Confluence 6.13 or later fails with FontConfiguration error when installing on Linux OS
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
Problem
When installing Confluence Server or Data Center 6.13 or later with AdoptOpenJDK on Linux, installation fails with the following error.
Starting Installer ...
java.lang.NullPointerException
at sun.awt.FontConfiguration.getVersion(FontConfiguration.java:1264)
at sun.awt.FontConfiguration.readFontConfigFile(FontConfiguration.java:219)
at sun.awt.FontConfiguration.init(FontConfiguration.java:107)
at sun.awt.X11FontManager.createFontConfiguration(X11FontManager.java:774)
at sun.font.SunFontManager$2.run(SunFontManager.java:431)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.<init>(SunFontManager.java:376)
at sun.awt.FcFontManager.<init>(FcFontManager.java:35)
at sun.awt.X11FontManager.<init>(X11FontManager.java:57)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:423)
at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:442)
at sun.font.FontManagerFactory$1.run(FontManagerFactory.java:83)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at sun.font.FontManagerFactory.getInstance(FontManagerFactory.java:74)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.getInstance(SunFontManager.java:250)
at sun.font.FontDesignMetrics.getMetrics(FontDesignMetrics.java:264)
at sun.swing.SwingUtilities2.getFontMetrics(SwingUtilities2.java:1113)
at javax.swing.JComponent.getFontMetrics(JComponent.java:1626)
at javax.swing.text.WrappedPlainView.updateMetrics(WrappedPlainView.java:318)
at javax.swing.text.WrappedPlainView.updateChildren(WrappedPlainView.java:297)
at javax.swing.text.WrappedPlainView.insertUpdate(WrappedPlainView.java:463)
at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTextUI$RootView.insertUpdate(BasicTextUI.java:1610)
at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTextUI$UpdateHandler.insertUpdate(BasicTextUI.java:1869)
at javax.swing.text.AbstractDocument.fireInsertUpdate(AbstractDocument.java:201)
at javax.swing.text.AbstractDocument.handleInsertString(AbstractDocument.java:748)
at javax.swing.text.AbstractDocument.insertString(AbstractDocument.java:707)
at javax.swing.text.PlainDocument.insertString(PlainDocument.java:130)
at javax.swing.text.DefaultEditorKit.read(DefaultEditorKit.java:273)
at javax.swing.JEditorPane.setText(JEditorPane.java:1416)
at javax.swing.JEditorPane.<init>(JEditorPane.java:290)
at com.install4j.runtime.installer.frontend.headless.AbstractHeadlessScreenExecutor.init(AbstractHeadlessScreenExecutor.java:68)
at com.install4j.runtime.installer.frontend.headless.ConsoleScreenExecutor.<init>(ConsoleScreenExecutor.java:24)
at com.install4j.runtime.installer.frontend.headless.InstallerConsoleScreenExecutor.<init>(InstallerConsoleScreenExecutor.java:6)
at com.install4j.runtime.installer.Installer.getScreenExecutor(Installer.java:88)
at com.install4j.runtime.installer.Installer.runInProcess(Installer.java:57)
at com.install4j.runtime.installer.Installer.main(Installer.java:45)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
at com.exe4j.runtime.LauncherEngine.launch(LauncherEngine.java:85)
at com.install4j.runtime.launcher.UnixLauncher.main(UnixLauncher.java:62)Cause
AdoptOpenJDK does not include a font configuration package, which Confluence relies on.
Atlassian installer has a script which will attempt to install the required font configuration package in the most common Linux distributions, however if your Linux distribution is not covered by our script, and does not include a suitable font configuration package, you will need to install one manually.
Solution
To tackle this problem, a fontconfig (or an equivalent library) should be installed prior Confluence installation. Refer to the documentation for your Linux distribution or preferred package manager for further information about how to do this.
Here are the commands to install font dependency in a number of common Linux distributions and package managers:
Installing the below packages may need a restart of your Confluence instance
Ubuntu
To install the fontconfig package on Ubuntu 18:
sudo apt install -y fontconfigCentOS
CentOS 7 does not work with fontconfig . You can install dejavu-sans-fonts as an alternative:
sudo yum install -y dejavu-sans-fontsRHEL
To install fontconfig on RedHat Enterprise Linux 7.5:
sudo yum install fontconfigOn RHEL 6, it might be necessary to install both the dejavu-sans-fonts and the fontconfig packages:
sudo yum install -y dejavu-sans-fontsDebian
To install the fontconfig package on Debian 9.5:
apt-get update && apt-get install -y fontconfigFedora
To install the fontconfig package on Fedora 28:
dnf install -y fontconfigKnown issues
- You can't use the Linux installer to install Confluence on OpenSUSE. You will need to install Confluence manually using the archive file. See CONFSERVER-57895 - Getting issue details... STATUS .