Description of Problem:

JIRA Server instances that have had JSD in the past may have trouble installing JSD 3.2+ if they ever had JSD in the past and did not go through JSD 3.0/3.1 to complete the necessary upgrade tasks.

Or, they might be able to install JSD 3.2+, but they won't be able to create any new Service Desk Project, and will see the following error in the logs:

2019-01-29 02:14:05,217 JIRA-Bootstrap ERROR      [bootstrap.lifecycle.server.ServerPluginLifeCycle] '2.0.2' version of Service Desk cannot be upgraded to '3.9.2-REL-0010'. Upgrade to '3.0.0' <= <version> < '3.2.0' first.
com.atlassian.servicedesk.bootstrap.lifecycle.server.UnsatisfiedVersionRequirementException: '2.0.2' version of Service Desk cannot be upgraded to '3.9.2-REL-0010'. Upgrade to '3.0.0' <= <version> < '3.2.0' first.
	at com.atlassian.servicedesk.bootstrap.lifecycle.server.UpgradeRequirementsChecker.checkVersionRequirementForUpgrade(UpgradeRequirementsChecker.java:47)

In some cases JSD data is unwanted and can be deleted. For example when JSD was previously installed as a trial.

Suggestion

Add a supported method for removing all JSD data from the instance.

Use case and suggestion:

1. Customer upgrading from JSD 2.5.9 or under and does not wish to keep any JSD data (JSD was a trial, or any other reason)
   • If desired, customer is able to remove all JSD data so that they can install JSD anytime in the future
2. Customer who is currently running JIRA 7.2 and up and is trying to install JSD. Unbeknownst to the customer JSD was installed in earlier version and 3.0/3.1 upgrade tasks were not completed.
   • Customer is able to drop all JSD data so that they can install JSD without having to attempt downgrade.

Suggesting adding a startup flag that tells JSD to drop all JSD data

Workaround

We have documented a method for deleting data from old Jira Service Desk versions (3.2 and below) to unblock upgrades to modern versions.

If you’re using one of the earlier versions of Jira Service Desk (3.2 or below), some data might be incompatible and can block you from upgrading to the latest version or migrating to Jira Service Management Cloud. This often happens when an instance is upgraded without going through versions 3.0 and 3.1, which run important upgrade tasks.

Please follow the steps on the documentation to manually remove the Jira Service Desk add-on, related directories, and other incompatible data.