Why can I not update Confluence system plugins
Asked by Stefan Roels:

On my Confluence installation (version 5.1.4), there are a number of system plugins that show an update button. They do not show in the "Action Required" list. When I try to update the plugins, i get an error message stating: "An error was encountered while updating this add-on." The system logs do not show any problems.The plugins that have updates are:Code Macro PluginInstalled version: 2.0.19Available version: 2.1.1Confluence Business Blueprints BundleInstalled version: 1.7.1Available version: 1.7.4Confluence Contributors PluginInstalled version: 1.3.1Available version: 1.3.2Layout MacrosInstalled version: 2.1.2Available version: 2.1.4Live Search Macrosnstalled version: 3.0.1Available version: 3.0.3Page Tree PluginInstalled version: 2.1.5Available version: 2.2.1Share PageInstalled version: 2.0.9Available version: 2.1.1.1Widget ConnectorInstalled version: 2.1.1Available version: 2.1.6


Answers:
author: Stefan Roels
body: I have updated the UPM today (to V2.12.3) and the plugins update again.


author: Paul Clarkson
body: Experiencing a similar issue trying to update the Confluence Business Blueprints Bundle when using Confluence Version: 5.1.3, Confluence Business Blueprints Bundle Version: 1.7-m1.

Attempting to update to Confluence Business Blueprints Bundle Version: 1.7.4 fails with a message "An error was encountered while updating this add-on".

If you look at something like Chrome developer tools when the initial Manage Add-ons page loads or occasionally? when you click the 'Update' button a call into confluence REST API on our system is returning a 404, presumably this leaves the page in a state it can no longer update the plugin with the usual process.

For example in our system the URL returning the 404 is:

https://\[base_url\]/rest/pluginsurl\]/1.0/available/com.atlassian.confluence.plugins.confluence-business-blueprints-key/review?_=1376367564659


author: Sally Roberts
body: Any more ideas on this? I am unable to update the widget plug-in, which is needed to fix the fact that the twitter feed no longer works on the widget plug-in. I am on Confluence 5.1.2.


author: Jack-Benny Persson
body: Upgrading to Confluence 5.1.5 no longer marks these system-bundled plugins as upgradable and for example I now have the Descions blueprint (which I was after all along). I still see it's says version 1.7.3 though but since it has the "new things" I'm happy.


author: Bruna Griebeler
body: Many cases about UPM not being able to upgrade plugins are related to a proxy or firewall blocking them.

Try bypassing the network proxy or keep monitoring the network to check if the requests are being made by the server.

Cheers!

comments: author: Eric Jones
body: I have no firewall or proxy on that machine and this is a fresh install of Confluence 5.1.4 for evaluation purposes.


author: Jack-Benny Persson
body: I've just been running a packet capture on the firewall to see if any packets are trying to get through. Started the packet capture, hit Update on a system plugin in Confluence and recieved the usual error message, checked to packet capture and nothing. Confluence arn't even trying to contact Atlassians servers or anything. The packet capture was indeed empty (but working, I checked the traffic while browsing the Marketplace, and that traffic showed up). But I don't think the problem is the UPM, since user-installed plugins updates just fine.


author: jing_hwa_cheok
body: Hi Stefan,It might be possible that you have hit into this issue <https://confluence.atlassian.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=179443425>. ' The best way to confirm this is to check the stack trace in the \<confluence-home\>/logs/atlassian.confluence.log file.Hope this helps.Kind Regards,Jing Hwa

comments: author: Jack-Benny Persson
body: Hmm it was worth a shot, but I don't think this is the problem. I don't see anything in the logs when this error shows up. Also I have no other symptoms of this being the problem, and besides I already have max_allowed_packet set to 256 mb.


author: Jack-Benny Persson
body: Hmm it was worth a shot, but I don't think this is the problem. I don't see anything in the logs when this error shows up. Also I have no other symptoms of this being the problem, and besides I already have max_allowed_packet set to 256 mb.


author: Stefan Roels
body: As I already indicated in my question, there is nothing interesting in the log. Actually, when I "tail -f" the log file (and for good measure, also the log files in \<confluence-install\>), nothing is logged when I press the update button.

