Everything you need to know about migrating from the DVCS Connector to the new GitHub for Jira app

[#1]

We recently partnered with GitHub to build a new and improved Jira Software Cloud and GitHub integration so that it is much easier to install, has improved performance and reliability, is built on a new tech stack, and is open-sourced so anyone can contribute to future improvements.

The purpose of this post is to provide clarity and explain the difference between integrating Jira Software and GitHub with the existing DVCS Connector vs. the new GitHub for Jira.

It should give you all the information you need about how to migrate over, how long you have to do this, and how to get help if you need it.

FAQs

Does the GitHub for Jira app replace the DVCS Connector?

Yes. The DVCS Connector is an older piece of technology that Jira built and was maintaining. The DVCS Connector for Jira Cloud provides the integration for Bitbucket Cloud, GitHub, and GitHub Enterprise. The GitHub for Jira app replaces only the GitHub integration (not Bitbucket Cloud and not GitHub for Enterprise - yet).

The new integration can do everything the old DVCS Connector could do. So commits, branches, and pull requests are all being synced as they were and smart commits / workflow triggers work the same way they did previously.

Why did we do this?

Below are a couple of key points:

1. Jira Software Cloud has created a new API, called Development Information, which allows any 3rd party provider to send commits, branches, and pull request data and associate that with an issue. Jira will then take that data and use it to power all the features in-product behind this: Dev Panel on the issue detail view, dev icons on cards within a board, search for issues by open pull requests through JQL and more.

2. The DVCS Connector integration was syncing a lot of data as we had to fetch everything from GitHub and then process that to see what actually related to Jira issues. Now, GitHub can tell us that when it happens and only send over what matters. This increases performance, efficiency, and security.

3. The old way to install GitHub through the DVCS Connector required a lot of manual steps: creating an oAuth app in GitHub, grabbing the keys, input them into Jira, etc. Many people told us this was very confusing and some never made it through this set up process. Installing the new app via the Atlassian Marketplace or GitHub marketplace cuts this down to less than 1 minute to install and connect your repo, given you have the right permissions.

4. Moving forward, the new integration gives us greater flexibility and autonomy to improve the integration over time. GitHub can focus on when/how to send over information to Jira Software and Jira Software can focus on how to use this information in the product to make a better experience. Furthermore, because it is open-source, the community can get involved to keep improving it!

What is happening to GitHub Enterprise connections, which also use the DVCS Connector?

The integration between GitHub Enterprise (on-premise version) to Jira Cloud will not be affected, as we still have work to do in the future to make this possible in the new integration. This is because of common issues that affect server to cloud type integrations and require a bit more work & thought to build a great experience for you.

Please continue to use the DVCS Connector integration method if you are a GitHub Enterprise customer.

Is the DVCS Connector being deprecated, and if so, when?

Yes, we will be completely removing the DVCS Connector integration for GitHub in favour of the new GitHub for Jira app. However, we plan to slowly phase this out and allow existing customers plenty of time to move over.

We are aware of the many Jira Software Cloud customers who are already using and enjoying the GitHub integration via the DVCS Connector. We have tried our best to make the migration as easy as possible and will address any issues/bugs that may come up as fast as we can.

The DVCS Connector for GitHub.com (the GitHub enterprise connection has no date to move over yet) will no longer be supported as of June 30th, 2019.

Are there any differences in functionality between the DVCS Connector and GitHub for Jira app?

None. It should work in exactly the same way.

How do I actually migrate and start using the new integration?

If you already have a GitHub.com integration using the DVCS Connector in Jira Software, then all you have to do for the migration is:

1. Make sure you are a site-administrator for your Jira site and an owner/admin of the account or organization in GitHub that you would like to connect. You could look at the DVCS Connectors page to see what accounts you had synced previously.

2. Go to the GitHub for Jira app in the Atlassian Marketplace.

3. Click install.

4. Go through the set up steps in GitHub app, like connecting your organization or account and the repos you would like to sync.

5. An initial sync will be triggered. This may take some time depending on the size of the data in your repo. This will go and fetch all the relevant commits, branches, and pull requests that have issue keys on them and populate them in Jira. This is how we are ‘migrating the data’ over so to speak.

6. Then, start using Jira issue keys in your commit messages, branches, and pull requests as you would normally.

What happens if things go wrong when I start using the new integration?

Generally, if you are having trouble with the integration and/or syncing data, you should start with https://github.com/integrations/jira, which has a support form link near the bottom that you can fill out to let GitHub know the issues you are having. GitHub now owns the integration and the open-source repository of the integration.

