apache/iceberg · error · UnsupportedOperationException

Cannot rewrite manifests in a

Error message

Cannot rewrite manifests in a %s table

What it means

Iceberg throws this UnsupportedOperationException when rewriteManifests() is called on a read-only table. Rewriting manifests commits new metadata, which BaseReadOnlyTable subclasses never permit. The descriptor names the read-only table kind.

Solutions

1. Execute manifest rewriting on the writable data table loaded via catalog.loadTable(identifier).
2. Filter metadata tables out of maintenance job table lists.
3. If manifests only need inspection, use table.scan manifests/metadata APIs instead.

Example fix

// before
table.snapshots().rewriteManifests().execute();

// after
Table dataTable = catalog.loadTable(TableIdentifier.of("db", "tbl"));
dataTable.rewriteManifests().execute();

if (isMetadataTableName(table.name())) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot rewrite manifests of metadata table " + table.name()); }

boolean canRewriteManifests = !(table instanceof BaseReadOnlyTable); // ensure handle came from Catalog.loadTable

try {
  table.rewriteManifests().execute();
} catch (UnsupportedOperationException e) {
  log.error("Manifest rewriting is not supported on read-only table {}", table.name(), e);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling table.rewriteManifests().execute() on a metadata table or any BaseReadOnlyTable subclass instance.

Common situations: Metadata compaction jobs applied across all Table handles including metadata tables obtained from table.metadataTableReferences().

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

• Cannot append to a table
• Cannot create transactions for a
• Cannot delete from a
• Cannot expire snapshots from a
• Cannot manage snapshots in a

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c978f354e64d5a62. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/BaseReadOnlyTable.java:71

  @Override
  public UpdateLocation updateLocation() {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
        "Cannot update the location of a " + descriptor + " table");
  }

  @Override
  public AppendFiles newAppend() {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Cannot append to a " + descriptor + " table");
  }

  @Override
  public RewriteFiles newRewrite() {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Cannot rewrite in a " + descriptor + " table");
  }

  @Override
  public RewriteManifests rewriteManifests() {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
        "Cannot rewrite manifests in a " + descriptor + " table");
  }

  @Override
  public OverwriteFiles newOverwrite() {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Cannot overwrite in a " + descriptor + " table");
  }

  @Override
  public RowDelta newRowDelta() {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
        "Cannot remove or replace rows in a " + descriptor + " table");
  }

  @Override
  public ReplacePartitions newReplacePartitions() {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
        "Cannot replace partitions in a " + descriptor + " table");

View on GitHub (pinned to 86d9c8fc54)