apache/hadoop · error · IOException

Unable to create file: {file}, Aborting

Error message

Unable to create file: {file}, Aborting

What it means

In create(), after changing to the parent directory, storeFileStream (STOR) did not get a positive preliminary reply, so the server refused to start the upload. Any stream handle is closed, the client disconnected, and create() fails with this IOException.

Source

Thrown at hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/ftp/FTPFileSystem.java:356

      throw new IOException("create(): Mkdirs failed to create: " + parent);
    }
    client.allocate(bufferSize);
    // Change to parent directory on the server. Only then can we write to the
    // file on the server by opening up an OutputStream. As a side effect the
    // working directory on the server is changed to the parent directory of the
    // file. The FTP client connection is closed when close() is called on the
    // FSDataOutputStream.
    client.changeWorkingDirectory(parent.toUri().getPath());
    OutputStream outputStream = client.storeFileStream(file.getName());

    if (!FTPReply.isPositivePreliminary(client.getReplyCode())) {
      // The ftpClient is an inconsistent state. Must close the stream
      // which in turn will logout and disconnect from FTP server
      if (outputStream != null) {
        IOUtils.closeStream(outputStream);
      }
      disconnect(client);
      throw new IOException("Unable to create file: " + file + ", Aborting");
    }

    FSDataOutputStream fos = new FSDataOutputStream(outputStream, statistics) {
      @Override
      public void close() throws IOException {
        super.close();
        if (!client.isConnected()) {
          throw new FTPException("Client not connected");
        }
        boolean cmdCompleted = client.completePendingCommand();
        disconnect(client);
        if (!cmdCompleted) {
          throw new FTPException("Could not complete transfer, Reply Code - "
              + client.getReplyCode());
        }
      }
    };
    return fos;

View on GitHub (pinned to 2add963021)

Solutions

1. Verify the same user can upload manually: curl -T localfile ftp://user@host/dir/
2. Check the target directory is writable: FsAction.WRITE in getFileStatus(dir).getPermission()
3. Rule out disk-full or quota on the server
4. Switch to passive mode: conf.set("fs.ftp.data.connection.mode", "PASSIVE_LOCAL_DATA_CONNECTION_MODE") if active mode is blocked

Path parent = file.getParent();
if (fs.exists(parent)) {
  FsPermission perm = fs.getFileStatus(parent).getPermission();
  if (!perm.getUserAction().and(FsAction.WRITE).equals(FsAction.WRITE)) {
    throw new IOException("No FTP write permission in " + parent);
  }
}
FSDataOutputStream out = fs.create(file, true);

try {
  out = fs.create(file, true);
} catch (IOException e) {
  if (e.getMessage() != null && e.getMessage().startsWith("Unable to create file")) {
    // server refused STOR: surface context (permission/quota/firewall) instead of the raw text
    throw new IOException("FTP server refused STOR for " + file, e);
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: FTP user lacks write permission in the target directory; the target name already exists as a directory; server disk full or quota exceeded; data connection mode blocked by firewall so the server rejects STOR upfront.

Common situations: Upload directories with restrictive ownership; disk-full FTP servers; active-mode data channels blocked by NAT/firewall (server refuses the transfer before it starts).

Related errors

• Unable to open file: {file}, Aborting
• create(): Mkdirs failed to create: {parent}
• Could not complete transfer, Reply Code - {replyCode}
• Could not complete transfer, Reply Code -
• mkdir of ${f} failed

AI-assisted analysis of apache/hadoop@2add963021 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d429698b19b186fa. Report an issue: GitHub.