apache/cassandra · error · IllegalStateException

Can't revert move from

Error message

Can't revert move from 

What it means

Move.cancel reverts placed ranges step by step from MID_MOVE or START_MOVE back to the pre-move state. If the current step (next) is neither MID_MOVE nor START_MOVE, there is no defined way to revert, so cancel throws IllegalStateException naming the step. This prevents corrupting metadata by cancelling a move that is not in a revertible phase.

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/tcm/sequences/Move.java:445

        ClusterMetadata metadata = ClusterMetadata.current();
        return new ProgressBarrier(latestModification, metadata.directory.location(startMove.nodeId()), metadata.lockedRanges.locked.get(lockKey));
    }

    @Override
    public ClusterMetadata.Transformer cancel(ClusterMetadata metadata)
    {
        DataPlacements placements = metadata.placements();
        switch (next)
        {
            case FINISH_MOVE:
                placements = midMove.inverseDelta().apply(metadata.directory, metadata.nextEpoch(), placements);
            case MID_MOVE:
                placements = startMove.inverseDelta().apply(metadata.directory, metadata.nextEpoch(), placements);
            case START_MOVE:
                placements = toSplitRanges.invert().apply(metadata.directory, metadata.nextEpoch(), placements);
                break;
            default:
                throw new IllegalStateException("Can't revert move from " + next);
        }

        LockedRanges newLockedRanges = metadata.lockedRanges.unlock(lockKey);
        return metadata.transformer()
                       .withNodeState(startMove.nodeId(), NodeState.JOINED)
                       .with(placements)
                       .with(newLockedRanges);
    }

    /**
     * Returns a mapping of destination -> source*, where the destination is the node that needs to stream from source
     *
     * there can be multiple sources for each destination
     */
    private static MovementMap movementMap(IFailureDetector fd, DataPlacements placements, EndpointLookup endpointLookup, PlacementDeltas toSplitRanges, PlacementDeltas toStart, PlacementDeltas midDeltas, boolean strictConsistency)
    {
        MovementMap.Builder allMovements = MovementMap.builder();
        toStart.forEach((params, delta) -> {

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

1. Check the move's current step before cancelling; a completed/finished move cannot be reverted via cancel
2. If the move is at FINISH_MOVE, let it complete or use the appropriate completion/rollback path
3. Retry cancel promptly after the move is observed in START_MOVE/MID_MOVE if reverting is truly required
4. Verify TCM metadata state of the sequence to confirm which step it is actually on

Example fix

// before
move.cancel();
// after
if (move.currentStep() == Move.MoveStep.START_MOVE || move.currentStep() == Move.MoveStep.MID_MOVE)
    move.cancel();
else
    logger.warn("Move is at {} and cannot be reverted", move.currentStep());

Move.MoveStep step = move.currentStep();
if (step != Move.MoveStep.START_MOVE && step != Move.MoveStep.MID_MOVE)
    throw new IllegalStateException("Move not revertible at " + step);

try { move.cancel(); } catch (IllegalStateException e) { logger.warn("Cannot cancel move: {}", e.getMessage()); inspectSequenceState(); }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling cancel on a Move sequence whose current MultiStepOperation step is FINISH_MOVE, COMPLETED, or otherwise not in the START_MOVE/MID_MOVE phases handled by the switch.

Common situations: Operator tries to cancel a move after it already finished; race between the move completing and the cancel command arriving; automation retrying cancel after the move already committed its final step.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid state transition" errors: "status must be X, actually Y", "already rejected/charging/uninstalled", "cannot ... while running" — what they mean when a library rejects your call — this error's family across 31 libraries.

Related errors

• Node should be either source or destination in the movement
• %s function resource has no function name
• Root-level resource can't have a parent
• ROOT data resource has no keyspace
• stream can only move forward

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/19d998d08b37b6f5. Report an issue: GitHub.