apache/beam · error · SqlUtil.newContextException

Cannot drop catalog: ' ' not found.

Error message

Cannot drop catalog: '%s' not found.

What it means

Raised by DROP CATALOG when the target catalog does not exist and IF EXISTS was not specified. Beam throws a Calcite context exception at the statement's parser position; with IF EXISTS the drop is silently ignored.

Solutions

  1. Use DROP CATALOG IF EXISTS name to make the statement idempotent
  2. Verify the catalog name with the available catalogs before dropping
  3. Skip the statement if the catalog was already removed

Example fix

// before
DROP CATALOG my_catalog;
// after
DROP CATALOG IF EXISTS my_catalog;
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// make idempotent at the source
String sql = "DROP CATALOG IF EXISTS " + name;

Try / catch

try {
    stmt.execute("DROP CATALOG " + name);
} catch (Exception e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("not found")) { /* already dropped; ignore */ }
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Executing `DROP CATALOG name` where catalogManager.getCatalog(name) == null and ifExists=false.

Common situations: Teardown scripts assuming catalogs exist; double-execution of DROP scripts; dropping a catalog that was created under a different name.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/beam@12126d8942 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ca7d01303773020a. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at sdks/java/extensions/sql/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/extensions/sql/impl/CatalogManagerSchema.java:122

      throw SqlUtil.newContextException(
          catalogIdentifier.getParserPosition(),
          RESOURCE.internal(String.format("Cannot use catalog: '%s' not found.", name)));
    }

    if (catalogManager.currentCatalog().name().equals(name)) {
      LOG.info("Catalog '{}' is already in use.", name);
      return;
    }

    catalogManager.useCatalog(name);
    LOG.info("Switched to catalog '{}' (type: {})", name, catalogManager.currentCatalog().type());
  }

  public void dropCatalog(SqlIdentifier identifier, boolean ifExists) {
    String name = SqlDdlNodes.name(identifier);
    if (catalogManager.getCatalog(name) == null) {
      if (!ifExists) {
        throw SqlUtil.newContextException(
            identifier.getParserPosition(),
            RESOURCE.internal(String.format("Cannot drop catalog: '%s' not found.", name)));
      }
      LOG.info("Ignoring 'DROP CATALOG` call for non-existent catalog: {}", name);
      return;
    }

    if (catalogManager.currentCatalog().name().equals(name)) {
      throw SqlUtil.newContextException(
          identifier.getParserPosition(),
          RESOURCE.internal(
              String.format(
                  "Unable to drop active catalog '%s'. Please switch to another catalog first.",
                  name)));
    }

    catalogManager.dropCatalog(name);
    LOG.info("Successfully dropped catalog '{}'", name);

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