apache/flink · error · UnsupportedOperationException

Unsupported to derive Schema for type: %s

Error message

Unsupported to derive Schema for type: %s

What it means

UnsupportedOperationException thrown when converting TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE to an Avro schema while legacy timestamp mapping is enabled. Under legacy semantics Flink could not distinguish TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE, so no Avro logical type was defined for it; the conversion is deliberately blocked rather than producing a wrong mapping.

Source

Thrown at flink-formats/flink-avro/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/formats/avro/typeutils/AvroSchemaConverter.java:494

                    }
                } else {
                    if (precision <= 3) {
                        avroLogicalType = LogicalTypes.localTimestampMillis();
                    } else if (precision <= 6) {
                        avroLogicalType = LogicalTypes.localTimestampMicros();
                    } else {
                        throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                                "Avro does not support LOCAL TIMESTAMP type "
                                        + "with precision: "
                                        + precision
                                        + ", it only supports precision less than 6.");
                    }
                }
                Schema timestamp = avroLogicalType.addToSchema(SchemaBuilder.builder().longType());
                return nullable ? nullableSchema(timestamp) : timestamp;
            case TIMESTAMP_WITH_LOCAL_TIME_ZONE:
                if (legacyTimestampMapping) {
                    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
                            "Unsupported to derive Schema for type: " + logicalType);
                } else {
                    final LocalZonedTimestampType localZonedTimestampType =
                            (LocalZonedTimestampType) logicalType;
                    precision = localZonedTimestampType.getPrecision();
                    if (precision <= 3) {
                        avroLogicalType = LogicalTypes.timestampMillis();
                    } else if (precision <= 6) {
                        avroLogicalType = LogicalTypes.timestampMicros();
                    } else {
                        throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                                "Avro does not support TIMESTAMP type "
                                        + "with precision: "
                                        + precision
                                        + ", it only supports precision less than 6.");
                    }
                    timestamp = avroLogicalType.addToSchema(SchemaBuilder.builder().longType());
                    return nullable ? nullableSchema(timestamp) : timestamp;

View on GitHub (pinned to 2f3c205e92)

Solutions

1. Disable legacy timestamp mapping (unset table.exec.legacy-timestamp-behaviour / legacy option) so TIMESTAMP_LTZ maps to timestamp-millis/micros.
2. If legacy behaviour must stay, change the column to TIMESTAMP WITHOUT TIME ZONE or store epoch millis as BIGINT.

Example fix

// before: legacy mapping + TIMESTAMP_LTZ
Schema s = AvroSchemaConverter.convertToSchema(ltzType, /*legacyTimestampMapping=*/ true);

// after
Schema s = AvroSchemaConverter.convertToSchema(ltzType, /*legacyTimestampMapping=*/ false);

import org.apache.flink.table.types.logical.LocalZonedTimestampType;

void assertConvertible(LocalZonedTimestampType t, boolean legacyMapping) {
    if (legacyMapping) {
        throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
            "TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE cannot be written to Avro under legacy mapping");
    }
}

boolean avroConvertible(LocalZonedTimestampType t, boolean legacy) { return !legacy; }

When it happens

Trigger: convertToSchema(logicalType, legacyTimestampMapping=true) where logicalType is TIMESTAMP_LTZ; an avro/avro-confluent-registry table with a TIMESTAMP(3) WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE column while legacy timestamp behaviour is on.

Common situations: Jobs migrated from Flink <=1.11 that kept legacy timestamp behaviour and now add a TIMESTAMP_LTZ column for Kafka/Avro sinks.

Related errors

• Avro does not support TIMESTAMP type with precision: %s, it
• Unsupported type: {}
• Avro does not support TIMESTAMP type with precision: %s, it
• Avro does not support LOCAL TIMESTAMP type with precision: %
• Avro does not support TIME type with precision: %s, it only

AI-assisted analysis of apache/flink@2f3c205e92 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d643e84db1a1a323. Report an issue: GitHub.