apache/hadoop · error · IOException

Directory is not empty.

Error message

Directory {} is not empty.

What it means

Thrown by HierarchyBosNativeFileSystemStore.deleteDirs when a non-recursive delete is requested on a directory that still contains entries. The store lists up to 1 child under the key and, if any file or subdirectory is found, refuses the delete with IOException 'Directory <key> is not empty.' This mirrors the POSIX rmdir/HDFS semantics on the BOS hierarchy store.

Solutions

1. Call delete(path, true) to delete the directory recursively
2. List children first (fs.listStatus(path)) and delete them explicitly if you truly need per-entry control
3. Guard the non-recursive call with an emptiness check and surface a clear message to the caller

Example fix

// before
fs.delete(new Path("bosn://bucket/out"), false); // throws: dir not empty
// after
Path dir = new Path("bosn://bucket/out");
if (fs.getFileStatus(dir).isDirectory() && fs.listStatus(dir).length > 0) {
  fs.delete(dir, true);
} else {
  fs.delete(dir, false);
}

Path dir = new Path("bosn://bucket/out");
if (!fs.getFileStatus(dir).isDirectory()
    || fs.listStatus(dir).length == 0) {
  fs.delete(dir, false); // safe: absent or empty
} else {
  fs.delete(dir, true);
}

catch (IOException e) { if (e.getMessage().contains("is not empty")) { /* retry recursive or report */ } else throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling FileSystem.delete(path, false) on a BOS directory whose listing returns at least one file or subdirectory; e.g. cleanup code that deletes job output directories non-recursively, or exists()+delete() sequences copied from local-FileSystem code.

Common situations: Job cleanup after a failed run leaves _temporary subdirectories; distcp or Hive scripts that issue non-recursive deletes of directories that were populated concurrently; code ported from a filesystem where delete() silently recursed.

Related errors

• Attempted to seek or read past the end of the file " +…
• Can not delete root path
• Can not delete the directory
• Can't open because it is a directory
• Cannot append to a diretory (=" + f + " )

AI-assisted analysis of apache/hadoop@2add963021 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9471f95e8f5d5437. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at hadoop-cloud-storage-project/hadoop-bos/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/bos/HierarchyBosNativeFileSystemStore.java:115

  protected boolean isHierarchy() {
    return true;
  }

  /**
   * {@inheritDoc}
   *
   * Deletes a directory. For non-recursive deletes, verifies
   * the directory is empty first.
   */
  @Override
  public void deleteDirs(
      String key, boolean recursive) throws IOException {
    if (!recursive) {
      PartialListing listing =
          list(key, 1, null, "/");
      if (listing.getFiles().length
          + listing.getDirectories().length > 0) {
        throw new IOException(
            "Directory " + key + " is not empty.");
      }
      delete(key);
    } else {
      String marker = null;
      DeleteDirectoryResponse response = null;
      do {
        response = bosClientProxy.deleteDirectory(
            bucketName, key, true, marker);
        if (response != null
            && response.isTruncated()) {
          marker = response.getNextDeleteMarker();
        } else {
          break;
        }
      } while (response.isTruncated());
    }
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to 2add963021)