Install a custom language pack for Jira server

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

The information in this page relates to customizations in Jira. Consequently, Atlassian Support cannot guarantee to provide any support for the steps described on this page as customizations are not covered under Atlassian Support Offerings. Please be aware that this material is provided for your information only and that you use it at your own risk.

Also, please be aware that customizations done by directly modifying files are not included in the upgrade process. These modifications will need to be reapplied manually on the upgraded instance.

For Jira Service Management refer to "Jira Service Management Internationalization"

Solution

Resolution

Here are the steps to follow if you wish to customize a language pack for Jira:

  1. Download language pack from packages.atlassian.com , by navigating into the correct folder for the product/version/language.

  2. Unpack the jar file and modify the strings.

  3. Pack everything back into a jar file.

  4. Upload jar file using Jira plugin manager.

How to unpack and re-pack JARs

In a linux terminal, use these methods:

To extract:

1 jar -xvf jarfile.jar  

To re-pack:

1 jar -cvf app.jar app/
Updated on April 8, 2025

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