If you are having any trouble on using the Atlassian Marketplace, installing or managing apps, or questions about the DVCS Connector, please contact Jira Software support at support.atlassian.com.

Lastly, it’s important to note that your GitHub data from the DVCS Integration has not been lost, we just stopped showing it in the UI when you installed the new GitHub for Jira app. This is so there is not duplicate information being displayed. Please contact support.atlassian.com if things have gone horribly wrong and you would like the DVCS Connector integration back and direct help moving over to the new integration. We are happy to help you through this process!

What if I have suggestions for improving the new GitHub integration?

The integration is now open-source! You can contribute by posting your ideas here.

[Shashi]

Hi Taylor,

Thank you for this article. I understand this is for Jira cloud. But, does Atlassian have a plan to deprecate DVCS on Jira Server as well? If so when would that be?

Cheers,

Shashi

[Esther Strom]

@Taylor- we're just in the process of moving our entire Atlassian ecosystem from on-prem to cloud. (I'm the admin.) When I linked my bitbucket cloud account with Jira cloud, I got a notification about the DVCS integration being deprecated. Can you clarify that this only applies to people using github integrations? We are solely using bitbucket on-prem right now, no github repos.

[Peter Dolkens]

Are there any differences in functionality between the DVCS Connector and GitHub for Jira app?

None. It should work in exactly the same way.

Why am I limited to adding an Organization? Why am I unable to add private / personal repos like I could previously?

This has effectively broken the integration for us, right as I'm busy trying to convince the business to move MORE stuff onto Jira - this was a key selling point that I was working with, only to discover that you've reduced the functionality.

First you removed the security functionality in your new issue view, and forced that out as the new default. Now you've removed github support, and forced us onto that new, limited version.

Overall, I'm becoming less and less of a Jira evangelist, when all the features that I've used as selling points for years keep disappearing.

[Michael Tanski - ICPW]

I am interested to know if this relates to Jira Server as well.  We are currelently using Hira server with github.com.

Thanks

[gianfranco franceschi]

One thing is not clear, yet, at least for me: 

Once we've been able to install and configure the Github for Jira app, what should we do with the DVCS integration? Delete it? or better leave it where it is and wait for decommissioning? 

It may be just a detail, but I'd appreciate any input. 

[Norma Barr]

Hi, should we expect any downtime during the migration? What happens if new links are created during the migration process (i.e. should we prevent actions between Jira and GitHub during the migration time). And if so, does anyone have experience of how long this could take?

Appreciate the support

[Philip Markowski]

@gianfranco franceschi 

I just installed the GitHub App in our Jira. After configuration the App began a sync procedure, in our case when the sync status was Complete the DVCS integration was removed automatically.

[Devanshi Shah]

I installed Github App and after sync was complete, we did not see Development field and the data from git commits at all for any issues. 

I followed steps described in https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Marketplace-Apps-Integrations/Missing-Development-Panel-GitHub-Integration/qaq-p/937937

After performing "Full" sync again, the issue was fixed.

[Patrick MacMannis]

@Taylor @Esther Strom, ACP-JA Was this question ever answered? The same thing is happening for my organization.

@Taylor Pechacek- we're just in the process of moving our entire Atlassian ecosystem from on-prem to cloud. (I'm the admin.) When I linked my bitbucket cloud account with Jira cloud, I got a notification about the DVCS integration being deprecated. Can you clarify that this only applies to people using github integrations? We are solely using bitbucket on-prem right now, no github repos.

[Philip Zhou]

"Full sync" worked for us also.

[Esther Strom]

@Patrick MacMannis  - I never got an official answer, but we had no problems migrating our on-prem Bitbucket repos to cloud and connecting to Cloud Jira. 

[Taylor]

Hi everyone, terribly sorry for the delay here on several questions that have been outstanding in the comments!

@[deleted] To clarify this point (we are working on consolidating this whole set of different options within DVCS and cloud/server integrations to make it easier to understanding via docs, in-product, and elsewhere). We are in a bit of a transition at the moment, so apologies for the confusion.

This applies to Jira Cloud only

DVCS Connector

• This exists as the primary means to integrate Bitbucket Cloud and Jira Cloud together. This is not changing.
• This is also used for GitHub Enterprise (i.e. self-hosted) and Jira Cloud integrations.
• The DVCS Connector deprecation notice is for GitHub.com (Cloud SaaS product) to Jira Cloud integrations. This has been replaced with the new GitHub for Jira marketplace app.

