THERE IS NO JIRA.PROPERTIES FILE

[Josh Edgar]

God I HATE Atlassian and this is why I'm glad I never gave them more than $10 for this garbage. Where is jira.properties? The trash documentation https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver073/setting-your-jira-application-home-directory-861253889.html indicates that it's in the JIRA installation directly, however, there is NOTHING in /opt/atlassian/jira/ by that name even after running a recursive search.

[Andy Heinzer]

Hi Josh,

The filename is actually called 'jira-application.properties' and not just jira.properties. 

Secondly, that file might not exist on a brand new install or and extraction of the zip/tar.gz packages, in which case you have to create it. 

Once you create this file it will need to be in the $JIRAINSTALL/atlassian-jira/WEB-INF/classes/ path.   There are different ways to create that file.  You can do so manually with a text editor, or you could use the Jira Config Tool to set this path.

I can see how this could be frustrating.  So I am going to create a ticket to update this documentation to help make this clearer.

[Josh Edgar]

My post title has a typographical error, but I actually did search for jira-application.properties and also just *.properties* and only found logging.properties in ./conf.

Presently, the installation on the old server I want to migrate from has been running and in use for a few months, so I'm not sure why it wouldn't exist there. I'm just trying to locate the home directory on the old server so that it can be scp-ed over to the new server per the migration instructions.

[Andy Heinzer]

Ah, ok.  You can find out where that home folder is by returning to the source Jira install, and then going to the path:

<jira-application-dir>/atlassian-jira/WEB-INF/classes/jira-application.properties

However if your source installation does not have this file in this path, then it is possible that your OS has a system variable called JIRA_HOME.   This is another way to define that path. This behavior is noted in the documentation:

Please note: If you have specified different values for a 'jira.home' property in the jira-application.properties file and a JIRA_HOME environment variable, the value of the JIRA_HOME environment variable takes precedence.

If that happens, then try going to a command prompt/terminal and typing the command:

echo $JIRA_HOME

If this returns with a path, then your system set the home directory via this system variable instead and the path this returns is your Jira home directory.  I don't commonly see this for the Jira home directory, but it is possible.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

If you'd bothered to read the documentation that is telling you to amend the properties file properly, you should have seen something along the lines of "you may need to create the file, as it is not needed by a default installation"

[Josh Edgar]

That line does not exist on the page I cited. I'm not reading the whole book to find how to perform one simple action that should be user-friendly. You can get away with that crap on free, open-source applications, but I expect better when I have paid money for the software.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

The page you cited is not about changing the properties file.

Generally, you shouldn't need to change that file, it's not a "simple action", it's a deliberate thing for a handful of people who have non-standard needs do.  If you don't know what you're doing here, I have to question why you're even looking.

[Josh Edgar]

I am TRYING to locate the JIRA Home Directory so that it can be copied to a new system I'm migrating to. They flopped on that too by not making it available in the web UI. I am not downloading an external configuration tool to find a directory, and GOD FORBID that it be /home/jira like EVERY OTHER LINUX APPLICATION EVER.

The objective here is to migrate from one server to another, but I'm very close to dumping the whole thing and filing a credit card dispute.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Ah, ok, you've looked for the wrong thing then.

Jira has a default home directory in a moderately sane place for most systems, but because it's a server installation it allows the installer to change the default.  Either way, the person installing it will have chosen a home directory for it.

Yes, some place it in a user's home directory, but the right place for EVERY OTHER LINUX APPLICATION EVER is not the home directory for a user, but a dedicated data area under /var, /opt, or /"wherever the server admin decides application should be kept (which is rarely under /home because that's where users are, not service data)"

For an existing installation with which an admin is unfamiliar, the starting point is almost always "Admin -> System Information", which has all sorts of useful information, including the home directory.

[Josh Edgar]

The system information tab does not have the home directory.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

It's been included in the system information page since Jira 3.0.  In later versions, when the page started to get too long, it was grouped in with other "file paths".

[Michael Wolfe]

I can confirm that at least Jira 7.5.2, once you are in System Info, the first directory path you should see is at the top, which the working directory / installation path.  If you scroll down or search for "File Paths" you'll then find your installations Home directory.  On my server, I installed the apps in /var/www, and I have their home directories in /var/atlassian.  Additionally, you'll want to create a copy of the sql database and restore that on the new server.