SonarSource/sonarqube · warning

Failed to delete temp file

Error message

Failed to delete temp file {}

What it means

This warning is logged by ReportSubmitter.deleteTempFile when a temporary report file written during CE task submission cannot be deleted. It is non-fatal: the report was already persisted (to DB or disk), so the submit proceeds; the warning only signals leaked temp files on disk.

Solutions

1. Check the attached IOException message for the exact cause (permission denied vs no such file vs device busy)
2. Verify the SonarQube temp directory (sonar.path.temp / OS temp) is writable by the SonarQube process user
3. Exclude the SonarQube temp directory from antivirus/backup scanning that locks files mid-delete
4. Manually clean leftover files in the temp directory during a maintenance window; repeated leaks only waste disk space

Example fix

// before
chmod 755 /opt/sonarqube/temp  # owned by root
// after
chown -R sonarqube:sonarqube /opt/sonarqube/temp && chmod 755 /opt/sonarqube/temp

// Ensure the temp directory is writable at startup
Path tmp = file.getParentFile().toPath();
if (!Files.isWritable(tmp)) throw new IllegalStateException("SonarQube temp dir not writable: " + tmp);

// The code already swallows: mirror this when writing your own cleanup
try { Files.delete(path); }
catch (IOException e) { LOGGER.warn("Failed to delete temp file {}", path, e); }

When it happens

Trigger: saveReport/writePartToDb finishing a CE report upload and calling deleteTempFile, where Files.delete throws IOException: file already removed, permission denied, held open by a backup/AV process, or filesystem is read-only/full.

Common situations: Antivirus/indexers temporarily locking files on Windows; cleanup daemon racing the submitter; tmp directory permissions changed; disk-full states leaving deletions failing; containers with read-only tmp mounts.

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 temp file
• Can not delete
• Can not move file to
• Can not open file
• Can not unzip file to directory

AI-assisted analysis of SonarSource/sonarqube@184c821202 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/22abf1d9eb60af70. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at server/sonar-webserver-webapi/src/main/java/org/sonar/server/ce/queue/ReportSubmitter.java:338

    } finally {
      deleteTempFile(file);
    }
  }

  private static void writePart(long byteSize, long partIndex, FileChannel sourceChannel, long reportPartMaxSizeBytes, File file) throws IOException {
    try (RandomAccessFile toFile = new RandomAccessFile(file, "rw");
         FileChannel toChannel = toFile.getChannel()
    ) {
      sourceChannel.position(partIndex * reportPartMaxSizeBytes);
      toChannel.transferFrom(sourceChannel, 0, byteSize);
    }
  }

  private static void deleteTempFile(File file) {
    try {
      Files.delete(file.toPath());
    } catch (IOException e) {
      LOGGER.warn("Failed to delete temp file {}", file.getAbsolutePath(), e);
    }
  }

  private void saveFileOnDb(DbSession dbSession, CeTaskSubmit.Builder submit, long partIndex, File file) {
    long partNumber = partIndex + 1;
    LOGGER.debug("Saving report {} part {} on DB from file {}", submit.getUuid(), partNumber, file.toPath());
    try (InputStream is = Files.newInputStream(file.toPath())) {
      dbClient.ceTaskInputDao().insert(dbSession, submit.getUuid(), partNumber, is);
    } catch (IOException e) {
      throw new IllegalStateException("Could not save report " + submit.getUuid() + " part " + partNumber + " file to database", e);
    }
  }

}

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