This happens from http://jenkins-ci.org/download/war/1.359/hudson.war to more recent versions, it doesn't happen with
http://jenkins-ci.org/download/war/1.358/hudson.war

Hudson remains "Please wait while Hudson is getting ready to work...." forever.

Even if you start with an older version and upgrade from the web interface, the result is the same, waiting forever.

pressf3:/var/opt/hudson# /usr/bin/java -jar /var/opt/hudson/hudson.war --httpPort=20080
Running from: /var/opt/hudson/hudson.war
[Winstone 2010/08/04 12:25:53] - Beginning extraction from war file
hudson home directory: /root/.hudson
[Winstone 2010/08/04 12:25:55] - HTTP Listener started: port=20080
[Winstone 2010/08/04 12:25:55] - AJP13 Listener started: port=8009
Using one-time self-signed certificate
Aug 4, 2010 12:25:55 PM hudson.model.Hudson$4 onAttained
INFO: Started initialization
[Winstone 2010/08/04 12:25:56] - Winstone Servlet Engine v0.9.10 running: controlPort=disabled
Aug 4, 2010 12:25:56 PM hudson.model.Hudson$4 onAttained
INFO: Listed all plugins
Aug 4, 2010 12:25:56 PM hudson.model.Hudson$4 onAttained
INFO: Prepared all plugins
Aug 4, 2010 12:25:56 PM hudson.model.Hudson$4 onAttained
INFO: Loaded all jobs
Aug 4, 2010 12:25:57 PM hudson.model.Hudson$4 onAttained
INFO: Completed initialization
Aug 4, 2010 12:25:57 PM hudson.TcpSlaveAgentListener <init>
INFO: JNLP slave agent listener started on TCP port 41580
Aug 4, 2010 12:25:58 PM javax.jmdns.impl.tasks.Prober run
WARNING: run() exception
java.io.IOException: Operation not permitted
at java.net.PlainDatagramSocketImpl.send(Native Method)
at java.net.DatagramSocket.send(DatagramSocket.java:625)
at javax.jmdns.impl.JmDNSImpl.send(JmDNSImpl.java:1200)
at javax.jmdns.impl.tasks.Prober.run(Prober.java:163)
at java.util.TimerThread.mainLoop(Timer.java:512)
at java.util.TimerThread.run(Timer.java:462)
Aug 4, 2010 12:25:58 PM javax.jmdns.impl.tasks.Canceler run
WARNING: run() exception
java.io.IOException: Operation not permitted
at java.net.PlainDatagramSocketImpl.send(Native Method)
at java.net.DatagramSocket.send(DatagramSocket.java:625)
at javax.jmdns.impl.JmDNSImpl.send(JmDNSImpl.java:1200)
at javax.jmdns.impl.tasks.Canceler.run(Canceler.java:94)
at java.util.TimerThread.mainLoop(Timer.java:512)
at java.util.TimerThread.run(Timer.java:462)
Aug 4, 2010 12:25:59 PM javax.jmdns.impl.tasks.Canceler run
WARNING: run() exception
java.io.IOException: Operation not permitted
at java.net.PlainDatagramSocketImpl.send(Native Method)
at java.net.DatagramSocket.send(DatagramSocket.java:625)
at javax.jmdns.impl.JmDNSImpl.send(JmDNSImpl.java:1200)
at javax.jmdns.impl.tasks.Canceler.run(Canceler.java:94)
at java.util.TimerThread.mainLoop(Timer.java:512)
at java.util.TimerThread.run(Timer.java:462)
Aug 4, 2010 12:26:00 PM javax.jmdns.impl.JmDNSImpl recover
WARNING: recover() Start services exception
java.lang.IllegalThreadStateException
at java.lang.Thread.start(Thread.java:595)
at javax.jmdns.impl.JmDNSImpl.start(JmDNSImpl.java:259)
at javax.jmdns.impl.JmDNSImpl.recover(JmDNSImpl.java:1280)
at javax.jmdns.impl.tasks.Prober.run(Prober.java:175)
at java.util.TimerThread.mainLoop(Timer.java:512)
at java.util.TimerThread.run(Timer.java:462)
Aug 4, 2010 12:26:00 PM javax.jmdns.impl.JmDNSImpl recover
WARNING: recover() We are back!