apache/hadoop · error · HadoopIllegalArgumentException

<path> is missing

Error message

<path> is missing

What it means

Getfacl.processOptions (AclCommands.java) throws HadoopIllegalArgumentException('<path> is missing') when, after CommandFormat parsing of -R, the remaining argument list is empty. The getfacl command requires exactly one path operand; the shell command aborts before touching the filesystem.

Source

Thrown at hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/AclCommands.java:70

  /**
   * Implementing the '-getfacl' command for the the FsShell.
   */
  public static class GetfaclCommand extends FsCommand {
    public static String NAME = GET_FACL;
    public static String USAGE = "[-R] <path>";
    public static String DESCRIPTION = "Displays the Access Control Lists"
        + " (ACLs) of files and directories. If a directory has a default ACL,"
        + " then getfacl also displays the default ACL.\n"
        + "  -R: List the ACLs of all files and directories recursively.\n"
        + "  <path>: File or directory to list.\n";

    @Override
    protected void processOptions(LinkedList<String> args) throws IOException {
      CommandFormat cf = new CommandFormat(0, Integer.MAX_VALUE, "R");
      cf.parse(args);
      setRecursive(cf.getOpt("R"));
      if (args.isEmpty()) {
        throw new HadoopIllegalArgumentException("<path> is missing");
      }
      if (args.size() > 1) {
        throw new HadoopIllegalArgumentException("Too many arguments");
      }
    }

    @Override
    protected void processPath(PathData item) throws IOException {
      out.println("# file: " + item);
      out.println("# owner: " + item.stat.getOwner());
      out.println("# group: " + item.stat.getGroup());
      FsPermission perm = item.stat.getPermission();
      if (perm.getStickyBit()) {
        out.println("# flags: --" +
          (perm.getOtherAction().implies(FsAction.EXECUTE) ? "t" : "T"));
      }

      final AclStatus aclStatus;

View on GitHub (pinned to 2add963021)

Solutions

1. Supply exactly one path operand: hadoop fs -getfacl /user/me/data.
2. Guard scripts against empty variables: [ -n "$p" ] || { echo 'path missing'; exit 1; } before invoking the command.

Example fix

# before
hadoop fs -getfacl "$MAYBE_EMPTY_VAR"

# after
[ -n "$MAYBE_EMPTY_VAR" ] || { echo "error: path required" >&2; exit 1; }
hadoop fs -getfacl "$MAYBE_EMPTY_VAR"

[ -n "$TARGET" ] || { echo "usage: getfacl <path>" >&2; exit 2; }
hadoop fs -getfacl "$TARGET"

When it happens

Trigger: Running 'hadoop fs -getfacl' with no operands, or with only the -R flag ('hadoop fs -getfacl -R'), so args is empty after option parsing.

Common situations: Shell scripts where the path variable is unset or expands to an empty string ($MY_PATH omitted), so the flag parsing consumes everything and no path remains; CI jobs parameterized by an empty path.

Related errors

• Too many arguments
• Missing arguments: <acl_spec> <path>
• Missing either <acl_spec> or <path>
• Specified flags contains both remove and modify flags
• Missing <acl_spec> entry

AI-assisted analysis of apache/hadoop@2add963021 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e496483c6add53be. Report an issue: GitHub.