Learn more
Access Data Center features on your current Server infrastructure
Data Center was originally designed as a clustered deployment option to help enterprises improve application uptime, and maintain consistent performance at scale. Since then, we’d added more security, compliance, and administration features exclusive to Jira Data Center, many of which are available on non-clustered architecture. See the full list of features
To make it easier to access these features on your current Server infrastructure, we’ve created new guides to support you deploying Jira Data Center on a single node. In most cases, moving from Jira Server to non-clustered Data Center is as simple as updating your license. It also does not depend on your current version of Jira. Learn how it works
Check our Data Center deployment options guide to see if non-clustered architecture is right for your organization.