Lastly, in the future, we are working with GitHub to eventually migrate the GitHub Enterprise (i.e. self-hosted) to use a new integration method so we can completely remove DVCS Connector for all GitHub integrations and use the new methods.

TL;DR The part of DVCS being decommissioned only applies to GitHub.com (i.e. cloud) today. In the future, we will be looking at the GitHub Enterprise (i.e. self-hosted) to Jira Cloud integration, but no clear dates on that yet. 

[Taylor]

@Norma Barr Apologies for such a long day on the questions. I know it's probably too late at this point, but how did everything go?

@gianfranco franceschi Great question! I need to clarify this better in the post....

• Once the 'initial sync' is completed by the new GitHub for Jira app, this will let us know to basically 'hide' the DVCS Connector information from the UI. This means all commits, branches, and pull request data displayed on the issue detail view and JQL queries are being powered by the GitHub for Jira app, not the DVCS integration.
• We will eventually stop syncing the DVCS Connector account for you, we kept it in the background in case of any issues that might have popped up, we could switch back over (bit of an insurance policy for making sure your data was safe). Everything is looking very stable so you will see us start to disable these if you haven't already.
• However, you are always welcome to just go ahead and delete the GitHub account on the DVCS Accounts page that you have connected. 

Hope that helps!

[Koen Jans]

Are there any plans to create a similar integration for Azure DevOps GIT?

Thanks,
Koen

[Reilly Davis]

The GitHub app in the marketplace is a mess and riddled with issues. Just see it's reviews!

How is an integration which is absolutely key for any developer getting 2 stars, and Atlassian is OK with that outcome?

And now, the working DVCS connector has been fully depreciated and automatically disabled? 

This broke all my company's workflows and it's been a disaster. I've found this migration to be poorly communicated and error prone with no solution in sight. Beware!

[Taylor]

@Koen Jans That is up to Azure DevOps. We have opened up our APIs, so that any provider can send Git information (commits, branches, and pull requests) associated with Jira issues. These will then automatically appear on the issue detail view, icons on cards in your Jira board, and you can use it to search across issues in the Jira Query Language (JQL) search.

They did just release their Azure Pipelines integration which uses the Build and Deployment APIs we offer. There's no reason why they couldn't send Git info as well. Good feedback!

@Reilly Davis I'm really sorry to hear that the DVCS Connector being decommissioned broke your workflows - this is something we absolutely did not intend! We posted this article well over 6 months ago and have sent 4 emails over the past 3-4 months to all site administrators for Jira Cloud sites that used the DVCS Connector for a GitHub.com integration. We also added some messaging in the product itself. We tried to do everything we could to reach everyone and give them advance warning of this change.

We are slowly starting to disable the last remaining DVCS Connector integrations for GitHub.com now of which I believe you were affected.

As for the reviews, this integration is now owned and maintained by GitHub. They even open-sourced it, which means anyone can help contribute to improving it. The reviews have been a bit hit or miss, with some people struggling to get connected, others having a much easier transition. We are working with the GitHub team to continue to improve the integration together. It does seem much of the feedback has been around the initial sync and getting everything working as it was with the DVCS Connector.

However, as this article was meant to illuminate, we will continue to invest in this integration and the new integration method allows us to do that as a much better pace. 

If you would be willing to hop on a call, I would love to help you get this fixed ASAP as well as hear your experience in more detail. Both Jira and GitHub want to make this a better experience for our mutual customers. My email is tpechacek@atlassian.com, please send me a quick note if you are interested and we can set up a time.

[Reilly Davis]

Thank you @Taylor for the response. I will send you an email and hopefully we can connect and come to a solution.

[Iulian Baranai]

Hey,

Firstly I would like to clarify a naming issue to be sure any confusion will be avoided.
There two types of GitHub DVCS integrations (eg. connectors):

• GitHub (eg. SaaS) - being deprecated on June 30th, 2019.
• GitHub Enterprise (eg. self-hosted) - will no longer be used in the future, but no exact date is available.

Are these two separate connectors behind the scenes, or the same one applied in two ways?

As of the current GitLab documentation (GitLab Jira development panel integration page), the connection between GitLab and JIRA is done through the GitHub Enterprise DVCS connector - tested it today, works fine. GitLab recently raised an epic to create a separate app (https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/1626).

My question is: until the new GitLab app is ready (probably end of year), will the GitHub Enterprise DVCS connector be still available in JIRA? Would it be maintained from the security point of view? The deprecation is not having any impact on it, but only on the GitHub (SaaS) connector?

