Bitbucket Server fails to start with org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal A child container failed during start

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Platform Notice: Data Center - This article applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.

Note that this knowledge base article was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center knowledge base articles 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

As of Bitbucket Server 5.x+, no logs are written to the BITBUCKET_INSTALL directory. The contents of catalina.out will be written to BITBUCKET_HOME/log/atlassian-bitbucket.log file.

Problem

Bitbucket Server fails to start with the message org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal A child container failed during start in the logs. The Tomcat instance won't start and application logs are not written.

The following appears in the catalina.out:

17-Sep-2014 12:38:20.157 INFO [main] org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol.init Initializing ProtocolHandler ["http-bio-7990"]
17-Sep-2014 12:38:20.190 INFO [main] org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.load Initialization processed in 611 ms
17-Sep-2014 12:38:20.212 INFO [main] org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.startInternal Starting service Catalina
17-Sep-2014 12:38:20.212 INFO [main] org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.startInternal Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/7.0.52
17-Sep-2014 12:38:20.481 WARNING [localhost-startStop-1] org.apache.catalina.deploy.WebXml.setVersion Unknown version string [3.1]. Default version will be used.
17-Sep-2014 12:38:20.619 WARNING [localhost-startStop-1] org.apache.catalina.deploy.WebXml.setVersion Unknown version string [3.1]. Default version will be used.
17-Sep-2014 12:38:20.622 WARNING [localhost-startStop-1] org.apache.catalina.deploy.WebXml.setVersion Unknown version string [3.1]. Default version will be used.
17-Sep-2014 12:38:29.665 SEVERE [Catalina-startStop-1] org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal A child container failed during start
 java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost].StandardContext[]]
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerGet(FutureTask.java:252)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(FutureTask.java:111)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:1123)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.startInternal(StandardHost.java:799)
	at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1559)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1549)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:334)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:166)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1110)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:603)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost].StandardContext[]]
	at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
	... 7 more
Caused by: java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.apache.tomcat.JarScanner.scan(Lorg/apache/tomcat/JarScanType;Ljavax/servlet/ServletContext;Lorg/apache/tomcat/JarScannerCallback;)V
	at org.apache.jasper.servlet.TldScanner.scanJars(TldScanner.java:240)
	at org.apache.jasper.servlet.TldScanner.scan(TldScanner.java:99)
	at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JasperInitializer.onStartup(JasperInitializer.java:103)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5456)
	at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
	... 7 more
17-Sep-2014 12:38:29.667 SEVERE [main] org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal A child container failed during start
 java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost]]
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerGet(FutureTask.java:252)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(FutureTask.java:111)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:1123)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.startInternal(StandardEngine.java:300)
	at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.startInternal(StandardService.java:443)
	at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.startInternal(StandardServer.java:731)
	at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
	at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:689)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
	at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:351)
	at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:485)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost]]
	at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1559)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1549)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:334)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:166)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1110)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:603)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: A child container failed during start
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:1131)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.startInternal(StandardHost.java:799)
	at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
	... 7 more
17-Sep-2014 12:38:29.668 SEVERE [main] org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start The required Server component failed to start so Tomcat is unable to start.
 org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardServer[8006]]
	at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
	at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:689)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
	at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:351)
	at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:485)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardService[Catalina]]
	at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.startInternal(StandardServer.java:731)
	at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
	... 7 more
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina]]
	at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.startInternal(StandardService.java:443)
	at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
	... 9 more
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: A child container failed during start
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:1131)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.startInternal(StandardEngine.java:300)
	at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
	... 11 more
17-Sep-2014 12:38:29.670 INFO [main] org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol.pause Pausing ProtocolHandler ["http-bio-7990"]
17-Sep-2014 12:38:29.670 INFO [main] org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.stopInternal Stopping service Catalina
17-Sep-2014 12:38:29.671 INFO [main] org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol.destroy Destroying ProtocolHandler ["http-bio-7990"]

Diagnosis

You have upgraded from an earlier Bitbucket Server version (still running Tomcat 7) to a version that already runs Tomcat 8.

Cause

There are incompatible libraries in your <BITBUCKET_HOME> folder that are picked up by Tomcat 8. The issue is being tracked here: BSERV-5259 - Stash does not protect against using the Stash installation directory as the home directory

Resolution

Backup and remove any libraries from <BITBUCKET_HOME>/lib and <BITBUCKET_HOME>/lib/native apart from the database driver (if applicable).

Last modified on Jan 28, 2025

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