Symbolic Link in JIRA Home during upgrading using Installer will throw 'java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: GC overhead limit exceeded'
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
When an installer is used to perform an upgrade in Linux, the default process is to check for local modifications. However, when you have symbolic link "hidden" in your JIRA Home Directory, you will hit into GC overhead limit error.
The following appears on the terminal:
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Checking for local modifications.
An error occurred:
java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: GC overhead limit exceeded
Error log: /home/user/install4jError576969599009603384.log
java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: GC overhead limit exceeded
at java.lang.StringCoding$StringEncoder.encode(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.StringCoding.encode(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.String.getBytes(Unknown Source)
at java.io.UnixFileSystem.getBooleanAttributes0(Native Method)
at java.io.UnixFileSystem.getBooleanAttributes(Unknown Source)
at java.io.File.isDirectory(Unknown Source)
at com.atlassian.modzdetector.ModzDetector.getAddedFiles(ModzDetector.java:182)
at com.atlassian.modzdetector.ModzDetector.getAddedFiles(ModzDetector.java:184)Diagnosis
Check for any symbolic link hidden in the Jira Home directory, use the below command to locate the symbolic link:
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sudo find -type lCause
There are two current known causes for this:
Symbolic link might be created when you are using other systems alongside JIRA. For example, Mercurial SCM.
Recursive checking on symbolic link will use up all memory allocated to the instance and thus throws the above error.
The bug is currently tracked in JRASERVER-31261 - Recursive Checking during Upgrade using Linux Installer will results 'GC Overhead Limit Exceeded' error
Solution
Resolution
Stop the installer.
Locate all symbolic link by running the following command:
1sudo find -type lRemove all of them.
Restart the installer.
ℹ️ Symlink might be hidden in any folders in JIRA Home. Looking for it manually would take up more time. Thus, running the find command is preferred.
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