apache/hadoop · error

Invalid VECSUM_TYPE environment variable. Valid values are

Error message

Invalid VECSUM_TYPE environment variable.  Valid values are libhdfs, zcr, or local

What it means

vecsum read its VECSUM_TYPE setting but parse_vecsum_type() (vecsum.c:132) did not recognize the token, returning -1. Only the exact words local, libhdfs, and zcr are accepted, matched case-insensitively via strcasecmp. Any other spelling, extra whitespace, quoting artifact, or trailing newline makes the run abort at startup.

Source

Thrown at hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-native-client/src/main/native/libhdfs-tests/vecsum.c:217

            "variable to the number of passes to make.\n");
        goto error;
    }
    opts->passes = atoi(pass_str);
    if (opts->passes <= 0) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Invalid value for the VECSUM_PASSES "
            "environment variable.  You must set this to a "
            "number greater than 0.\n");
        goto error;
    }
    ty_str = getenv("VECSUM_TYPE");
    if (!ty_str) {
        fprintf(stderr, "You must set the VECSUM_TYPE environment "
            "variable to " VECSUM_TYPE_VALID_VALUES "\n");
        goto error;
    }
    ty = parse_vecsum_type(ty_str);
    if (ty < 0) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Invalid VECSUM_TYPE environment variable.  "
            "Valid values are " VECSUM_TYPE_VALID_VALUES "\n");
        goto error;
    }
    opts->ty = ty;
    opts->rpc_address = getenv("VECSUM_RPC_ADDRESS");
    if (!opts->rpc_address) {
        opts->rpc_address = "default";
    }
    return opts;
error:
    free(opts);
    return NULL;
}

static int test_file_chunk_setup(double **chunk)
{
    int i;
    double *c, val;

View on GitHub (pinned to 2add963021)

Solutions

1. Use exactly one of the three tokens: export VECSUM_TYPE=libhdfs (case does not matter, spelling does).
2. Print the value with delimiters to expose invisible characters: printf '[%s]\n' "$VECSUM_TYPE" — look for trailing spaces, CR, or newline.
3. If the value comes from a file or pipeline, strip whitespace: export VECSUM_TYPE=$(tr -d '[:space:]\r\n' < /tmp/ty.txt).
4. Check you are not running a different/older vecsum build whose accepted values differ from the ones in its own usage message.

Example fix

# before
export VECSUM_TYPE="libhdfs "   # trailing space → parse_vecsum_type returns -1
./vecsum

# after
export VECSUM_TYPE=$(printf '%s' "libhdfs " | tr -d '[:space:]')
./vecsum

# reject values vecsum's strcasecmp match will refuse
ty=$(printf '%s' "${VECSUM_TYPE:-}" | tr -d '[:space:]\r\n')
case "$ty" in
  local|LOCAL|libhdfs|LIBHDFS|zcr|ZCR|lOcAl|LiBhDfS|ZcR) export VECSUM_TYPE="$ty" ;;
  *) printf 'bad VECSUM_TYPE [%s] — use libhdfs, zcr, or local\n' "$ty" >&2; exit 2 ;;
esac

/* if you embed vecsum's option parsing, use an enum + validator */
enum vecsum_type { VECSUM_LOCAL = 0, VECSUM_LIBHDFS, VECSUM_ZCR };
static int valid_vecsum_type(const char *s) {
    return strcasecmp(s, "local") == 0 ||
           strcasecmp(s, "libhdfs") == 0 ||
           strcasecmp(s, "zcr") == 0;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Exporting VECSUM_TYPE with a value outside {local, libhdfs, zcr}, e.g. VECSUM_TYPE=LOCAL works (strcasecmp) but VECSUM_TYPE="libhdfs " , VECSUM_TYPE=hdfs, VECSUM_TYPE=zcr\n (from a file read without chomp) or VECSUM_TYPE=LIBHDFS_V2 all fail parse_vecsum_type and hit the ty < 0 branch at vecsum.c:216.

Common situations: Scripts that generate VECSUM_TYPE dynamically and append whitespace or a newline; renaming a backend in a newer Hadoop version and running with the old name; typos like 'libhdfs' vs 'libhdfsplus'; values sourced from a config file with CRLF line endings.

Related errors

• You must set the VECSUM_TYPE environment variable to libhdfs
• Duration of a task shouldn't be less or equal to 0!
• No more entry in " + f
• f + " is a directory"
• f + " already exists"

AI-assisted analysis of apache/hadoop@2add963021 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/43ddaeaf2dbc4b68. Report an issue: GitHub.