If $HOME/jbossts-properties.xml file is present EAP tries to read and parse its content. If the content of the file is incompatible EAP fails to start correctly.

I think that EAP should read its configuration from management model and/or defined config directory only and should not be sensitive to external configuration files.

17:49:28,722 ERROR [org.jboss.as.controller.management-operation] (ServerService Thread Pool – 46) JBAS014612: Operation ("add") failed - address: ([("subsystem" => "transactions")]): java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.RuntimeException: unable to load properties from /home/dpospisi/jbossts-properties.xml
at com.arjuna.common.internal.util.propertyservice.BeanPopulator.getNamedInstance(BeanPopulator.java:81)
at com.arjuna.common.internal.util.propertyservice.BeanPopulator.getDefaultInstance(BeanPopulator.java:49)
at com.arjuna.ats.arjuna.common.arjPropertyManager.getCoreEnvironmentBean(arjPropertyManager.java:45)
at org.jboss.as.txn.service.CoreEnvironmentService.getValue(CoreEnvironmentService.java:59)
at org.jboss.as.txn.service.CoreEnvironmentService.setProcessImplementation(CoreEnvironmentService.java:107)
at org.jboss.as.txn.subsystem.TransactionSubsystemAdd.performCoreEnvironmentBootTime(TransactionSubsystemAdd.java:313)
at org.jboss.as.txn.subsystem.TransactionSubsystemAdd.performBoottime(TransactionSubsystemAdd.java:173)
at org.jboss.as.controller.AbstractBoottimeAddStepHandler.performRuntime(AbstractBoottimeAddStepHandler.java:57) [jboss-as-controller-7.1.2.Final-redhat-1.jar:7.1.2.Final-redhat-1]
at org.jboss.as.controller.AbstractAddStepHandler$1.execute(AbstractAddStepHandler.java:50) [jboss-as-controller-7.1.2.Final-redhat-1.jar:7.1.2.Final-redhat-1]
at org.jboss.as.controller.AbstractOperationContext.executeStep(AbstractOperationContext.java:397) [jboss-as-controller-7.1.2.Final-redhat-1.jar:7.1.2.Final-redhat-1]
at org.jboss.as.controller.AbstractOperationContext.doCompleteStep(AbstractOperationContext.java:284) [jboss-as-controller-7.1.2.Final-redhat-1.jar:7.1.2.Final-redhat-1]
at org.jboss.as.controller.AbstractOperationContext.completeStep(AbstractOperationContext.java:211) [jboss-as-controller-7.1.2.Final-redhat-1.jar:7.1.2.Final-redhat-1]
at org.jboss.as.controller.ParallelBootOperationStepHandler$ParallelBootTask.run(ParallelBootOperationStepHandler.java:311) [jboss-as-controller-7.1.2.Final-redhat-1.jar:7.1.2.Final-redhat-1]
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1110) [rt.jar:1.7.0_b147-icedtea]
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:603) [rt.jar:1.7.0_b147-icedtea]
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722) [rt.jar:1.7.0_b147-icedtea]
at org.jboss.threads.JBossThread.run(JBossThread.java:122) [jboss-threads-2.0.0.GA-redhat-1.jar:2.0.0.GA-redhat-1]
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: unable to load properties from /home/dpospisi/jbossts-properties.xml
at com.arjuna.common.util.propertyservice.PropertiesFactory.getPropertiesFromFile(PropertiesFactory.java:110)
at com.arjuna.common.util.propertyservice.PropertiesFactory.initDefaultProperties(PropertiesFactory.java:236)
at com.arjuna.common.util.propertyservice.PropertiesFactory.getDefaultProperties(PropertiesFactory.java:66)
at com.arjuna.common.internal.util.propertyservice.BeanPopulator.getNamedInstance(BeanPopulator.java:77)
... 16 more
Caused by: java.io.IOException: Could not read xml
at com.arjuna.common.util.propertyservice.PropertiesFactory.loadFromXML(PropertiesFactory.java:206)
at com.arjuna.common.util.propertyservice.PropertiesFactory.loadFromFile(PropertiesFactory.java:145)
at com.arjuna.common.util.propertyservice.PropertiesFactory.getPropertiesFromFile(PropertiesFactory.java:106)
... 19 more
Caused by: com.ctc.wstx.exc.WstxUnexpectedCharException: Unexpected character 'd' (code 100) in prolog; expected '<'
at [row,col

]: [1,1]
at com.ctc.wstx.sr.StreamScanner.throwUnexpectedChar(StreamScanner.java:639)
at com.ctc.wstx.sr.BasicStreamReader.nextFromProlog(BasicStreamReader.java:2017)
at com.ctc.wstx.sr.BasicStreamReader.next(BasicStreamReader.java:1102)
at com.arjuna.common.util.propertyservice.PropertiesFactory.loadFromXML(PropertiesFactory.java:202)
... 21 more