Updating the Universal Plugin Manager

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Like other apps (also known as add-ons or plugins), the Universal Plugin Manager (UPM) receives regular software updates to incorporate bug fixes and enhancements. We recommend keeping UPM updated to the latest version, regardless of the version of your host application.

If you use UPM 1.6 or later, you can update the UPM directly from the Manage add-ons or Manage apps page. If UPM is running in online mode (connected to the Atlassian Marketplace, that is), it automatically reports when an update is available. You'll see a notification at the top of the Manage add-ons or Manage apps page when an update is available.

On this page:

Check your UPM version

You can validate your version of UPM from the version number at the bottom of any app administration page, like the Manage add-ons or Manage apps page. 

Choose the best upgrade method

In most cases you can upgrade UPM from the Manage apps screen in your application. However there are some circumstances where you should consider another method,

  • Behind a firewall or offline mode - if your application can't connect to the internet, you will need to download the file from the Atlassian Marketplace, then use the manual file upload or file replacement methods below. 
  • Clustered application - if you run your application in a cluster, you'll need to perform a rolling restart of all nodes to make sure the new version of UPM is propagated correctly across all nodes. Depending on your application, you might also need to clear the plugins cache. 
  • Large, clustered instance - if you have a big instance, with a lot of apps and data, we recommend you use the file replacement method described below, followed by a rolling restart of all nodes. This prevents problems that can occur because UPM needs to disable and re-enable all apps during the upgrade. 

Update UPM in online mode

To update the UPM in online mode, make sure you're logged in with admin privileges. 

  1. From the top navigation bar in your application, choose Apps > Manage apps.  
    If a later version of the UPM software is available, you'll see an update banner at the top of the page.  

    The content of the UPM update banner varies slightly between different versions of the UPM. In every case, however, the banner includes a link for updating the UPM software.

  2. Click Update now automatically download and apply the update.
    You don't need to restart the application after the update. For certain version updates, you'll need to refresh the browser page, as indicated by an onscreen message.

The banner has three options:

  • Update now: immediately downloads and applies the update to the UPM.
  • Skip this version: keeps the current version of UPM and suppresses future reminders about this version. The reminder appears when newer versions become available.
  • Remind me later: closes the banner for now, but it will appear again the next time you go to the Manage add-ons or Manage apps page. 

Update UPM by file upload

If not connected to the Internet or in certain troubleshooting scenarios, you may need to update the software by uploading the UPM JAR file to the Atlassian application. You need to follow these steps to update the Universal Plugin Manager for JIRA applications, Confluence, FishEye or Crucible from versions 1.5 and earlier.

To update the UPM manually:

  1. Download the latest version of the UPM software from the Atlassian Marketplace.
  2. From the top navigation bar in your application, choose Apps > Manage apps.
  3. Choose Upload app.
  4. In the file chooser, browse to and select the UPM JAR file that you downloaded, then choose Upload.
    A dialog appears indicating that the installation is being performed.

    Depending on the UPM version you are replacing, it's possible for the UPM update to appear to fail. This may take one of several forms: the install progress dialog may appear to hang, or it may close quickly, or it may finish and show an error message. In most cases, the installation actually succeeds, but appears to fail due to issues with older UPM versions. If you think you have encountered this situation, wait a few minutes for the installation to finish and then refresh the browser. Check the footer at the bottom of the page to verify the UPM version.

  5. When prompted, refresh the browser or restart the application.

The UPM version is now up-to-date.

Update UPM by file replacement

If for any reason you cannot update UPM through the administration page, you can update UPM file by replacing the UPM file in the directory instead. Before starting, get the version of the plugin that you want to install from Atlassian Marketplace. Then follow the instructions appropriate to your application.

JIRA applications

How you do this depends on whether you run Jira in a cluster. 

