What are some use cases for the file "jira-config.properties" or "jira-application.properties"?

Question

Hey guys,

the title says it all. I haven't been able to find a list of the various property/value pairs you might add in the two files, so could you please share what did you use the file for and why? I know about:

jira-config.properties

* Cancelling the prompt to retype admin password
* Modifying the number of workflow buttons visible in an issue

jira-application.properties

* Home folder

Thanks!

Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Answer

From memory, you can use it to always display the sub-task section in issues too?

Kamil Beer · Answer

Thanks, Andrew - that's a pretty good method to find anything related to a specific part of an Atlassian application.

Andy Heinzer · Answer

For the jira-application.properties file, to the best of my knowledge this file is only used to tell the application where the home folder is located.   Since Jira is setup to have 2 main folder paths, Installation folder, and a Home folder, this file is kept inside the $JIRAINSTALL/atlassian-jira/WEB-INF/classes/ folder.

As for the jira-config.properties, there is not a single source to list all the possible options.  I think this is likely because not every option possible will work with every version of Jira possible.   Many of these are kept on separate KB articles because unless you are encountering a problem described in that KB, there tends to be no need to use these properties.  And tweaking unnecessary system settings possible in that file might not always be to the benefit of the admin or Jira users.  Many of the KBs have warnings about how adjusting some settings here are not explicitly supported and can potentially cause Jira to behavior abnormally.

That said, if your curiosity is still not satisfied, I will share with you one method I used to try to find such articles.   I did a google search of our KB site and specifically looked for the filename string of "jira-config.properties".  Among the results, in addition to your cited examples, are

* Disable relative dates in JIRA applications
* Tune number of JIRA index threads
* How to hide the Login Gadget from the System Dashboard in Jira
* How to Prevent Users From Exporting Large Number of Issues to Excel Which Causes Slowdowns (while still allowing admins to bypass the limit)

You can use that search to find other documented options that can be changed, but I would caution you to be careful making changes in some of those KBs.