Configuring JIRA Options

Title

This is the title that will be displayed on the JIRA login page and the dashboard. It helps identify your installation and its purpose.
Also see logo, which is displayed on every JIRA page.

Mode

JIRA can operate in two modes:
- Public — Anyone can sign themselves up and create issues (within the bounds of your JIRA system's permissions).
- Private — Useful for internal issue-tracking systems where you do not want public users to login. Self-signup is disabled; only Administrators can create new users.
Default: Public

Maximum Authentication Attempts Allowed

The maximum authentication attempts that are allowed before CAPTCHA is shown to a user. If you leave it blank then CAPTCHA will never be shown and users will have unlimited authentication attempts. It is recommended that you set this to a small number (e.g. below 5).
Default: 3 (for new installations of JIRA)
If you upgrade from a version of JIRA prior to 4.1.1, this option will be reset to 3 for security reasons mentioned in the JIRA 4.1.1 Upgrade Guide.

CAPTCHA on signup

If you are running JIRA in Public mode (see above), it is strongly recommended that you enable CAPTCHA. This will show a CAPTCHA image on signup to prevent spambots from signing up.
Default: ON

Base URL

The base URL of this JIRA installation. You can only configure JIRA to respond to a single URL and this setting must match the URL that your users request for accessing your JIRA site. You cannot (for example) have a different hostname or URL for internal and external users. This is especially important for JIRA 4.0.x or higher, as any mismatch between this Base URL setting and the URL requested by your JIRA users will cause problems with dashboard gadgets. This URL is also used in outgoing email notifications as the prefix for links to JIRA issues.

Email from

Specifies the From: header format in notification emails. Default is of the form "John Doe (JIRA) <jira@company.com>". Available variables are '${fullname}', '${email}' and '${email.hostname}'. Note that the actual address (e.g. 'jira@company.com') cannot be specified here - it is determined by the mail server or individual project configuration.

Introduction

A short introduction message displayed on the dashboard. Also see the announcement banner, which is displayed on every JIRA page. You can include HTML, but ensure all tags are correctly closed.

Indexing language

JIRA uses Lucene, a high-performance text search engine library, in full-text searches over the issues stored in JIRA. Indexing and searching for issues is affected by the language that the issues are entered in. Please choose the language that issues are entered in. If multiple languages are chosen, choose 'Other'. Note: You will need to re-index JIRA if you change this value.

Installed languages

This section lists all language packs available within the JIRA system. (Note: to install additional languages, see Internationalisation.)

Default language

The language used throughout the JIRA interface (as selected from the list displayed in Installed Languages above). Users can override the default language by using the Language setting in their user profile.

Default user time zone

This is the time zone used throughout the JIRA interface. Users can override the default language by using the Time Zone setting in their user profile. (To choose the time format see Configuring the Layout and Design.)

Date fields, which have no time component, such as due dates, release dates (associated with versions) and custom date fields, solely record date information (and no time zone-related information) so are not affected by time zone settings.

Allow users to vote on issues

Controls whether voting is enabled in JIRA. Voting allows users to indicate a preference for issues they would like to be completed or resolved. See also the 'View Voters and Watchers' permission.
Default: ON

Allow users to watch issues

Controls whether watching is enabled in JIRA. Users can 'watch' issues which they are interested in. Users watching an issue will be notified of all changes to it. See also the 'View Voters and Watchers' and 'Manage Watcher List' permissions.
Default: ON

Allow unassigned issues

When turned ON, JIRA will allow issues to be unassigned or assigned to 'no-one'.When turned OFF, issues must always be assigned to someone - by default, the assignee will be the Project Lead as defined for each project.
Default: OFF

External user management

When turned ON, you will no longer be able to create, edit or delete users/groups from within JIRA (or via email or import); but you can still assign users/groups to project roles, and create/edit/delete user properties. Additionally, JIRA will not display options for users to change their password, or edit their profile.
Generally you would only turn this ON if you are managing all your users from outside JIRA (e.g. using Crowd, Microsoft Active Directory or another LDAP directory).
Default: OFF

Logout confirmation

Controls whether to obtain user's confirmation when logging out: NEVER COOKIE - prompt for confirmation if the user was automatically logged in (via a cookie). ALWAYS
Default: NEVER

Use gzip compression

Controls whether to compress the web pages that JIRA sends to the browser. It is recommended that this be turned ON, unless you are using mod_proxy.
Default: OFF

Accept remote API calls

Controls whether to allow remote client access (via XML-RPC or SOAP) to this JIRA installation, for authenticated users.
Default: OFF

User email visibility

Controls how users' email addresses are displayed in the user profile page.
- PUBLIC - email addresses are visible to all.
- HIDDEN - email addresses are hidden from all users.
- MASKED - the email address is masked (e.g. 'user@example.com' is displayed as 'user at example dot com').
- LOGGED IN USERS ONLY - only users logged in to JIRA can view the email addresses.
Default: PUBLIC

Comment visibility

Determines what will be contained in the list that is presented to users when specifying comment visibility and worklog visibility.
- Groups & Project Roles - the list will contain groups and project roles.
- Project Roles only - the list will only contain project roles.
Default: Project Roles only

Exclude email header 'Precedence: bulk'

Controls whether to prevent the Precedence: Bulk header on JIRA notification emails. This option should only be enabled when notifications go to a mailing list which rejects 'bulk' emails. In normal circumstances, this header prevents auto-replies (and hence potential mail loops).
Default: OFF

Issue Picker Auto-complete

Provides auto-completion of issue keys in the 'Issue Picker' popup screen. Turn OFF if your users' browsers are incompatible with AJAX.
Default: ON

User Searching By Full Name

Enables auto-completion of user names in the 'User Picker' popup screen. Also enables JQL-based searching of Full Names. Turn OFF if you have a very large number of users, or if your users' browsers are incompatible with AJAX. If 'User email visibility' (see above) is set to HIDDEN, the users' email addresses will not be searched or shown in the auto-complete results.
Default: ON if you have less than 5,000 users (or OFF if you have more than 5,000 users).

JQL Auto-complete

Provides auto-completion of search terms when users perform an advanced (JQL) search. Turn OFF if you prefer not to use this feature, or are experiencing a performance impact.
Default: ON

Internet Explorer MIME Sniffing Security Hole Workaround Policy

Attachment viewing security options for cross-site site scripting vulnerabilities present in Internet Explorer 7 and earlier. Changes the default browser action for attachments in JIRA. Options are:
- Insecure: inline display of attachments - allows all attachments to be displayed inline. Only select this option if you fully understand the security risks. See JIRA Security Advisory 2008-08-26 for further details.
- Secure: forced download of all attachments for all browsers - force the download of all attachments. This is the most secure option, but is less convenient for users.
- Work around Internet Explorer security hole - forced download of high-risk attachments (IE-only Workaround) - for IE browsers, force the download of attachments that IE would mistakenly detect as an HTML file. Declared HTML attachments are also never displayed inline. Use this option to reduce the risk of attacks to IE users via attachments.
Default: Work around Internet Explorer security hole

Contact Administrators Form

Provides an email form for users to fill in when they click the 'Contact Administrators' link (which appears when necessary throughout the JIRA interface, e.g. on the Login screen). Applies only if outgoing email is enabled. Can be used with or without the custom 'Contact Administrators Message' below.
Default: OFF

Contact Administrators Message

Displays a custom message when users click the 'Contact Administrators' link (which appears when necessary throughout the JIRA interface, e.g. on the Login screen). The 'Contact Administrators Message' will be displayed at the top of the 'Contact Administrators Form', if the form is enabled (see above), or by itself if the form is not enabled.