When I am using the {popular} macro in the "Site Welcome Message" which can be set in the General Configuration, I get the exception below. The macro does work in the normal page context though.

2007-05-02 07:41:46,916 ERROR [TP-Processor11] [renderer.v2.components.MacroRendererComponent] processMacro Unexpected error formatting macro: popular
– url: /dashboard.action | userName: schirmacher | action: dashboard
java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.atlassian.confluence.ext.usage.query.AbstractUsageQuery.getLuceneQuery(AbstractUsageQuery.java:54)
at com.atlassian.confluence.ext.usage.index.UsageIndexManager$4.perform(UsageIndexManager.java:272)
at com.atlassian.bonnie.LuceneConnection.withSearch(LuceneConnection.java:139)
at com.atlassian.confluence.ext.usage.index.UsageIndexManager.queryPopular(UsageIndexManager.java:268)
at com.atlassian.confluence.ext.usage.macros.PopularMacro.execute(PopularMacro.java:57)
at com.atlassian.renderer.v2.macro.ResourceAwareMacroDecorator.execute(ResourceAwareMacroDecorator.java:45)
at com.atlassian.renderer.v2.components.MacroRendererComponent.processMacro(MacroRendererComponent.java:340)
at com.atlassian.renderer.v2.components.MacroRendererComponent.makeMacro(MacroRendererComponent.java:241)
at com.atlassian.renderer.v2.components.MacroRendererComponent.makeMacro(MacroRendererComponent.java:130)
at com.atlassian.renderer.v2.components.MacroRendererComponent.handlePotentialMacro(MacroRendererComponent.java:115)
at com.atlassian.renderer.v2.components.MacroRendererComponent.render(MacroRendererComponent.java:77)
at com.atlassian.renderer.v2.V2Renderer.render(V2Renderer.java:54)
at com.atlassian.renderer.v2.V2RendererFacade.convertWikiToXHtml(V2RendererFacade.java:57)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor272.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:585)
at org.springframework.aop.support.AopUtils.invokeJoinpointUsingReflection(AopUtils.java:284)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.ReflectiveMethodInvocation.invokeJoinpoint(ReflectiveMethodInvocation.java:155)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.ReflectiveMethodInvocation.proceed(ReflectiveMethodInvocation.java:122)
at com.atlassian.spring.interceptors.SpringProfilingInterceptor.invoke(SpringProfilingInterceptor.java:20)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.ReflectiveMethodInvocation.proceed(ReflectiveMethodInvocation.java:144)
at org.springframework.transaction.interceptor.TransactionInterceptor.invoke(TransactionInterceptor.java:56)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.ReflectiveMethodInvocation.proceed(ReflectiveMethodInvocation.java:144)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.JdkDynamicAopProxy.invoke(JdkDynamicAopProxy.java:174)
at $Proxy33.convertWikiToXHtml(Unknown Source)
at com.atlassian.confluence.renderer.DefaultWikiStyleRenderer.convertWikiToXHtml(DefaultWikiStyleRenderer.java:23)
at com.atlassian.confluence.util.ContentFacade.getWelcomeMessage(ContentFacade.java:67)
at com.atlassian.confluence.dashboard.actions.DashboardAction.getWelcomeMessage(DashboardAction.java:37)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor895.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:585)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.PropertyExecutor.execute(PropertyExecutor.java:154)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTIdentifier.execute(ASTIdentifier.java:226)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTReference.execute(ASTReference.java:207)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTReference.render(ASTReference.java:250)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTBlock.render(ASTBlock.java:94)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTIfStatement.render(ASTIfStatement.java:109)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.SimpleNode.render(SimpleNode.java:271)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.directive.Parse.render(Parse.java:232)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTDirective.render(ASTDirective.java:153)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTBlock.render(ASTBlock.java:94)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTIfStatement.render(ASTIfStatement.java:109)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.SimpleNode.render(SimpleNode.java:271)
at org.apache.velocity.Template.merge(Template.java:296)
at com.atlassian.confluence.util.velocity.VelocityUtils.getRenderedTemplateWithoutSwallowingErrors(VelocityUtils.java:53)
at com.atlassian.confluence.setup.velocity.ApplyDecoratorDirective.render(ApplyDecoratorDirective.java:229)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTDirective.render(ASTDirective.java:153)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.SimpleNode.render(SimpleNode.java:271)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.directive.VelocimacroProxy.render(VelocimacroProxy.java:215)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTDirective.render(ASTDirective.java:153)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTBlock.render(ASTBlock.java:94)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.ASTIfStatement.render(ASTIfStatement.java:109)
at org.apache.velocity.runtime.parser.node.SimpleNode.render(SimpleNode.java:271)
.....