apache/hadoop · error · IOException

Cannot add additional XAttr to inode, would exceed limit of

Error message

Cannot add additional XAttr to inode, would exceed limit of <inodeXAttrsLimit>

What it means

Error "Cannot add additional XAttr to inode, would exceed limit of <inodeXAttrsLimit>" thrown in apache/hadoop.

Source

Thrown at hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSDirXAttrOp.java:384

      for (XAttr existing : existingXAttrs) {
        boolean alreadySet = false;
        for (XAttr set : toSet) {
          if (set.equalsIgnoreValue(existing)) {
            alreadySet = true;
            break;
          }
        }
        if (!alreadySet) {
          xAttrs.add(existing);
          if (isUserVisible(existing)) {
            userVisibleXAttrsNum++;
          }
        }
      }
    }

    if (userVisibleXAttrsNum > fsd.getInodeXAttrsLimit()) {
      throw new IOException("Cannot add additional XAttr to inode, "
          + "would exceed limit of " + fsd.getInodeXAttrsLimit());
    }

    return xAttrs;
  }

  static XAttr getXAttrByPrefixedName(FSDirectory fsd, INodesInPath iip,
      String prefixedName) throws IOException {
    fsd.readLock();
    try {
      return XAttrStorage.readINodeXAttrByPrefixedName(iip.getLastINode(),
          iip.getPathSnapshotId(), prefixedName);
    } finally {
      fsd.readUnlock();
    }
  }

  static XAttr unprotectedGetXAttrByPrefixedName(

View on GitHub (pinned to 2add963021)

Solutions

1. Remove existing XAttrs before adding new ones.
2. Raise dfs.namenode.fs-limits.max-xattrs-per-inode if more attributes per inode are legitimately needed.

When it happens

Trigger: Setting XAttrs on an inode that already holds the configured maximum number of XAttrs (dfs.namenode.fs-limits.max-xattrs-per-inode).

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of apache/hadoop@2add963021 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/917a138c3e4adb1d. Report an issue: GitHub.