Is it possible to remove the 10 character limitation on project keys in JIRA?

Ben Kunkel June 8, 2012

I've got a couple projects I'd like to set up and _really_ want to give them some 14 and 15 character project keys. Is there a configuration I can change to get rid of this 10 character constraing on the size of Project Keys?

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Ben Kunkel June 8, 2012

OK, turns out working around this isn't nearly as difficult as I had feared.

Right there on the "Add a new project" screen is a link titled "import projects from another system". On that page is a CSV option.

I created a csv file with a header row and a data row. It only needs 3 fields. After a small amount of trial and error, it looked like this:

Project Key,Project Name,Issue Summary
REALLYLONGKEY,Editable later so this part is not critical,Dummy summary for an issue

I followed the CSV import dialogue and mapped the fields according to the (now) very obvious headers and pushed next a few times until the import ran. ...and it worked!

NOTE: I tried this with multple projects and it did not like it. It would always only take one.

My next thought was, "I wonder if JIRA is going to choke on this long key somewhere down the line."

I eased my conscience by trying to submit the same key in an older test instance of JIRA 4.4. I was able to submit the 13 character lonk project key through the normal web interface in JIRA 4.4, so I'm thinking that anyone who upgraded from 4.4 to 5.0 has the potential of having a long project key via legit means... and it ought to work fine.

...I'd love to get a comment or two on users who have witnessed just this, or better yet, from an Atlassian who can confirm this.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
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June 8, 2012

Interesting piece of work - I'm looking at moving a v4, with a long key as I mentioned earlier, onto v5. So thanks for the investigation! If I get there before you, I'll let you know what happens!

Heather McKinnon July 22, 2012

:( I am not sure which version of jira or the plugin you are using, but even the CSV import is blocking me with the "Invalid project key REALLYLONGKEY: The project key must not exceed 10 characters in length." I am on Jira 5.0.6 and the plugin is 4.3.1.

I have raised an issue with atlassian, and they say existing 'long key' projects will not impact future upgrades or data integrity. What a complete pain this is.

There is also a jira that will make this restriction configurable which should be voted on :)

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRA-28577

Ben Kunkel July 22, 2012

Good point Heather; I should have mentioned this before.

When I performed the steps listed above, I was using JIRA 5.0.1. We're now on 5.0.4 and I have not tested this solution again. The importers plugin is at 4.3.2.

2 votes
Partha Kamal February 6, 2013

Please note that from JIRA 6.x, the character limit can be configured.

Please see: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRA-28577

0 votes
Lars Lundegård October 23, 2012

I desperately need to create projects with a key longer than 10 characters.

The method of using Import is not so good because:

1. I always get 1 "dummy" issue.

2. I cannot use the Copy Project feature in Script Runner to clone a project (and its settings)

Someone that knows a way around this?

Preferably remove this limitation in Jira.

0 votes
Jesper Jensen August 19, 2012

As long as you don't have a _ in the project name I think it will work. If you have a _ in a project and then upgrade to 5.x the activity streams will not show that project.

0 votes
Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]
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June 8, 2012

Looks like a new 'feature' then!

0 votes
Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
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June 8, 2012

Jira 3 and 4 don't have it either - much as I dislike having a project key of TECHNICALARCHITECTURE, it works fine in both.

Deleted user July 16, 2012

Crumbs. Just saw this. What happens to existing project keys that are 11+ characters in 4.4 on upgrading? Does it just truncate them?

Ben Kunkel July 16, 2012

Pre-existing project keys over 10 characters will be left untouched by the upgrade.

Deleted user July 17, 2012

Well, that's reassuring. But I'm not sure that changing something as fundamentally useful as long key length counts as an "upgrade".

0 votes
Ben Kunkel June 8, 2012

This is JIRA 5.0.4.

0 votes
Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]
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June 8, 2012

Which version of JIRA is it? I don't see that restriction in jira5!

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