To update the UPM file on disk in a Jira cluster:

  1. Download the UPM JAR from the Atlassian Marketplace
  2. Remove the existing UPM JAR file from this directory <jira-shared-home>/plugins/installed-plugins.
  3. Place the new UPM .jar file in <jira-shared-home>/plugins/installed-plugins folder.
  4. Perform a rolling restart of all cluster nodes:
    1. Stop Jira on the first node
    2. Clear the plugins cache on that node by removing the following directories
      <jira-local-home>/plugins/.bundled-plugins
      <jira-local-home>/plugins/.osgi-plugins
    3. Start Jira on that node
    4. Repeat these steps for the remaining nodes. 

To update the UPM file on disk in Jira applications (non-clustered):

  1. Shut down the application.
  2. Remove the existing UPM JAR file from this directory in your JIRA home directory: 
    plugins/installed-plugins
    The name of the JAR file may be prepended with a number, such as: 
    846688264762062110.atlassian-universal-plugin-manager-plugin-2.7.6.jar
  3. Copy the new UPM JAR file into the same directory.
  4. Clear the plugins cache by removing the following directories
    <jira-local-home>/plugins/.bundled-plugins
    <jira-local-home>/plugins/.osgi-plugins
  5. Restart your Jira application.

Confluence

Confluence stores add-ons such as UPM in its database, so the process for updating it by file replacement is a little different to other products.

To update the UPM file in Confluence:

  1. Download the UPM JAR from the Atlassian Marketplace
  2. Stop Confluence. 
  3. Remove the existing UPM JAR file from <install-directory>/confluence/WEB-INF/atlassian-bundled-plugins
  4. Copy the new UPM JAR file into the same directory. 
  5. Clear the Confluence plugins cache
  6. Downgrading only: Take a full backup of your database as you need to delete a row with the following query.

    DELETE FROM plugindata WHERE pluginkey LIKE 'com.atlassian.upm.atlassian-universal-plugin%';
  7. Restart Confluence.

FishEye

To update the UPM file on disk in FishEye:

  1. Shut down your FishEye instance.
  2. Using an archive management tool, open the following archive in your FishEye installation directory: 
    plugins/bundled-plugins.zip 
  3. Delete (do not extract) the existing atlassian-universal-plugin-manager-plugin-x.x.x.jar from the ZIP file.
  4. Add the new plugin version from the folder it was downloaded to into the zip file.
  5. Close the ZIP file.
  6. Delete the following file from you FishEye installation directory: 
    var/plugins/bundled/atlassian-universal-plugin-manager-plugin-x.x.x.jar
     file.
  7. Start your instance again.

Stash/Bitbucket Server

To update the UPM file on disk in Stash/Bitbucket Server:

  1. Shut down Stash/Bitbucket Server.
  2. Remove the existing UPM JAR file from this directory in the Stash/Bitbucket Server home directory: 
    plugins/installed-plugins
    The name of the JAR file may be prepended with a number, such as:
    846688264762062110.atlassian-universal-plugin-manager-plugin-2.7.6.jar
  3. Copy the latest UPM JAR file into the same directory.
  4. Restart Stash/Bitbucket Server.

Bamboo

To update the UPM file on disk in Bamboo:

  1. Shut down Bamboo.
  2. Remove the existing UPM JAR file from the plugins/ directory in the Bamboo home directory.
    The name of the JAR file may be prepended with a number, such as:
    846688264762062110.atlassian-universal-plugin-manager-plugin-2.7.6.jar
  3. Copy the latest UPM JAR file into the same directory.
  4. Restart Bamboo.

Downgrade UPM

If you run into problems after updating the UPM software, you may need to revert the software to the earlier version. The procedure for downgrading UPM is the same as it is for updating UPM by replacing the UPM JAR on disk. If you already have the JAR file of the UPM version to which you want to revert, follow the instructions for updating UPM by file replacement to apply it to your application.

If you don't have the UPM JAR file for an earlier version, you can get it from the version history section of the Universal Plugin Manager listing page on the Marketplace.

Last modified on Sep 2, 2021

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