apache/druid · error · IllegalArgumentException

null/empty intervals

Error message

null/empty intervals

What it means

IndexerSQLMetadataStorageCoordinator.retrieveUsedSegmentsForIntervals requires a non-null, non-empty interval list before querying the metadata store. Null or empty input throws IAE('null/empty intervals') because the SQL query built from the intervals would be meaningless.

Source

Thrown at server/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/metadata/IndexerSQLMetadataStorageCoordinator.java:194

      DateTime maxUpdatedTime,
      int maxResultSize,
      int maxSegmentsToScan
  )
  {
    return inReadOnlyTransaction(
        sql -> sql.retrieveSomeUnusedSegmentIntervals(maxUpdatedTime, maxResultSize, maxSegmentsToScan)
    );
  }

  @Override
  public Set<DataSegment> retrieveUsedSegmentsForIntervals(
      final String dataSource,
      final List<Interval> intervals,
      final Segments visibility
  )
  {
    if (intervals == null || intervals.isEmpty()) {
      throw new IAE("null/empty intervals");
    }
    return doRetrieveUsedSegments(dataSource, intervals, visibility);
  }

  @Override
  public Set<DataSegment> retrieveAllUsedSegments(String dataSource, Segments visibility)
  {
    return doRetrieveUsedSegments(dataSource, Collections.emptyList(), visibility);
  }

  /**
   * @param intervals empty list means unrestricted interval.
   */
  private Set<DataSegment> doRetrieveUsedSegments(
      final String dataSource,
      final List<Interval> intervals,
      final Segments visibility
  )

View on GitHub (pinned to 9b90983fd2)

Solutions

1. Check intervals for null/empty before calling and short-circuit to return an empty segment set
2. Fix the upstream interval computation so it produces at least one Interval
3. If 'all segments' is intended, use retrieveAllUsedSegments instead

Example fix

// before
Set<DataSegment> segments = coordinator.retrieveUsedSegmentsForIntervals(ds, intervals, Segments.ONLY_VISIBLE);
// after
Set<DataSegment> segments = (intervals == null || intervals.isEmpty())
    ? Collections.emptySet()
    : coordinator.retrieveUsedSegmentsForIntervals(ds, intervals, Segments.ONLY_VISIBLE);

if (intervals == null || intervals.isEmpty()) { return Collections.emptySet(); }

boolean hasIntervals = intervals != null && !intervals.isEmpty();

try { segments = coordinator.retrieveUsedSegmentsForIntervals(ds, intervals, visibility); } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) { if (e.getMessage().contains("null/empty intervals")) { segments = Collections.emptySet(); } else { throw e; } }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling retrieveUsedSegmentsForIntervals(dataSource, null, visibility) or with an empty List<Interval>, usually when a caller computed segments intervals from an empty query/timeline result.

Common situations: Batch task or coordinator code passing an empty interval list derived from no input shards; API callers requesting used segments without specifying any intervals.

Understand the failure class

Background: "must not be empty", "cannot be empty" — required-field validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

• announceHistoricalSegments failed with null metadata, should
• Segments to drop must all be part of the same datasource
• maxStringBytes must be greater than 0
• maxStringBytes must be greater than 0
• Unknown operation[%s], known operations[%s]

AI-assisted analysis of apache/druid@9b90983fd2 (2026-09-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/407519748a23cb58. Report an issue: GitHub.