Jira Service Desk 4.9.x upgrade notes

Here are some important notes on upgrading to Jira Service Desk 4.9. For details on the new features and improvements in this release, see the Jira Service Desk 4.9.x release notes.

 Summary of changes

Upgrade notes

Known issue: Too many warning messages about RequestCache in the log file

In Jira Service Desk 4.9.1, we introduced additional logging messages to track the use of RequestCache without the context. For some instances, this resulted in a huge number of warning messages in the log file, similar to the one below:

[c.a.j.cache.request.RequestCacheImpl] From Jira 9.0 version creation/usage of RequestCacheImpl will throw the IllegalStateException.

If you’re having this problem, you can work around it by changing the logging for RequestCache to ERROR. At the same time, we’re working on a fix for this issue. You can read more about it here.

Changing the logging level for RequestCache

Temporary (will no longer work after restarting Jira)

1. In Jira, go to Administration > System > Logging and profiling.
2. Scroll down to Default Loggers > Configure logging level for another package.
3. Add the com.atlassian.jira.cache.request.RequestCacheImpl package with the ERROR level.

Permanent

1. Edit the <JIRA_INSTALLATION>/atlassian-jira/WEB-INF/classes/log4j.properties file.

2. Add the following lines at the bottom of the file, and save it: 

   log4j.logger.com.atlassian.jira.cache.request.RequestCacheImpl = ERROR, filelog
   log4j.additivity.com.atlassian.jira.cache.request.RequestCacheImpl = false

3. Restart Jira.

New API to help the Versions view load faster

To help the Versions view in project settings load faster and avoid possible timeouts on large instances, we have changed the endpoint it called. 

Now, instead of .../release/allversions, we use GET /rest/projects/1.0/project/<project_key>/release/allversions-nodetails to return the list of all project versions together with their data such as their name, status, or description (except the progress data). Archived versions are also returned. 

We also changed the way the information about the number of issues in each status category (To do, In progress, Done) related to each version is returned. This data, collectively known as Progress, is now lazy-loaded as the page is scrolled and uses a separate new endpoint. 

The old endpoint is still working, but Jira won't be using it in versions 7.13.14, 8.5.5, 8.8.1, 8.9.0, and later.

Expected changes to incoming mail settings

In response to Google and Microsoft deprecating Basic Authentication, we will soon be adding OAuth 2.0 authentication methods for incoming email (so far using the IMAP and POP3 protocols). This is planned for Jira Service Desk 4.10 (Jira Core and Software 8.10), and we’ll keep you updated if anything changes. We’ll also backport it to the supported Enterprise releases. If you currently use email to create issues and comments, you’ll need to reconfigure your incoming mail settings.

We treat this work with highest priority and aim to provide the solution ahead of the deadlines set by Google and Microsoft so that you have enough time to prepare for these changes.

OAuth 2.0 support will mean changes to the incoming mail settings, and the way you configure the incoming email server.

End of support announcements

We're not making any changes in Jira Service Desk 4.9.

• Advance notice: Deprecating Hipchat in Jira Service Desk 4.11
  We'll stop supporting, and unbundle Hipchat in Jira Service Desk 4.11. Hipchat Cloud reached the End of Life in February 2019, Hipchat Data Center in September 2019, and Hipchat Server is due in June 2020. If you haven't already, migrate to other chat solutions before this version.

For other announcements, see End of support announcements.

App developers

See Preparing for Jira 8.9 for any important changes regarding apps.

Upgrade procedure

See Upgrading Jira applications for complete upgrade procedures, including all available upgrade methods and pre-upgrade steps that are required for Jira Service Desk 4.9. For a more tailored upgrade, also check our Pre-upgrade planning tool that will recommend a version to upgrade to, run pre-upgrade checks, and provide you with a custom upgrade guide with step-by-step instructions.