SonarSource/sonarqube · critical · IllegalStateException

Fail to write into file:

Error message

Fail to write into file: 

What it means

JavaSerializationDiskCache's constructor opens the cache file and writes the serialization stream header needed for later traversal and appending. If opening/writing the file throws IOException (missing directory, permissions, disk full), it wraps it in an IllegalStateException with the file path.

Source

Thrown at server/sonar-ce-task-projectanalysis/src/main/java/org/sonar/ce/task/projectanalysis/util/cache/JavaSerializationDiskCache.java:53

 */
public final class JavaSerializationDiskCache<O extends Serializable> implements DiskCache<O> {

  private final File file;
  private final System2 system2;

  public JavaSerializationDiskCache(File file, System2 system2) {
    this.system2 = system2;
    this.file = file;
    OutputStream output = null;
    boolean threw = true;
    try {
      // writes the serialization stream header required when calling "traverse()"
      // on empty stream. Moreover it allows to call multiple times "newAppender()"
      output = new ObjectOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(file));
      output.flush();
      threw = false;
    } catch (IOException e) {
      throw new IllegalStateException("Fail to write into file: " + file, e);
    } finally {
      if (threw) {
        // do not hide initial exception
        IOUtils.closeQuietly(output);
      } else {
        // raise an exception if can't close
        system2.close(output);
      }
    }
  }

  @Override
  public long fileSize() {
    return file.length();
  }

  @Override
  public CacheAppender<O> newAppender() {

View on GitHub (pinned to 184c821202)

Solutions

1. Verify the CE working directory (sonar.path.data / workspace) exists and is writable by the sonarqube process user
2. Free disk space / fix quota on the node
3. Fix filesystem permissions or mount (e.g. chmod/chown, remount rw)
4. Restart the CE worker after fixing the filesystem so it recreates the cache file

File parent = file.getParentFile();
if (parent == null || !parent.isDirectory() || !parent.canWrite()) {
  throw new IllegalStateException("Cache directory missing or not writable: " + parent);
}
if (file.exists() && !file.canWrite()) {
  throw new IllegalStateException("Cache file not writable: " + file);
}

try {
  JavaSerializationDiskCache<O> cache = new JavaSerializationDiskCache<>(file, system2);
} catch (IllegalStateException e) {
  // inspect cause: IOException with path; fix FS and retry once
  LOGGER.error("Cannot create disk cache for {}", file, e.getCause());
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: new JavaSerializationDiskCache(...) during CE report processing when new FileOutputStream(file) or the first ObjectOutputStream header write fails — nonexistent parent directory, read-only filesystem, no write permission, or disk full.

Common situations: CE workspace directory deleted or not writable by the sonarqube user; disk quota/full volume on the compute engine node; container with read-only tmp mount.

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

• Fail to write into file
• Fail to traverse file:
• Fail to open file
• Ad-hoc rules export failed after processing %d rules success
• Can not write to file

AI-assisted analysis of SonarSource/sonarqube@184c821202 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ef7ebd7ac0d3609a. Report an issue: GitHub.