Null Pointer Exception When Trying To Delete Issue

[Sebastian Mößner]

I have migrated a JIRA instance to a new server. In this regard, I want to delete certain issues, which we don't need anymore. However, it returned an error with the following Message.

There might be a sub-task linked to the issue that doesn't exist/ is not visible, as there is a note that sub-tasks exists which will be also deleted. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

2014-09-17 12:03:29,006 http-bio-8080-exec-8 ERROR sysadmin 723x21552x1 1dmygvy 80.136.138.121 /secure/project/DeleteProject.jspa [atlassian.jira.project.DefaultProjectManager] Exception removing issues
java.lang.NullPointerException
	at com.atlassian.jira.issue.managers.DefaultIssueDeleteHelper.removeSubTasks(DefaultIssueDeleteHelper.java:246)
	at com.atlassian.jira.issue.managers.DefaultIssueDeleteHelper.deleteIssue(DefaultIssueDeleteHelper.java:130)
	at com.atlassian.jira.issue.managers.DefaultIssueDeleteHelper.deleteIssueNoEvent(DefaultIssueDeleteHelper.java:179)
	at com.atlassian.jira.issue.managers.DefaultIssueManager.deleteIssueNoEvent(DefaultIssueManager.java:876)
	at com.atlassian.jira.project.DefaultProjectManager.removeProjectIssues(DefaultProjectManager.java:325)
	at com.atlassian.jira.project.CachingProjectManager.removeProjectIssues(CachingProjectManager.java:274)
	at com.atlassian.jira.bc.project.DefaultProjectService.deleteProject(DefaultProjectService.java:760)
	at com.atlassian.jira.web.action.project.DeleteProject.doExecute(DeleteProject.java:64)  <+1> (ActionSupport.java:165)
	at com.atlassian.jira.action.JiraActionSupport.execute(JiraActionSupport.java:88)  <+7> (DefaultInterceptorChain.java:39) (NestedInterceptorChain.java:31) (ChainedInterceptor.java:16) (DefaultInterceptorChain.java:35) (GenericDispatcher.java:225) (GenericDispatcher.java:154) (JiraWebworkActionDispatcher.java:152)
	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:727)  <+2> (ApplicationFilterChain.java:303) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)
	at org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)  <+14> (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (ChainedFilterStepRunner.java:87) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (XContentTypeOptionsNoSniffFilter.java:22) (AbstractHttpFilter.java:31) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (HeaderSanitisingFilter.java:44) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (IteratingFilterChain.java:46) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:70)
	at com.atlassian.jira.tzdetect.IncludeResourcesFilter.doFilter(IncludeResourcesFilter.java:39)  <+3> (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:78) (IteratingFilterChain.java:42) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:70)
	at com.atlassian.jira.baseurl.IncludeResourcesFilter.doFilter(IncludeResourcesFilter.java:38)  <+8> (AbstractHttpFilter.java:31) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:78) (IteratingFilterChain.java:42) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:70) (ContextFilter.java:25) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:78) (IteratingFilterChain.java:42) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:70)
	at com.atlassian.mywork.client.filter.ServingRequestsFilter.doFilter(ServingRequestsFilter.java:37)  <+3> (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:78) (IteratingFilterChain.java:42) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:70)
	at com.atlassian.prettyurls.filter.PrettyUrlsSiteMeshFixupFilter.doFilter(PrettyUrlsSiteMeshFixupFilter.java:36)  <+3> (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:78) (IteratingFilterChain.java:42) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:70)
	at com.atlassian.prettyurls.filter.PrettyUrlsDispatcherFilter.doFilter(PrettyUrlsDispatcherFilter.java:60)  <+3> (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:78) (IteratingFilterChain.java:42) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:70)
	at com.atlassian.prettyurls.filter.PrettyUrlsSiteMeshFilter.doFilter(PrettyUrlsSiteMeshFilter.java:92)  <+3> (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:78) (IteratingFilterChain.java:42) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:70)
	at com.atlassian.prettyurls.filter.PrettyUrlsMatcherFilter.doFilter(PrettyUrlsMatcherFilter.java:56)  <+3> (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:78) (IteratingFilterChain.java:42) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:70)
	at com.atlassian.labs.botkiller.BotKillerFilter.doFilter(BotKillerFilter.java:36)  <+23> (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:78) (IteratingFilterChain.java:42) (ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:77) (ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:63) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (AccessLogFilter.java:103) (AccessLogFilter.java:87) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (XsrfTokenAdditionRequestFilter.java:54) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (SiteMeshFilter.java:181) (SiteMeshFilter.java:85) (SitemeshPageFilter.java:124) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (ChainedFilterStepRunner.java:87) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (IteratingFilterChain.java:46) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:70)
