Upgrade from Jira 7.2 directly to 8.7?

Question

My organization would like to upgrade from Jira 7.2 to 8.7. Are there any gotchas with jumping this many minor releases all at once?

The oldest version I see in the Jira upgrade matrix is 7.5. Is this because there are issues upgrading from versions older than 7.5 or because nobody could possibly be using a version older than 7.5 (except up, apparently).

Kian Stack Mumo Systems · Answer

I haven't seen anything in any piece of documentation I've read indicating that Jira couldn't perform an upgrade to 8.7 directly from Jira 7.2. I think the big issue would be whether your auxiliary systems are supported throughout. For example, are  you on the right database version throughout? Are  your apps compatible?

In all likelihood, you will need to perform a few upgrades in order to get yourself to the latest version.

Thanks,

Kian

Joe Pitt · Answer

That means you can't upgrade an release earlier than 7.5. This isn't uncommon in software. Earlier versions have something in them that the upgrade can't convert. I've seen people having to go through 3 upgrades to become current. Don't forget to check the upgrade path for any plugins you currently have. You may need to do them in two steps also.