Bamboo SCP task fails with "java.lang.NullPointerException" error when uploading a shared artifact
Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.
Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Summary
When using the Bamboo SCP task to upload a shared artifact from Bamboo directly to a remote server, the task fails a "java.lang.NullPointerException" error that is shown on the build log.
Environment
Bamboo Server or Data Center
Diagnosis
Add a SCP task to your plan and select a shared artifact as your file to be transferred
Run your plan
In your build logs you can find the below error and stack trace:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24simple 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 Starting task 'Publish Release Notes' of type 'com.atlassian.********.plugins.********-scp-plugin:scptask' error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 Error occurred while running Task 'Publish Release Notes(10)' of type com.atlassian.********.plugins.********-scp-plugin:scptask. error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 java.lang.NullPointerException error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at java.io.File.<init>(File.java:362) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.plugins.scp.ScpTask$CopyPathSpecs.<init>(ScpTask.java:80) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.plugins.scp.ScpTask.getPathSpecToCopy(ScpTask.java:153) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.plugins.scp.ScpTask.run(ScpTask.java:117) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.plugins.scp.ScpTask.execute(ScpTask.java:106) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.task.TaskExecutorImpl.lambda$executeTasks$2(TaskExecutorImpl.java:317) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.task.TaskExecutorImpl.executeTaskWithPrePostActions(TaskExecutorImpl.java:252) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.task.TaskExecutorImpl.executeTasks(TaskExecutorImpl.java:317) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.task.TaskExecutorImpl.execute(TaskExecutorImpl.java:112) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.build.pipeline.tasks.ExecuteBuildTask.call(ExecuteBuildTask.java:73) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.v2.build.agent.DefaultBuildAgent.executeBuildPhase(DefaultBuildAgent.java:204) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.v2.build.agent.DefaultBuildAgent.build(DefaultBuildAgent.java:176) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.v2.build.agent.BuildAgentControllerImpl.lambda$waitAndPerformBuild$0(BuildAgentControllerImpl.java:131) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.variable.CustomVariableContextImpl.withVariableSubstitutor(CustomVariableContextImpl.java:185) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.v2.build.agent.BuildAgentControllerImpl.waitAndPerformBuild(BuildAgentControllerImpl.java:125) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.v2.build.agent.DefaultBuildAgent$1.run(DefaultBuildAgent.java:127) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.utils.BambooRunnables$1.run(BambooRunnables.java:48) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.security.ImpersonationHelper.runWith(ImpersonationHelper.java:26) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.security.ImpersonationHelper.runWithSystemAuthority(ImpersonationHelper.java:17) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at com.atlassian.********.security.ImpersonationHelper$1.run(ImpersonationHelper.java:41) error 08-Jul-2021 14:04:02 at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
Cause
The artifact_definition table, used to store the definition of all your artifacts, has several columns for storing artifact name, pattern, location and so forth. When column src_directory on that table is NULL the SCP Task fails and throws the above errors when trying to fetch the artifact definition data. The reason why that column is NULL not yet known. To confirm if that's the case on your instance you can run the below query (please make sure to replace the build key with your own one):
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select *
from artifact_definition ad
join build b
on ad.producer_job_id = b.build_id
where b.full_key = 'PROJ-PLAN-JOB'
and ad.src_directory is null;Solution
Access your Bamboo instance URLhttps://<your-bamboo-URL>/build/admin/edit/defaultBuildArtifact.action?buildKey=PROJ-PLAN-JOB page and re-save the artifact definition for the artifact the shared artifact that you are using on your SCP task.
Run your affected plan and confirm that the error is gone.
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