apache/hadoop · error · IOException

Delete on root is not supported.

Error message

Delete on root is not supported.

What it means

Error "Delete on root is not supported." thrown in apache/hadoop.

Source

Thrown at hadoop-tools/hadoop-azure-datalake/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/adl/AdlFileSystem.java:606

   *                  true or false.
   * @return true if delete is successful else false.
   * @throws IOException when system error, internal server error or user error
   */
  @Override
  public boolean delete(final Path path, final boolean recursive)
      throws IOException {
    statistics.incrementWriteOps(1);
    String relativePath = toRelativeFilePath(path);
    // Delete on root directory not supported.
    if (relativePath.equals("/")) {
      // This is important check after recent commit
      // HADOOP-12977 and HADOOP-13716 validates on root for
      // 1. if root is empty and non recursive delete then return false.
      // 2. if root is non empty and non recursive delete then throw exception.
      if (!recursive
          && adlClient.enumerateDirectory(toRelativeFilePath(path), 1).size()
          > 0) {
        throw new IOException("Delete on root is not supported.");
      }
      return false;
    }

    return recursive ?
        adlClient.deleteRecursive(relativePath) :
        adlClient.delete(relativePath);
  }

  /**
   * Make the given file and all non-existent parents into
   * directories. Has the semantics of Unix 'mkdir -p'.
   * Existence of the directory hierarchy is not an error.
   *
   * @param path       path to create
   * @param permission to apply to path
   */
  @Override

View on GitHub (pinned to 2add963021)

Solutions

1. Do not attempt to delete the ADL root '/'; delete specific directories instead.
2. Guard application code against root-path deletes.

When it happens

Trigger: delete() is called on the ADL filesystem root.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of apache/hadoop@2add963021 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/17dd2cf99fce6618. Report an issue: GitHub.