apache/hadoop · error · FileNotFoundException

Source '{srcFile}' does not exist

Error message

Source '{srcFile}' does not exist

What it means

Guard clause of Storage.nativeCopyFileUnbuffered: srcFile.exists() returned false, so the copy aborts with FileNotFoundException before NativeIO is invoked. exists() can also return false when the parent directory is unreadable, not only when the file is absent.

Source

Thrown at hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/common/Storage.java:1333

   * @param srcFile  an existing file to copy, must not be {@code null}
   * @param destFile  the new file, must not be {@code null}
   * @param preserveFileDate  true if the file date of the copy
   *  should be the same as the original
   *
   * @throws NullPointerException if source or destination is {@code null}
   * @throws IOException if source or destination is invalid
   * @throws IOException if an IO error occurs during copying
   */
  public static void nativeCopyFileUnbuffered(File srcFile, File destFile,
      boolean preserveFileDate) throws IOException {
    if (srcFile == null) {
      throw new NullPointerException("Source must not be null");
    }
    if (destFile == null) {
      throw new NullPointerException("Destination must not be null");
    }
    if (srcFile.exists() == false) {
      throw new FileNotFoundException("Source '" + srcFile + "' does not exist");
    }
    if (srcFile.isDirectory()) {
      throw new IOException("Source '" + srcFile + "' exists but is a directory");
    }
    if (srcFile.getCanonicalPath().equals(destFile.getCanonicalPath())) {
      throw new IOException("Source '" + srcFile + "' and destination '" +
          destFile + "' are the same");
    }
    File parentFile = destFile.getParentFile();
    if (parentFile != null) {
      if (!parentFile.mkdirs() && !parentFile.isDirectory()) {
        throw new IOException("Destination '" + parentFile
            + "' directory cannot be created");
      }
    }
    if (destFile.exists()) {
      if (FileUtil.canWrite(destFile) == false) {
        throw new IOException("Destination '" + destFile

View on GitHub (pinned to 2add963021)

Solutions

1. Log or print the absolute source path and verify it on disk
2. Check execute/search permission on every parent directory (exists() is false on unreadable parents)
3. If a race deleted the file, re-run the producing step (e.g. wait for the checkpoint to finish) before copying
4. Use absolute paths at the API boundary

Example fix

// before
Storage.nativeCopyFileUnbuffered(new File(path), dst, true);
// after
File src = new File(path).getAbsoluteFile();
if (!src.isFile()) throw new FileNotFoundException(src + " missing; parent readable?");
Storage.nativeCopyFileUnbuffered(src, dst, true);

File abs = srcFile == null ? null : srcFile.getAbsoluteFile();
if (abs == null || !Files.isRegularFile(abs.toPath())) {
  throw new FileNotFoundException("copy source missing or unreadable: " + abs);
}

static boolean isReadableRegularFile(File f) {
  return f != null && f.isFile() && f.canRead();
}

try {
  Storage.nativeCopyFileUnbuffered(src, dst, true);
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
  // re-resolve the source (producer may have failed) and give a path-absolute error
}

When it happens

Trigger: Mistyped or wrong source path; the file was deleted between path resolution and the copy call; the parent directory denies search permission so exists() observes nothing; a relative path resolved against an unexpected working directory.

Common situations: Checkpoint/bootstrap code copying an fsimage whose producing step failed silently; permission changes on storage dirs after setup; scripts passing relative paths from a different cwd.

Understand the failure class

Background: "File not found" and ENOENT errors: why libraries can't find a file that should exist — this error's family across 50 libraries.

Related errors

• %s does not exist or is not file.
• Source '{srcFile}' exists but is a directory
• Destination '{parentFile}' directory cannot be created
• Destination '{destFile}' exists but is read-only
• %s not found: %s

AI-assisted analysis of apache/hadoop@2add963021 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2e74f19aca17912d. Report an issue: GitHub.