Can issue import convert links?

Frank Carr

I am doing some experimenting in the cloud on JIRA export/import capabilities. Ultimately, we are going to be migrating from one Companies JIRA installation to another Companies JIRA installation. I am having trouble getting "Links" imported. 

In the original export, I see issue IDs in the "Inward issue link (link type)" and "Outward Issue link (link type)". For example ABC-32839, ABC-32838, ABC-32837.

I am working with a sample subset of the Issues to be imported, so I understand that there are SOME links that cannot be made because the link-from or link-to issues are NOT in the sample set. However, after the import processes the issues, NOT A SINGLE LINK is made between any issues in the set. 

When I look through the Importer log, it reports the following:

2023-04-06 17:18:33,311 ERROR - Unable to link issue from autoid-6929931817420021106 to NCR-32656 with link named 'Relates': Cannot find imported issue key for external id 'NCR-32656'
2023-04-06 17:18:33,318 ERROR - Unable to link issue from autoid-8549956584920098953 to NCR-33024 with link named 'Relates': Cannot find imported issue key for external id 'NCR-33024'
2023-04-06 17:18:33,325 ERROR - Unable to link issue from autoid-5644403748625426452 to NCR-31073 with link named 'Relates': Cannot find imported issue key for external id 'NCR-31073'
2023-04-06 17:18:33,333 ERROR - Unable to link issue from autoid--7130678870051071880 to NCR-33033 with link named 'Cloners': Cannot find imported issue key for external id 'NCR-33033'

I don't understand why this happens, but it seems to be unable to find issues it has just imported. When it gets to Importing: Issue Links & Subtasks, it has assigned NCR-33024 to NIT-XXXXX and NCR-33033 to NIT-YYYYY 

In fact, when I look through the list of imported issues, which it did without problem, it seems to have not imported ANY links at ALL. Am I missing something?

Riley Venable

One possible reason is that the imported issues have different keys in the new instance compared to the original one. The links would be broken in this case because they are based on issue keys. To resolve this, ensure the imported issues have the same keys as the original ones before importing them to the new instance. Another possibility is that the new JIRA instance does not support the import/export data format issue. To rule out this possibility, check the documentation or contact the JIRA administrators to confirm that the old and new instances support the same data format.

To resolve the issue of missing links during the import process, the user can try the following:

1. Check that the link types used in the original instance are available in the new instance. If not, create them before importing the issues.

2. Ensure that the new instance sets the JIRA project permissions correctly.

3. Reimport the issues and specify the link types during the import process.

4. If all else fails, try exporting/importing the issues using a third-party tool or script that supports the Issue Import/Export Data Format.