Bitbucket Server does not start after upgrade with error - a child container failed during start
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
Problem
After upgrading to Bitbucket Server 4.x, the application does not start and the following is seeing in catalina.out:
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16-Sep-2015 15:27:10.193 SEVERE [Catalina-startStop-1] org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal A child container failed during start
java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost].StandardContext[/stash]]
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.report(FutureTask.java:122)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(FutureTask.java:192)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:916)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.startInternal(StandardHost.java:871)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1408)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1398)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost].StandardContext[/stash]]
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
... 6 more
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [org.apache.catalina.webresources.StandardRoot@5f6b113f]
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.resourcesStart(StandardContext.java:4845)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:4975)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
... 6 more
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: The main resource set specified [/opt/atlassian/bitbucket/atlassian-bitbucket-4.0.0/atlassian-stash] is not valid
at org.apache.catalina.webresources.StandardRoot.createMainResourceSet(StandardRoot.java:723)
at org.apache.catalina.webresources.StandardRoot.startInternal(StandardRoot.java:684)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
... 9 more
16-Sep-2015 15:27:10.196 SEVERE [main] org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal A child container failed during start
java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost]]
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.report(FutureTask.java:122)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(FutureTask.java:192)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:916)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.startInternal(StandardEngine.java:262)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.startInternal(StandardService.java:439)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.startInternal(StandardServer.java:769)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:625)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:351)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:485)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497)
at com.atlassian.stash.internal.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:79)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost]]
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1408)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1398)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: A child container failed during start
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:924)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.startInternal(StandardHost.java:871)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
... 6 moreCause
This is caused by server.xml still referencing the previous instance of Stash. When using the archive to install Bitbucket Server, server.xml must be updated according to Upgrade Bitbucket from an archive file.
Resolution
Rename references from atlassian-stash to atlassian-bitbucket within the $BITBUCKET_HOME/shared/server.xml file:
Change docBase="${catalina.home}/atlassian-stash" todocBase="${catalina.home}/atlassian-bitbucket"
Updated on April 8, 2025
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