apache/iceberg · error · NoSuchTableException

Cannot find source table

Error message

Cannot find source table '%s'

What it means

BaseTableCreationSparkAction's constructor loads the source table from the given Spark catalog. If Spark throws NoSuchTableException, it is translated into Iceberg's NoSuchTableException 'Cannot find source table %s'. This guards snapshotting/cloning actions (e.g. SNAPSHOT, MIGRATE) against a nonexistent or unresolvable identifier.

Solutions

  1. Verify the table exists: SHOW TABLES IN <catalog>.<namespace> or spark.catalog.tableExists
  2. Pass a fully-qualified identifier including the correct catalog and namespace
  3. Check you are connected to the intended catalog (session vs metastore vs REST)
  4. Recreate or restore the table if it was dropped

Example fix

// before
SparkActions.get(spark).snapshotTable()
    .identify("orders")  // ambiguous / missing namespace
    ...
// after
SparkActions.get(spark).snapshotTable()
    .identify("spark_catalog.db.orders")
    ...
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

if (!spark.sessionState().catalogManager().catalog(sourceCatalogName).asTableCatalog().tableExists(ident)) { throw new IllegalStateException("Source table missing: " + ident); }

Try / catch

try { action.execute(); } catch (NoSuchTableException e) { LOG.error("Cannot find source table {}", e.getMessage()); throw e; }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Running SNAPSHOT/MIGRATE table procedures with a sourceTableIdent that does not exist in the supplied catalog, a mistyped table name, wrong namespace, or a catalog/session where the table is not visible.

Common situations: Typos in fully-qualified table names; table dropped between planning and execution; using a session catalog without USE of the right namespace; temporary views passed where a real table is required.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fac9f4231559e0ae. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at spark/v4.0/spark/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/actions/BaseTableCreationSparkAction.java:81

  private final String sourceTableLocation;
  private final TableCatalog sourceCatalog;
  private final Identifier sourceTableIdent;

  // Optional Parameters for destination
  private final Map<String, String> additionalProperties = Maps.newHashMap();

  BaseTableCreationSparkAction(
      SparkSession spark, CatalogPlugin sourceCatalog, Identifier sourceTableIdent) {
    super(spark);

    this.sourceCatalog = checkSourceCatalog(sourceCatalog);
    this.sourceTableIdent = sourceTableIdent;

    try {
      this.sourceTable = (V1Table) this.sourceCatalog.loadTable(sourceTableIdent);
      this.sourceCatalogTable = sourceTable.v1Table();
    } catch (org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.analysis.NoSuchTableException e) {
      throw new NoSuchTableException("Cannot find source table '%s'", sourceTableIdent);
    } catch (ClassCastException e) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
          String.format("Cannot use non-v1 table '%s' as a source", sourceTableIdent), e);
    }
    validateSourceTable();

    this.sourceTableLocation =
        CatalogUtils.URIToString(sourceCatalogTable.storage().locationUri().get());
  }

  protected abstract TableCatalog checkSourceCatalog(CatalogPlugin catalog);

  protected abstract StagingTableCatalog destCatalog();

  protected abstract Identifier destTableIdent();

  protected abstract Map<String, String> destTableProps();

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