OpenSearch process does not exit when startup fails due to StartupException

[aparajita31pandey]

Describe the bug

When OpenSearch fails to start — for example, because a plugin throws a RuntimeException from createComponent or any other method invoked during bootstrap — the JVM process does not exit. It hangs indefinitely after printing the startup exception stack trace.

This is especially problematic in containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes) where a crashed process must exit with a non-zero code so the orchestrator can detect the failure and take action (restart, alert, etc.).

Steps to reproduce

1. Implement a plugin that throws a RuntimeException during createComponent (or anywhere else called during bootstrap).
2. Run OpenSearch (e.g., inside Docker).
3. Observe that after the exception is logged, the process does not terminate.

Expected behavior

OpenSearch exits with a non-zero status code when a fatal exception prevents startup.

Actual behavior

The process hangs. The following stack trace is logged but the process remains alive:

org.opensearch.bootstrap.StartupException: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.RuntimeException: dummy
    at org.opensearch.bootstrap.OpenSearch.init(OpenSearch.java:173)
    at org.opensearch.bootstrap.OpenSearch.execute(OpenSearch.java:160)
    at org.opensearch.common.cli.EnvironmentAwareCommand.execute(EnvironmentAwareCommand.java:110)
    at org.opensearch.cli.Command.mainWithoutErrorHandling(Command.java:146)
    at org.opensearch.cli.Command.main(Command.java:101)
    at org.opensearch.bootstrap.OpenSearch.main(OpenSearch.java:126)

Analysis

In OpenSearch.main(String[]), the exit(status) call is only reached when main(args, opensearch, terminal) returns a non-OK status code. Non-OK codes are produced only for UserException and OptionException. StartupException — thrown by OpenSearch.init() when bootstrap fails — is not handled anywhere in the call chain and escapes main(String[]) as an unchecked exception, completely bypassing the exit(status) call.

Fix

#22259

Environment

• OpenSearch running in Docker
• Plugin throwing RuntimeException from createComponent during bootstrap

[github-actions]

Possible Duplicate

Found 1 possible duplicate issue(s):

• [BUG] Uncaught exception in main thread doesn't halt JVM #15241

If this is not a duplicate:

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