Extending the JIRA database with a custom schema

Now that we know that JIRA schema definitions are maintained in WEB-INF/classes/ entitydefs/entitygroup.xml and entitymodel.xml, let us have a look at extending the existing schema definitions. How would you extend the JIRA scheme if you wanted to add one or two custom tables into JIRA? Is it just about creating the new tables in our database? We will see that in this recipe.

Note

For plugins, it is recommended to use Active Objects technology to persist data. The JIRA schema itself should be modified only when it is absolutely necessary to have pre-defined tables created in the JIRA database.

If the JIRA schema is modified, care must be taken during upgrades to port those changes to the new version.

How to do it...

JIRA uses the schema definitions entered in the WEB-INF/classes/entitydefs/ entitygroup.xml and entitymodel.xml files. It makes use of these files not only to validate and create the schema but also during the import and export of...