apache/iceberg · error · AnalysisException

Cannot create view %s.%s that references temporary %s: %s

Error message

Cannot create view %s.%s that references temporary %s: %s

What it means

Iceberg's Spark 3.5 RewriteViewCommands rule throws this AnalysisException when a CREATE VIEW targeting a permanent (non-session) view catalog resolves to a plan that references session-scoped temporary objects. Permanent views store their SQL text and must be resolvable independent of the creator's session, so temp views/functions (which die with the session) may not appear in their definition. The check runs in verifyTemporaryObjectsDontExist during analysis of CreateViewCommand-like plans.

Source

Thrown at spark/v3.5/spark-extensions/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/RewriteViewCommands.scala:134

      case UnresolvedIdentifier(CatalogAndIdentifier(catalog, ident), _)
          if ViewUtil.isViewCatalog(catalog) =>
        Some(ResolvedIdentifier(catalog, ident))

      case _ =>
        None
    }
  }

  /**
   * Permanent views are not allowed to reference temp objects
   */
  private def verifyTemporaryObjectsDontExist(
      identifier: ResolvedIdentifier,
      child: LogicalPlan): Unit = {
    val tempViews = collectTemporaryViews(child)
    if (tempViews.nonEmpty) {
      throw invalidRefToTempObject(
        identifier,
        tempViews.map(v => v.quoted).mkString("[", ", ", "]"),
        "view")
    }

    val tempFunctions = collectTemporaryFunctions(child)
    if (tempFunctions.nonEmpty) {
      throw invalidRefToTempObject(identifier, tempFunctions.mkString("[", ", ", "]"), "function")
    }
  }

  private def invalidRefToTempObject(
      ident: ResolvedIdentifier,
      tempObjectNames: String,
      tempObjectType: String) = {
    new AnalysisException(
      String.format(
        "Cannot create view %s.%s that references temporary %s: %s",

View on GitHub (pinned to 86d9c8fc54)

Solutions

  1. Replace the temporary view reference with a persistent table or view (e.g., CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE / VIEW in a real catalog) before creating the permanent view.
  2. Inline the temp view's query into the new view definition: CREATE VIEW cat.db.v AS SELECT * FROM (<temp view query>).
  3. Replace temporary function usage with a permanent function registered in the catalog, or inline its logic.
  4. If the intent was session-local, create the view in the session catalog instead: CREATE TEMPORARY VIEW tmp AS ... or omit the Iceberg catalog prefix.
  5. If defining multiple persistent views from temp views, create them bottom-up: first persist the base temp view, then create dependent views.

Example fix

// before (fails)
CREATE TEMPORARY VIEW tmp_filtered AS SELECT * FROM events WHERE day = '2026-01-01';
CREATE VIEW iceberg.db.daily AS SELECT * FROM tmp_filtered;

// after (works)
CREATE TABLE iceberg.db.daily_base AS SELECT * FROM events WHERE day = '2026-01-01';
CREATE VIEW iceberg.db.daily AS SELECT * FROM iceberg.db.daily_base;
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Spark 3.5 (Scala): check plan for temp views before CREATE VIEW on a view catalog
val analyzed = spark.sessionState.executePlan(df.queryExecution.logical).analyzed
val usesTemp = analyzed.flatMap {
  case r: org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.UnresolvedRelation
    if spark.sessionState.catalog.isTempView(r.multipartIdentifier) => true
  case _ => false
}.nonEmpty
if (usesTemp) throw new IllegalStateException("view body references temp views; persist them first")

Type guard

def referencesTempView(sql: String, spark: SparkSession): Boolean =
  spark.sessionState.catalog.listTempViews().exists(v => sql.contains(v.name))

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Running `CREATE VIEW iceberg_catalog.db.permanent_view AS SELECT ... FROM temp_view` where temp_view was created via `CREATE TEMPORARY VIEW`, or `CREATE VIEW cat.db.v AS SELECT temp_fn(col) FROM t` where temp_fn is a session temporary function. The message names the offending object and whether it was a temporary view or function.

Common situations: Developers migrate a session temp view to a persistent Iceberg view by re-running the definition with CREATE VIEW but forgetting the body still reads from a temp view or uses a temp UDF. Also common in notebooks where setup code creates temp views, then a persistent view is defined on top of them; works in dev session, fails on restart.

Understand the failure class

Background: UnsupportedOperationException and "is not supported" errors: when a library deliberately refuses a call — this error's family across 30 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4e7fda19e491446b. Report an issue: GitHub.