A NPE exeception is thrown when the following code is used to issue the signal event: processService.signalProcessInstance(pi.getId(), ROUTING_EXCEPTION, null); The stack trace is: Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException at org.kie.spring.persistence.AbstractKieSpringJpaManager$EmHolderDelegateInvocationHandler.invoke(AbstractKieSpringJpaManager.java:141) [kie-spring-6.3.0.Final-redhat-5.jar:6.3.0.Final-redhat-5] at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy67.joinTransaction(Unknown Source) at org.jbpm.process.audit.JPAWorkingMemoryDbLogger.joinTransaction(JPAWorkingMemoryDbLogger.java:246) [jbpm-audit-6.3.0.Final-redhat-5.jar:6.3.0.Final-redhat-5] at org.jbpm.process.audit.JPAWorkingMemoryDbLogger.persist(JPAWorkingMemoryDbLogger.java:195) [jbpm-audit-6.3.0.Final-redhat-5.jar:6.3.0.Final-redhat-5] at org.jbpm.process.audit.JPAWorkingMemoryDbLogger.afterNodeLeft(JPAWorkingMemoryDbLogger.java:120) [jbpm-audit-6.3.0.Final-redhat-5.jar:6.3.0.Final-redhat-5] at org.drools.core.event.ProcessEventSupport.fireAfterNodeLeft(ProcessEventSupport.java:124) [drools-core-6.3.0.Final-redhat-5.jar:6.3.0.Final-redhat-5] at org.jbpm.workflow.instance.impl.NodeInstanceImpl.triggerNodeInstance(NodeInstanceImpl.java:375) [jbpm-flow-6.3.0.Final-redhat-5.jar:6.3.0.Final-redhat-5] at org.jbpm.workflow.instance.impl.NodeInstanceImpl.triggerCompleted(NodeInstanceImpl.java:325) [jbpm-flow-6.3.0.Final-redhat-5.jar:6.3.0.Final-redhat-5] at org.jbpm.workflow.instance.node.ActionNodeInstance.triggerCompleted(ActionNodeInstance.java:61) [jbpm-flow-6.3.0.Final-redhat-5.jar:6.3.0.Final-redhat-5] at org.jbpm.workflow.instance.node.ActionNodeInstance.internalTrigger(ActionNodeInstance.java:57) [jbpm-flow-6.3.0.Final-redhat-5.jar:6.3.0.Final-redhat-5] at org.jbpm.workflow.instance.impl.NodeInstanceImpl.trigger(NodeInstanceImpl.java:173) [jbpm-flow-6.3.0.Final-redhat-5.jar:6.3.0.Final-redhat-5] ... 50 more The problem is caused by the current implementation in org.jbpm.kie.services.impl.ProcessServiceImpl. Note that it disposes the runtime engine after sending the signal event: try { ksession.signalEvent(signalName, event, processInstanceId); } finally { disposeRuntimeEngine(manager, engine); } So the disposeRuntimeEngine needs to be fixed actually on runtime manager level to handle it properly for all possible cases.
fixed on master and 6.4.x jbpm master: https://github.com/droolsjbpm/jbpm/commit/0010267864c5d0f27b207504516888fa2323bd1f 6.4.x: https://github.com/droolsjbpm/jbpm/commit/5c9c42ac28ec82b207c54d8ce14bec14c18fd944
Verified on BPM Suite 6.3.0 ER1