apache/hadoop · error · IllegalArgumentException

Both owner and group are empty.

Error message

Both owner and group are empty.

What it means

Error "Both owner and group are empty." thrown in apache/hadoop.

Source

Thrown at hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/web/resources/NamenodeWebHdfsMethods.java:847

        final boolean b = cp.rename(fullpath, destination.getValue());
        final String js = JsonUtil.toJsonString("boolean", b);
        return Response.ok(js).type(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).build();
      } else {
        cp.rename2(fullpath, destination.getValue(),
            s.toArray(new Options.Rename[s.size()]));
        return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
      }
    }
    case SETREPLICATION:
    {
      final boolean b = cp.setReplication(fullpath, replication.getValue(conf));
      final String js = JsonUtil.toJsonString("boolean", b);
      return Response.ok(js).type(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).build();
    }
    case SETOWNER:
    {
      if (owner.getValue() == null && group.getValue() == null) {
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Both owner and group are empty.");
      }

      cp.setOwner(fullpath, owner.getValue(), group.getValue());
      return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
    }
    case SETPERMISSION:
    {
      cp.setPermission(fullpath, permission.getDirFsPermission());
      return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
    }
    case SETTIMES:
    {
      cp.setTimes(fullpath, modificationTime.getValue(), accessTime.getValue());
      return Response.ok().type(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM).build();
    }
    case RENEWDELEGATIONTOKEN:
    {
      validateOpParams(op, delegationTokenArgument);

View on GitHub (pinned to 2add963021)

Solutions

1. Pass at least one of the 'owner' or 'group' parameters to the SETOWNER WebHDFS operation.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown by the WebHDFS SETOWNER op when both the owner and group parameters are omitted; at least one must be supplied.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of apache/hadoop@2add963021 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a4e7736fc13c4ad5. Report an issue: GitHub.