Fisheye/Crucible Fails To Start Due To "Problem with config file: org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlException: error: Unexpected character encountered"

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

Symptoms

The following appears in the log file and prevents the instance from being started:-

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 2014-07-16 07:12:18,885 ERROR [main ] fisheye Run-mainImpl - Problem with config file: org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlException: error: Unexpected character encountered while in a closing tag: 'c' com.cenqua.fisheye.config.ConfigException: org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlException: error: Unexpected character encountered while in a closing tag: 'c' at com.cenqua.fisheye.config.RootConfig.load(RootConfig.java:171) at com.cenqua.fisheye.ctl.Run.mainImpl(Run.java:112) at com.cenqua.fisheye.ctl.Run.main(Run.java:56) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57) at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:606) at com.cenqua.fisheye.FishEyeCtl.mainImpl(FishEyeCtl.java:99) at com.cenqua.fisheye.FishEyeCtl.main(FishEyeCtl.java:42) Caused by: org.apache.xmlbeans.XmlException: error: Unexpected character encountered while in a closing tag: 'c' at org.apache.xmlbeans.impl.store.Locale$SaxLoader.load(Locale.java:3471) at org.apache.xmlbeans.impl.store.Locale.parseToXmlObject(Locale.java:1270) at org.apache.xmlbeans.impl.store.Locale.parseToXmlObject(Locale.java:1257) at org.apache.xmlbeans.impl.schema.SchemaTypeLoaderBase.parse(SchemaTypeLoaderBase.java:345) at com.cenqua.fisheye.config1.ConfigDocument$Factory.parse(ConfigDocument.java:886) at com.cenqua.fisheye.config.RootConfig.parseDocument(RootConfig.java:198) at com.cenqua.fisheye.config.RootConfig.parseDocument(RootConfig.java:188) at com.cenqua.fisheye.config.RootConfig.load(RootConfig.java:161) ... 8 more Caused by: org.xml.sax.SAXParseException; systemId: file:; lineNumber: 5; columnNumber: 6; Unexpected character encountered while in a closing tag: 'c' at org.apache.xmlbeans.impl.piccolo.xml.Piccolo.reportFatalError(Piccolo.java:1038) at org.apache.xmlbeans.impl.piccolo.xml.Piccolo.parse(Piccolo.java:723) at org.apache.xmlbeans.impl.store.Locale$SaxLoader.load(Locale.java:3439) ... 15 more

Diagnosis

Use XML Validator to validate your config.xml file.

Cause

It is due to syntax error in config.xml file particularly at line 5 as mentioned in the error which prevents the instance from being started.

Solution

Resolution

  • Fix the syntax error in the XML file and try to start your instance again.

or

  • Restore the XML file from the backup

Updated on April 11, 2025

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