Trying to Watch an Issue Results in NullPointerException
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
When trying to Watch an issue, user gets the following message:
The JIRA server was contacted but has returned an error response. We are unsure of the result of this operation.
The following appears in the atlassian-jira.log:
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2012-11-13 16:31:13,855 TP-Processor8 ERROR admin 991x8234x1 1rte6al 1.1.1.1.1 /rest/api/1.0/issues/10000/watchers [server.impl.application.WebApplicationImpl] Internal server error
java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.atlassian.jira.issue.watchers.DefaultWatcherManager.isWatching(DefaultWatcherManager.java:133)
at com.atlassian.jira.issue.watchers.DefaultWatcherManager.updateWatch(DefaultWatcherManager.java:171)
at com.atlassian.jira.issue.watchers.DefaultWatcherManager.startWatching(DefaultWatcherManager.java:50)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at com.atlassian.multitenant.impl.MultiTenantComponentFactoryImpl$AbstractMultiTenantAwareInvocationHandler.invokeInternal(MultiTenantComponentFactoryImpl.java:181)
at com.atlassian.multitenant.impl.MultiTenantComponentFactoryImpl$MultiTenantAwareInvocationHandler.invoke(MultiTenantComponentFactoryImpl.java:211)
at $Proxy314.startWatching(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at com.atlassian.plugin.osgi.hostcomponents.impl.DefaultComponentRegistrar$ContextClassLoaderSettingInvocationHandler.invoke(DefaultComponentRegistrar.java:129)
at $Proxy314.startWatching(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at com.atlassian.plugin.osgi.bridge.external.HostComponentFactoryBean$DynamicServiceInvocationHandler.invoke(HostComponentFactoryBean.java:154)
at $Proxy314.startWatching(Unknown Source)
at com.atlassian.jira.rest.v1.issues.IssueResource.addWatcher(IssueResource.java:162)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at com.atlassian.plugins.rest.common.interceptor.impl.DispatchProviderHelper$ResponseOutInvoker$1.invoke(DispatchProviderHelper.java:206)
at com.atlassian.plugins.rest.common.interceptor.impl.DispatchProviderHelper$1.intercept(DispatchProviderHelper.java:90)
at com.atlassian.plugins.rest.common.interceptor.impl.DefaultMethodInvocation.invoke(DefaultMethodInvocation.java:61)
at com.atlassian.plugins.rest.common.expand.interceptor.ExpandInterceptor.intercept(ExpandInterceptor.java:38)
at com.atlassian.plugins.rest.common.interceptor.impl.DefaultMethodInvocation.invoke(DefaultMethodInvocation.java:61)
at com.atlassian.plugins.rest.common.interceptor.impl.DispatchProviderHelper.invokeMethodWithInterceptors(DispatchProviderHelper.java:98)
at com.atlassian.plugins.rest.common.interceptor.impl.DispatchProviderHelper.access$100(DispatchProviderHelper.java:28)
at com.atlassian.plugins.rest.common.interceptor.impl.DispatchProviderHelper$ResponseOutInvoker._dispatch(DispatchProviderHelper.java:202)
at com.sun.jersey.server.impl.model.method.dispatch.ResourceJavaMethodDispatcher.dispatch(ResourceJavaMethodDispatcher.java:67)
at com.sun.jersey.server.impl.uri.rules.HttpMethodRule.accept(HttpMethodRule.java:163)
at com.sun.jersey.server.impl.uri.rules.RightHandPathRule.accept(RightHandPathRule.java:111)
at com.sun.jersey.server.impl.uri.rules.ResourceClassRule.accept(ResourceClassRule.java:71)
at com.sun.jersey.server.impl.uri.rules.RightHandPathRule.accept(RightHandPathRule.java:111)
at com.sun.jersey.server.impl.uri.rules.RootResourceClassesRule.accept(RootResourceClassesRule.java:63)
at com.sun.jersey.server.impl.application.WebApplicationImpl._handleRequest(WebApplicationImpl.java:654)
at com.sun.jersey.server.impl.application.WebApplicationImpl.handleRequest(WebApplicationImpl.java:612)
at com.sun.jersey.server.impl.application.WebApplicationImpl.handleRequest(WebApplicationImpl.java:603)
at com.sun.jersey.spi.container.servlet.WebComponent.service(WebComponent.java:309)
at com.sun.jersey.spi.container.servlet.ServletContainer.service(ServletContainer.java:425)Cause
Database contains a null value for the watcher's count.
Resolution
Verify if there are problematic issues via the database by running this SQL query:
1select id,pkey,watches from jiraissue where watches is null;Once confirmed, update this list to populate the watches column to have the value of 0 (zero).
Always back up your data before making any database modifications. If possible, test any alter, insert, update, or delete SQL commands on a staging server first.
Updated on April 8, 2025
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