SonarSource/sonarqube · error · IllegalArgumentException

Unsupported frequency:

Error message

Unsupported frequency: 

What it means

AuditHousekeepingFrequencyHelper.getThresholdDate resolves a housekeeping frequency string (e.g. '1_year', '6_months') against the Frequency enum to compute the purge threshold timestamp. If the string does not case-insensitively match any Frequency enum constant name, it throws an IllegalArgumentException with the unsupported value appended.

Solutions

1. Check the frequency string against allowed values defined by the Frequency enum (e.g. ONLY_1_YEAR equivalents like 1_year, 6_months, 1_month) and correct the property/web call
2. Fix sonar.dbcleaner.auditHousekeepingFrequency in sonar.properties to a valid value and restart
3. Validate user/API input against the enum names before calling getThresholdDate

Example fix

// before
helper.getThresholdDate("yearly");
// after
helper.getThresholdDate("1_year");

Set<String> allowed = Arrays.stream(Frequency.values())
  .map(Enum::name).collect(Collectors.toSet());
if (!allowed.contains(frequency.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT))) {
  throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid sonar.dbcleaner.auditHousekeepingFrequency: " + frequency);
}

try {
  long threshold = helper.getThresholdDate(frequency);
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
  LOGGER.error("Invalid housekeeping frequency '{}', falling back to default", frequency);
  long threshold = helper.getThresholdDate("1_year");
}

When it happens

Trigger: getThresholdDate(frequency) called with a frequency string that matches no Frequency enum name — typically a value read from the sonar.dbcleaner.auditHousekeepingFrequency property or a web request parameter that is misspelled or from an unsupported set.

Common situations: Admin sets an invalid housekeeping frequency in sonar.properties (e.g. 'yearly' instead of '1_year'); API caller passes an unsupported frequency value; upgrade changed the accepted frequency vocabulary.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid value" and "allowed values are" config errors: what your library rejected and how to fix it — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

• Can not connect to database. Please check connectivity and…
• "Cannot open file " + propsFile
• Configuration is not complete
• Directory does not exist:
• Failed to parse duration threshold

AI-assisted analysis of SonarSource/sonarqube@184c821202 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/23723c4de556c118. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at server/sonar-ce-task-projectanalysis/src/main/java/org/sonar/ce/task/projectanalysis/taskprocessor/AuditHousekeepingFrequencyHelper.java:52

public class AuditHousekeepingFrequencyHelper {
  private final System2 system2;

  public AuditHousekeepingFrequencyHelper(System2 system2) {
    this.system2 = system2;
  }

  public PropertyDto getHouseKeepingFrequency(DbClient dbClient, DbSession dbSession) {
    return Optional.ofNullable(dbClient.propertiesDao()
      .selectGlobalProperty(dbSession, AUDIT_HOUSEKEEPING_FREQUENCY))
      .orElse(defaultAuditHouseKeepingProperty());
  }

  public long getThresholdDate(String frequency) {
    Optional<Frequency> housekeepingFrequency = Arrays.stream(Frequency.values())
      .filter(f -> f.name().equalsIgnoreCase(frequency)).findFirst();
    if (housekeepingFrequency.isEmpty()) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported frequency: " + frequency);
    }

    return Instant.ofEpochMilli(system2.now())
      .minus(housekeepingFrequency.get().getDays(), ChronoUnit.DAYS)
      .toEpochMilli();
  }

  private static PropertyDto defaultAuditHouseKeepingProperty() {
    PropertyDto property = new PropertyDto();
    property.setKey(AUDIT_HOUSEKEEPING_FREQUENCY);
    property.setValue(DEFAULT_FREQUENCY);
    return property;
  }
}

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