I just checked whether it made any difference if I used another browser (inspired by the fact that the [answers.atlassian.com](http://answers.atlassian.com) does not function properly using Chrome), but also with IE it does not want to update the plugin, nor does it generate any additional logs.


author: Jack-Benny Persson
body: To narrow it down, I can update user-installed plugins just fine. It also affects both of my Confluence installs. Both is Confluence 5.1.4 and running on seperate machines, one Debian 6 and the other Ubuntu 12.04 (both is 32-bit).


author: jing_hwa_cheok
body: Hi all,

<br />

You should be able to see some information from atlassian.confluence.log. Please ensure that you have tail the correct log which is atlassian.confluence.log(application log) and not the catalina log (server log).

<br />

Try to tail atlassian.confluence.log then reproduce the issue. If possible, please attach the stacktrace to this page so I can investigate for you two.  

Kind Regards,

Jing Hwa


author: Stefan Roels
body: Is there a way to increase the logging which might help analysing the problem?


author: Stefan Roels
body: As I described, there was no logging at all, neither in the server log nor in the application log.

Just as Jack-Benny mentions, user-installed plugins can be updated.


author: Jack-Benny Persson
body: Here follows a tail (last 30 lines) of my atlassian-confluence.log. There are a bunch of warnings but nothing that links to the problem at hand. I just tried updating the plugins again at around 18:00 and nothing with this timestamp in the log file shows up. Last log entry is from around 06:20. As you can see from the log I have recently restarted Confluence. There is one warning about the universal-plugin manager, might this be related?

(atlassian-confluence.log)


author: jing_hwa_cheok
body: Strange, the warning doesn't seem harmful enough to cause this issue. Maybe you can try to reinstall your UPM . Download the [UPM](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/com.atlassian.upm.atlassian-universal-plugin-manager-plugin) from the marketplace then upload it to the Confluence.   

I will try to replicate the issue on my instance.


author: Stefan Roels
body: I uploaded the UPM from the marketplace. It did not resolve the problem.


author: Jack-Benny Persson
body: I also uploaded the UPM (and just to test, restarted Confluence) but it didn't help. The system plugins ARE upgradable though, just not by clicking the Update button. I just tried to upload the [Confluence Business Blueprints Bundle](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/com.atlassian.confluence.plugins.confluence-business-blueprints/versions#b164 "Confluence Business Blueprints Bundle") version 1.7.4 from the marketplace and it installed without any problems. Downside is now it shows up as a user-installed plugin instead of a system-plugin. Dosen't really matter though. So I'm guessing there is nothing wrong with Confluence UPM or the whole updating system, it must be the interface. Which would make sense, since when clicking the Update button on a system plugin the error message shows up instantly. It doesn't even try to download the plugin.

So this is at least a workaround to update system plugins.


author: Eric Jones
body: I'm having the same issue, no log messages, can't upgrade any system bundled add-ons.


author: Jack-Benny Persson
body: It's the same for me, I'll let you know if I can figure it out...


author: Stefan Roels
body: ```
A better readable list of plugins.
```

```

```

```
Code Macro PluginInstalled version: 2.0.19Available version: 2.1.1Confluence Business Blueprints BundleInstalled version: 1.7.1Available version: 1.7.4Confluence Contributors PluginInstalled version: 1.3.1Available version: 1.3.2Layout MacrosInstalled version: 2.1.2Available version: 2.1.4Live Search Macrosnstalled version: 3.0.1Available version: 3.0.3Page Tree PluginInstalled version: 2.1.5Available version: 2.2.1Share PageInstalled version: 2.0.9Available version: 2.1.1.1Widget ConnectorInstalled version: 2.1.1Available version: 2.1.6
```