MyCATApache/Mycat-Server · error · IOException

Failed to delete:

Error message

Failed to delete: 

What it means

JavaUtils.deleteRecursively deletes a file or directory tree. It throws IOException when File.delete() fails (returns false) and the file still exists — e.g. due to a lock, permissions, or a non-empty directory handled elsewhere. Note delete() also returns false if the file never existed, which is why the exists() check is included.

Solutions

1. Close any streams/locks or stop the process holding the file before deleting.
2. Check and fix filesystem permissions on the file and its parent directory.
3. Retain/inspect the exception's path to identify the specific file and delete it manually to see the OS error.
4. Retry deletion after a short delay if a virus scanner or indexer transiently holds the file (common on Windows).

Example fix

// before
JavaUtils.deleteRecursively(tempDir);
// after
try {
  JavaUtils.deleteRecursively(tempDir);
} catch (IOException e) {
  logger.warn("Could not delete temp dir: " + e.getMessage());
}

if (file.exists() && !file.canWrite() && file.isDirectory()) {
  // parent dir not writable — deletion will fail
}

try {
  JavaUtils.deleteRecursively(path);
} catch (IOException e) {
  logger.warn("Failed to delete {}: {}", path, e.getMessage());
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling deleteRecursively on a path where the OS refuses deletion: read-only directory, file held open by another process (Windows), permission-denied, or an I/O error on the filesystem.

Common situations: Cleaning up temp directories while another thread/process still has files open; deleting files owned by another user; running on Windows with mapped/network drives; racing with a concurrent writer recreating files.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to write file", "Could not save figure", "Error saving remote file" — file write failed: causes and fixes across languages and libraries — this error's family across 38 libraries.

Related errors

• Failed to create local dir in $newDir.
• Failed to list files for dir:
• Mkdirs failed to create
• error while calling spill() on
• error while calling spill() on

AI-assisted analysis of MyCATApache/Mycat-Server@65f8d8beb7 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/718d4bc41f98b2ac. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/main/java/io/mycat/memory/unsafe/utils/JavaUtils.java:88

    if (file.isDirectory() && !isSymlink(file)) {
      IOException savedIOException = null;
      for (File child : listFilesSafely(file)) {
        try {
          deleteRecursively(child);
        } catch (IOException e) {
          // In case of multiple exceptions, only last one will be thrown
          savedIOException = e;
        }
      }
      if (savedIOException != null) {
        throw savedIOException;
      }
    }

    boolean deleted = file.delete();
    // Delete can also fail if the file simply did not exist.
    if (!deleted && file.exists()) {
      throw new IOException("Failed to delete: " + file.getAbsolutePath());
    }
  }

  private static File[] listFilesSafely(File file) throws IOException {
    if (file.exists()) {
      File[] files = file.listFiles();
      if (files == null) {
        throw new IOException("Failed to list files for dir: " + file);
      }
      return files;
    } else {
      return new File[0];
    }
  }

  private static boolean isSymlink(File file) throws IOException {
    Preconditions.checkNotNull(file);
    File fileInCanonicalDir = null;

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