What causes "create method not found" in apache/cassandra?

Add or expose a public static create(Map ) method on the compressor class that builds and returns an ICompressor.

apache/cassandra · error · ConfigurationException

create method not found

Error message

create method not found

What it means

DefaultCompressionProvider creates compressors reflectively via a public static create(Map) method on the compressor class. If getMethod("create", Map.class) finds no such method, the provider cannot construct the compressor and throws this ConfigurationException with the NoSuchMethodException attached.

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/compress/DefaultCompressionProvider.java:76

     * @throws ConfigurationException if the compressor class does not have a valid create method,
     * if there are unknown compression options, or if the compressor creation fails
     */
    @Override
    public ICompressor createCompressor(Class<?> compressorClass, Map<String, String> compressionOptions) throws IllegalStateException
    {
        try
        {
            Method method = compressorClass.getMethod("create", Map.class);
            ICompressor compressor = (ICompressor)method.invoke(null, compressionOptions);
            // Check for unknown options
            for (String provided : compressionOptions.keySet())
                if (!compressor.supportedOptions().contains(provided))
                    throw new ConfigurationException("Unknown compression options " + provided);
            return compressor;
        }
        catch (NoSuchMethodException e)
        {
            throw new ConfigurationException("create method not found", e);
        }
        catch (SecurityException e)
        {
            throw new ConfigurationException("Access forbidden", e);
        }
        catch (IllegalAccessException e)
        {
            throw new ConfigurationException("Cannot access method create in " + compressorClass.getName(), e);
        }
        catch (InvocationTargetException e)
        {
            if (e.getTargetException() instanceof ConfigurationException)
                throw (ConfigurationException) e.getTargetException();

            Throwable cause = e.getCause() == null
                            ? e
                            : e.getCause();

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

Add or expose a public static create(Map<String,String>) method on the compressor class that builds and returns an ICompressor.
Verify the class name resolves to the intended ICompressor implementation, not a helper or similarly named class.
Use a built-in compressor class (LZ4Compressor, SnappyCompressor, DeflateCompressor) which all provide create(Map).
If using a custom provider, implement createCompressor() to construct the compressor directly instead of relying on reflection.

Example fix

// before
public static MyCompressor create(Map<String,String> options, int extra) { ... }
// after
public static ICompressor create(Map<String,String> options) { ... }

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

try {
    Method m = compressorClass.getMethod("create", Map.class);
    if (!ICompressor.class.isAssignableFrom(m.getReturnType())) throw new IllegalArgumentException("create does not return ICompressor");
} catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException(compressorClass + " lacks public static create(Map)");
}

Type guard

boolean hasCreateMethod(Class<?> c) {
    try { c.getMethod("create", Map.class); return true; } catch (NoSuchMethodException e) { return false; }
}

Try / catch

try {
    registry.getCompressor(customCompressorClass, opts);
} catch (ConfigurationException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().equals("create method not found")) log.error("Add public static create(Map<String,String>) to {}", customCompressorClass);
    throw e;
}

Prevention

Ensure every custom compressor exposes public static ICompressor create(Map<String,String>)
Smoke-test Class.forName + getMethod("create", Map.class) on custom compressor classes before deployment
Prefer built-in compressor classes when no custom behavior is needed
Pin the Cassandra version and verify factory signatures match it

When it happens

Trigger: createCompressor() called with a compressorClass that has no public static ICompressor create(Map<String,String>) method — e.g. a custom or third-party class passed to getCompressor(), or a built-in class whose signature differs across versions.

Common situations: Pointing sstable_compression at a custom ICompressor implementation that only has instance factory methods or a constructor; class name typos resolving to a helper class instead of the compressor; running an older Cassandra where the create(Map) signature differs.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/76e4a0961dcaa267. Report an issue: GitHub.