Why can't I access online docs for old JIRA (v3)?

[Ian Something]

When I try to access JIRA documentation from Jira Documentation Directory, specifically the v3.12,

http://downloads.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.12/

(but applies to others versions too), I get a "403 Forbidden".

(happens even when I've logged in).

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

It's been archived and protected, as Atlassian don't want anyone being mislead into thinking they should be using Jira 3 

[Ian Something]

Hmm, Thank you.

I guess I meant, what's the point of a link to the docs that I need, if it then returns 403? Why have the link at all? 

And I have a legacy Jira 3 installation that I'm trying to extract data from for an upgrade, so the documentation for Jira 3 is still needed.

Links to Jira 4 still work.

The page I referenced says, "Downloadable docs for Jira 3.13.x or earlier: View the online documentation for your desired Jira version (e.g. Jira 3.13 documentation) —", but I can't view the documentation.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

I suspect Atlassian have simply made a mistake and not checked that the docs they've linked to are still there recently.  They should really have removed the links from there, or at least maybe explained "these docs are so old, you shouldn't ever be needing them" and then possible "if you do, raise a support request"

However, if you're trying to extract data to upgrade from Jira 3.12, the docs are not going to tell you much more than the method of upgrading, which is:

• Install an empty copy of 4.0, get it running, don't bother putting any data into it
• Run an xml export on your Jira 3.12
• In your Jira 4.0, log in as the admin, and go to "import from xml", feed it the file you got from 3.12

That's it really.  If you have errors or problems with it, the troubleshooting upgrade stuff from the 4.0 docs are the things you'd want to read.