Why do uninstalled apps reappear after an upgrade.

[Darren]

Some apps that we uninstalled before an upgrade have reappeared after the upgrade.

What's caused them to reappear, and why didn't they uninstall cleanly in the first place?

Details are:

Client was on Jira Core/Software Data Center 9.1.1 / Jira Service Management 5.1.1

They wanted to upgrade to Jira Core/Software Data Center 9.4.7 / Jira Service Management 5.4.7

We observed three apps whose license status was 'Expired' and they were Evaluation/Trial licenses that expired in 2019.

We enquired further and found that the client had difficulty removing these in previous upgrades.

We removed them prior to the upgrade, then upgraded, and now they've reappeared.

What's caused them to reappear, and why didn't they uninstall cleanly in the first place?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

The usual cause of this is people messing with the file system after installing Jira in the name of "security".  Uninstalling an app is supposed to remove the .jar or .obr file from the plugin directory, but people remove the ability to do that, either by running the application as the wrong user, or messing with the permissions or ownership.  It's not a problem if they don't make a complete mess of it, but it does cause upgrade problems.

The reason they re-appear during the upgrade is that the installer scans the home directory for plugins and if it finds any, automatically includes them in the configuration.

But the main thing to look at is that you say "We observed three apps whose license status was 'Expired' and they were Evaluation/Trial licenses that expired in 2019.".  That means you have not uninstalled the apps at all, they're still active (but not working because you don't have a licence).