Thank you,
Iulian

[Max Cascone]

Jira Cloud + GitHub Enterprise On-Prem user here. Will the new GitHub for Jira app allow connections through a firewall without opening up any additional ports? We are not using the DVCS connector right now for this reason - Jira requires opening literally thousands of firewall holes to enable the connection, which our InfoSec was justifiably not okay with. We are using BigBrassBand's Git Integration for Jira add-on instead, which only requires 1 (or 3? I forget) ips/ports to be opened. 

If the new app will work through a firewall without blasting giant holes in it, we might be able to us it instead of the 3rd party app. 

FWIW, we are seeing GitHub updates in the Development Information areas as well as the custom fields created by BBB's plugin.

[Taylor]

@Iulian Baranai Apologies for the delay!

Are these two separate connectors behind the scenes, or the same one applied in two ways?

• It is the same underlying technology applied in two ways.
• Our end state goal is to completely remove DVCS Connector from Jira Cloud for reasons listed in the article and move to our new integrations.

My question is: until the new GitLab app is ready (probably end of year), will the GitHub Enterprise DVCS connector be still available in JIRA? Would it be maintained from the security point of view? The deprecation is not having any impact on it, but only on the GitHub (SaaS) connector? 

• The DVCS Connector was an Atlassian built and maintained integration specifically for Bitbucket and GitHub. Historically, GitLab leveraged the GitHub Enterprise side of this to switch up where the integration would connect to - technically we do not support that. 
• Therefore, the DVCS Connector for "GitHub Enterprise (eg. self-hosted)" will remain until GitHub Enterprise moves over to using the new APIs & OAuth (2LO) credential method to connect - we are working with them to do this work in the near future. This will be much more secure and reliable for all parties. 
• GitLab (self-hosted version) would also need to do the work to use the OAuth (2LO) credential and then start sending data using the Development Info API. For GitLab (cloud hosted SaaS), they need to build a Connect App similar to what GitHub did with https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1219592/github-for-jira?hosting=cloud&tab=overview. Looks like https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/1626 does represent that work. 

@Max Cascone 

Jira Cloud + GitHub Enterprise On-Prem user here. Will the new GitHub for Jira app allow connections through a firewall without opening up any additional ports?

• You will be happy to know the GitHub Enterprise version will be much more secure (part of why we are redoing how the integration works generally). Inside Jira Cloud, you will be able to create an OAuth (2LO) Credential that is tied to your Jira site and managed by your site admins only. You would create one, then copy/paste that into the GitHub app and would work exactly the same as the cloud version (because using same APIs) but just different, secure, auth method. Which would require you to open 0 ports in your firewall - you would just be sending data one way outbound. 
• If you lock your firewall down both ways...then this may help a bit but you would still need to open a port to at least make the API call out.
• However, given all this, if you are using BigBrassBand and happy with their security settings, that app actually uses the Development Info API as well! They have added a couple more things like the activity feed, etc. But generally, you may not even need (or want) to switch because the data being sent goes through the same API. Jira then takes that data and displays the development panel, makes it accessible via JQL queries, wires it up to automations (triggers), and other places across the product.

Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any questions.

[pradeep_nagandla]

we are having JIRA cloud and Bitbucket cloud, i was able to connect one project using "Integrate with Bitbucket" option. When i try to the same repository to a different project it is not allowing me to connect, it's giving below warning

"Your GitHub.com integration using the DVCS Connector has been disabled."

I'm trying to connect "Link Bitbucket cloud account" in DVCS accounts page. Appreciate your help.

[bmarto]

@pradeep_nagandla @Esther Strom did you managed to fix the error?

I keep getting this as well: "Your GitHub.com integration using the DVCS Connector has been disabled."

Thank you!

[Jim Hart]

I have GitHub enterpise working with Jira.  I see the commit information on the right side of my Jira tickets, however I do not see a new comment posted like the integration with GitLab use to do. Is there a way to enable this?

[bmarto]

@Taylor  @pradeep_nagandla @Esther Strom 

Hello!

I've been struggling with this for quite some time, and haven't got any success.

I get the Jira account linked with Bitbucket (I can see all the repositories of the team), but I still can't create a issue in the Jira project and have it synched on bitbucket repository.

Thank you for your time!

[Danyale Clay]

I have not been able to get Smart Commits to post in the Development section of Jira since moving to this new API.  It says all of our repositories are synced, but then when I go into manage it says it has not synced in 19 days.  We never had issues with the old DVCS Connector, now no commits, time tracking, etc are appearing in Jira.  I have tried setting the Retry to Full.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  We only have a dozen repositories.