Problems installing/starting Jira right after initial setup

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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

Attempting to install Jira using the .bin installer fails, and the console presents the following message:

./atlassian-jira-software-8.20.12-x64.bin
Unpacking JRE ...
Starting Installer ...
/path/to/installer/atlassian-jira-software-8.20.12-x64.bin.1764275.dir/jre/bin/java: error while loading shared libraries: libjli.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory


Similarly, if using the .tar.gz installation method, when attempting to start Jira for the first time with start-jira.sh, a subtle error appears after the initial startup messages. The Jira process dies shortly after, and the same message can be found registered in the catalina.out logs.

Terminal:

bin % ./start-jira.sh

To run Jira in the foreground, start the server with start-jira.sh -fg
executing as current user

                  `sMMMMMMMMMMMMMM+
                     MMMMMMMMMMMMMM
                     :sdMMMMMMMMMMM
                             MMMMMM
          `sMMMMMMMMMMMMMM+  MMMMMM
             MMMMMMMMMMMMMM  +MMMMM
              :sMMMMMMMMMMM   MMMMM
                     MMMMMM    `UOJ
   `sMMMMMMMMMMMMM+  MMMMMM
     MMMMMMMMMMMMMM  +MMMMM
      :sdMMMMMMMMMM   MMMMM
             MMMMMM    `UOJ
             MMMMMM
             +MMMMM
              MMMMM
               `UOJ

      Atlassian Jira
      Version : 8.20.12


If you encounter issues starting or stopping Jira, please see the Troubleshooting guide at https://docs.atlassian.com/jira/jadm-docs-0820/Troubleshooting+installation

Using JIRA_HOME:       /path/to/<Jira_Installation>

Server startup logs are located in /Users/abrancalhao/MSB_Home/jira/atlassian-jira-software-8.20.9-standalone/logs/catalina.out
Using CATALINA_BASE:   /path/to/<Jira_Installation>
Using CATALINA_HOME:   /path/to/<Jira_Installation>
Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /path/to/<Jira_Installation>/temp
Using JRE_HOME:        /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/temurin-11.jdk/Contents/Home
Using CLASSPATH:       /path/to/<Jira_Installation>/bin/bootstrap.jar:/path/to/<Jira_Installation>/bin/tomcat-juli.jar
Using CATALINA_OPTS:
Using CATALINA_PID:    /path/to/<Jira_Installation>/work/catalina.pid
NOTE: Picked up JDK_JAVA_OPTIONS: --add-opens=java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/java.io=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/java.util=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/java.util.concurrent=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.rmi/sun.rmi.transport=ALL-UNNAMED
Error: Could not find or load main class org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap

NOTE: Picked up JDK_JAVA_OPTIONS:  --add-opens=java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/java.io=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/java.util=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/java.util.concurrent=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.rmi/sun.rmi.transport=ALL-UNNAMED
Error: Could not find or load main class org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap

catalina.out

NOTE: Picked up JDK_JAVA_OPTIONS:  --add-opens=java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/java.io=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/java.util=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/java.util.concurrent=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.rmi/sun.rmi.transport=ALL-UNNAMED
Error: Could not find or load main class org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap


Environment

Linux host.

Diagnosis

Check if the fapolicyd service is running on the environment.

systemctl status fapolicyd


Cause

The File Access Policy system from RHEL 8 is used to enforce a policy that either allows or denies application execution based on a rule set. This, similar to the SELinux kernel security module, can prevent Jira applications from initializing correctly, due to not being able to execute their own files, even if the Jira directories have the proper permission/ownserhips.

Solution

In order to be able to install and utilize Jira on the environment, you'll need to either stop the 'fapolicyd' service or engage your local server admins in order to allow the execution of Jira and it's files.


As this is a OS-level policy, this issue can also happen in Confluence Data Center deployments running on RHEL 8.x. The solution will be the same.




Last modified on Mar 7, 2025

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