Bitbucket Server fails to start - BASEDIR environment variable is not defined

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

Symptoms

Bitbucket Server fails to start and this message appears on the command line:

1 2 3 4 5 Armens-MacBook-Pro:~ akhachatryan$ /Users/akhachatryan/Atlassian/Bitbucket Server2.2.0/atlassian-bitbucket-2.2.0/bin/start-bitbucket.sh To run Bitbucket Server in the foreground, start the server with start-bitbucket.sh -fg Starting Atlassian Bitbucket Server as current user The BASEDIR environment variable is not defined This environment variable is needed to run this program

Cause

The CATALINA_HOME environment variable is defined for the user running Bitbucket Server.

Resolution

Unset the CATALINA_HOME environment variable and remove it from any profile scripts (e.g. ~/.profile, ~/.bashrc) and start Bitbucket Server again.

Updated on April 8, 2025

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