	at com.atlassian.prettyurls.filter.PrettyUrlsCombinedMatchDispatcherFilter.doFilter(PrettyUrlsCombinedMatchDispatcherFilter.java:61)  <+22> (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:78) (IteratingFilterChain.java:42) (ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:77) (ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:63) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (SecurityFilter.java:237) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (TrustedApplicationsFilter.java:100) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (BaseLoginFilter.java:172) (JiraLoginFilter.java:70) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (IteratingFilterChain.java:46) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:70) (OAuthFilter.java:69) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:78) (IteratingFilterChain.java:42) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:70)
	at com.atlassian.prettyurls.filter.PrettyUrlsCombinedMatchDispatcherFilter.doFilter(PrettyUrlsCombinedMatchDispatcherFilter.java:61)  <+13> (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:78) (IteratingFilterChain.java:42) (ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:77) (ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:63) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (ProfilingFilter.java:99) (JIRAProfilingFilter.java:19) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (AbstractJohnsonFilter.java:71) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)
	at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.RuleChain.handleRewrite(RuleChain.java:176)
	at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.RuleChain.doRules(RuleChain.java:145)
	at org.tuckey.web.filters.urlrewrite.UrlRewriter.processRequest(UrlRewriter.java:92)  <+10> (UrlRewriteFilter.java:394) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (GzipFilter.java:82) (GzipFilter.java:59) (JiraGzipFilter.java:55) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (IteratingFilterChain.java:46) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:70)
	at com.atlassian.analytics.client.filter.JiraAnalyticsFilter.doFilter(JiraAnalyticsFilter.java:41)  <+4> (AbstractHttpFilter.java:31) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:78) (IteratingFilterChain.java:42) (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:70)
	at com.atlassian.prettyurls.filter.PrettyUrlsCombinedMatchDispatcherFilter.doFilter(PrettyUrlsCombinedMatchDispatcherFilter.java:61)  <+40> (DelegatingPluginFilter.java:78) (IteratingFilterChain.java:42) (ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:77) (ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:63) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (ChainedFilterStepRunner.java:87) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (AbstractCachingFilter.java:33) (AbstractHttpFilter.java:31) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (AbstractEncodingFilter.java:41) (AbstractHttpFilter.java:31) (PathMatchingEncodingFilter.java:49) (AbstractHttpFilter.java:31) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (JiraStartupChecklistFilter.java:79) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (MultipartBoundaryCheckFilter.java:41) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (ChainedFilterStepRunner.java:87) (JiraFirstFilter.java:60) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) (ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) (StandardWrapperValve.java:220) (StandardContextValve.java:122) (AuthenticatorBase.java:501) (StandardHostValve.java:171) (ErrorReportValve.java:103) (StandardEngineValve.java:116) (AccessLogValve.java:950) (CoyoteAdapter.java:408) (AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1070) (AbstractProtocol.java:611) (JIoEndpoint.java:316)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
	at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

[Taiwo Akindele]

JIRA's Database Integrity Checker should be able to fix this: https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRAKB/Cannot+delete+issue+in+JIRA+-+NullPointerException+at+DefaultIssueDeleteHelper.removeSubTasks

[SrinivasD]

Hi Sebastian Mößner, Please letme know how you resolved this issue. -Srinivas

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

Looks like a bug in the code. You might want to clean up the DB to make sure there are no corrupted data.

[SrinivasD]

Hi Jobin, Can you please tell the steps involved in cleaning up the DB regarding this issue. -Srinivas