apache/hadoop · error · IllegalArgumentException

Permissions must not be null

Error message

Permissions must not be null

What it means

Options.CreateOpts.Perms (FileSystem.create(path, CreateOpts.perms(perm), ...)) requires a non-null FsPermission; null throws IllegalArgumentException immediately because the option object would otherwise carry no permission at all.

Source

Thrown at hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/Options.java:136

        }
        bytesPerChecksum = bpc; 
      }
      public int getValue() { return bytesPerChecksum; }
    }

    public static class ChecksumParam extends CreateOpts {
      private final ChecksumOpt checksumOpt;
      protected ChecksumParam(ChecksumOpt csumOpt) {
        checksumOpt = csumOpt;
      }
      public ChecksumOpt getValue() { return checksumOpt; }
    }
    
    public static class Perms extends CreateOpts {
      private final FsPermission permissions;
      protected Perms(FsPermission perm) { 
        if(perm == null) {
          throw new IllegalArgumentException("Permissions must not be null");
        }
        permissions = perm; 
      }
      public FsPermission getValue() { return permissions; }
    }
    
    public static class Progress extends CreateOpts {
      private final Progressable progress;
      protected Progress(Progressable prog) { 
        if(prog == null) {
          throw new IllegalArgumentException("Progress must not be null");
        }
        progress = prog;
      }
      public Progressable getValue() { return progress; }
    }
    
    public static class CreateParent extends CreateOpts {

View on GitHub (pinned to 2add963021)

Solutions

1. Pass FsPermission.getFileDefault()/getDirDefault() (or an explicit umask-derived value) when the caller has no specific permission
2. Omit the Perms option entirely so the FileSystem default applies
3. Null-check optional parameters before building the opts array

Example fix

// before
CreateOpts.perms(userPerm);            // userPerm == null
// after
CreateOpts.perms(userPerm != null ? userPerm : FsPermission.getFileDefault());

FsPermission perm = (permOpt != null) ? permOpt : FsPermission.getFileDefault();
out = fs.create(p, CreateOpts.perms(perm));

When it happens

Trigger: CreateOpts.perms(null) or new CreateOpts.Perms(null) — commonly an optional permission parameter forwarded blindly from a helper method whose caller passed null.

Common situations: API wrappers with @Nullable permission parameters, config-driven permission code paths where the property is absent.

Related errors

• Progress must not be null
• no permission supplied
• Block size must be greater than 0
• Replication must be greater than 0
• Buffer size must be greater than 0

AI-assisted analysis of apache/hadoop@2add963021 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8288d868b0c53c60. Report an issue: GitHub.