Confluence 6.13 or later fails with FontConfiguration error when installing on Linux OS

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

When installing Confluence Server or Data Center 6.13 or later with AdoptOpenJDK on Linux, installation fails with the following error.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 Starting Installer ... java.lang.NullPointerException at sun.awt.FontConfiguration.getVersion(FontConfiguration.java:1264) at sun.awt.FontConfiguration.readFontConfigFile(FontConfiguration.java:219) at sun.awt.FontConfiguration.init(FontConfiguration.java:107) at sun.awt.X11FontManager.createFontConfiguration(X11FontManager.java:774) at sun.font.SunFontManager$2.run(SunFontManager.java:431) at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) at sun.font.SunFontManager.<init>(SunFontManager.java:376) at sun.awt.FcFontManager.<init>(FcFontManager.java:35) at sun.awt.X11FontManager.<init>(X11FontManager.java:57) at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method) at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:62) at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45) at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:423) at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:442) at sun.font.FontManagerFactory$1.run(FontManagerFactory.java:83) at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) at sun.font.FontManagerFactory.getInstance(FontManagerFactory.java:74) at sun.font.SunFontManager.getInstance(SunFontManager.java:250) at sun.font.FontDesignMetrics.getMetrics(FontDesignMetrics.java:264) at sun.swing.SwingUtilities2.getFontMetrics(SwingUtilities2.java:1113) at javax.swing.JComponent.getFontMetrics(JComponent.java:1626) at javax.swing.text.WrappedPlainView.updateMetrics(WrappedPlainView.java:318) at javax.swing.text.WrappedPlainView.updateChildren(WrappedPlainView.java:297) at javax.swing.text.WrappedPlainView.insertUpdate(WrappedPlainView.java:463) at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTextUI$RootView.insertUpdate(BasicTextUI.java:1610) at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTextUI$UpdateHandler.insertUpdate(BasicTextUI.java:1869) at javax.swing.text.AbstractDocument.fireInsertUpdate(AbstractDocument.java:201) at javax.swing.text.AbstractDocument.handleInsertString(AbstractDocument.java:748) at javax.swing.text.AbstractDocument.insertString(AbstractDocument.java:707) at javax.swing.text.PlainDocument.insertString(PlainDocument.java:130) at javax.swing.text.DefaultEditorKit.read(DefaultEditorKit.java:273) at javax.swing.JEditorPane.setText(JEditorPane.java:1416) at javax.swing.JEditorPane.<init>(JEditorPane.java:290) at com.install4j.runtime.installer.frontend.headless.AbstractHeadlessScreenExecutor.init(AbstractHeadlessScreenExecutor.java:68) at com.install4j.runtime.installer.frontend.headless.ConsoleScreenExecutor.<init>(ConsoleScreenExecutor.java:24) at com.install4j.runtime.installer.frontend.headless.InstallerConsoleScreenExecutor.<init>(InstallerConsoleScreenExecutor.java:6) at com.install4j.runtime.installer.Installer.getScreenExecutor(Installer.java:88) at com.install4j.runtime.installer.Installer.runInProcess(Installer.java:57) at com.install4j.runtime.installer.Installer.main(Installer.java:45) 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:498) at com.exe4j.runtime.LauncherEngine.launch(LauncherEngine.java:85) at com.install4j.runtime.launcher.UnixLauncher.main(UnixLauncher.java:62)

Cause

AdoptOpenJDK does not include a font configuration package, which Confluence relies on.

Atlassian installer has a script which will attempt to install the required font configuration package in the most common Linux distributions, however if your Linux distribution is not covered by our script, and does not include a suitable font configuration package, you will need to install one manually.

Solution

To tackle this problem, a fontconfig (or an equivalent library) should be installed prior Confluence installation. Refer to the documentation for your Linux distribution or preferred package manager for further information about how to do this.

Here are the commands to install font dependency in a number of common Linux distributions and package managers:

Installing the below packages may need a restart of your Confluence instance

Ubuntu

To install the fontconfig package on Ubuntu 18:

1 sudo apt install -y fontconfig

CentOS

CentOS 7 does not work with fontconfig . You can install dejavu-sans-fonts as an alternative:

1 sudo yum install -y dejavu-sans-fonts

RHEL

To install fontconfig on RedHat Enterprise Linux 7.5:

1 sudo yum install fontconfig

Later versions, including RHEL8, should also work similarly.

On RHEL 6, it might be necessary to install both the dejavu-sans-fonts and the fontconfig packages:

1 sudo yum install -y dejavu-sans-fonts

Debian

To install the fontconfig package on Debian 9.5:

1 apt-get update && apt-get install -y fontconfig

Fedora

To install the fontconfig package on Fedora 28:

1 dnf install -y fontconfig

Known issues

Updated on April 8, 2025

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