apache/iceberg · error · RuntimeIOException

Failed to create manifest writer for path: %s

Error message

Failed to create manifest writer for path: %s

What it means

Thrown when the Avro manifest writer appender for a format-version-4 data manifest cannot be created at the output location; the IOException is wrapped as RuntimeIOException. Creating the manifest writer is part of every snapshot commit that writes data manifests.

Source

Thrown at core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/ManifestWriter.java:306

    @Override
    protected FileAppender<ManifestEntry<DataFile>> newAppender(
        PartitionSpec spec, OutputFile file) {
      Schema manifestSchema = V4Metadata.entrySchema(spec.partitionType());
      try {
        return InternalData.write(format(), file)
            .schema(manifestSchema)
            .named("manifest_entry")
            .meta("schema", SchemaParser.toJson(spec.schema()))
            .meta("partition-spec", PartitionSpecParser.toJsonFields(spec))
            .meta("partition-spec-id", String.valueOf(spec.specId()))
            .meta("format-version", "4")
            .meta("content", "data")
            .set(writerProperties())
            .overwrite()
            .build();
      } catch (IOException e) {
        throw new RuntimeIOException(
            e, "Failed to create manifest writer for path: %s", file.location());
      }
    }
  }

  static class V4DeleteWriter extends ManifestWriter<DeleteFile> {
    private final V4Metadata.ManifestEntryWrapper<DeleteFile> entryWrapper;

    V4DeleteWriter(
        PartitionSpec spec,
        EncryptedOutputFile file,
        Long snapshotId,
        Map<String, String> writerProperties) {
      super(spec, file, snapshotId, null, writerProperties);
      this.entryWrapper = new V4Metadata.ManifestEntryWrapper<>(snapshotId, spec.partitionType());
    }

    @Override

View on GitHub (pinned to 86d9c8fc54)

Solutions

1. Examine the wrapped IOException cause for the concrete storage error.
2. Verify FileIO provider configuration (impl, credentials, endpoint) used by the table.
3. Confirm write permission and existence of the target location/bucket.
4. Retry the commit; use commit retries for transient object-store faults.

// pre-flight write probe on the metadata prefix
try (var out = table.io().newOutputFile(probeManifestPath).createOrOverwrite()) {
  // writable
} catch (IOException e) {
  throw new IllegalStateException("Cannot write manifests: " + probeManifestPath, e);
}

try {
  snapshotProducer.commit();
} catch (RuntimeIOException e) {
  logger.error("v4 manifest write failed: {}", e.getCause(), e);
  // fix FileIO/credentials then retry
}

When it happens

Trigger: ManifestWriter.V4DataWriter.newAppender fails while opening the output file via FileIO when writing a format-version 4 data manifest.

Common situations: Cloud storage auth failures, missing bucket/prefix permissions, transient network errors during commits, misconfigured FileIO in executors, disk quota exceeded on local FS.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to write file", "Could not save figure", "Error saving remote file" — file write failed: causes and fixes across languages and libraries — this error's family across 38 libraries.

Related errors

• Failed to create snapshot list writer for path: %s
• Cannot read manifest list file: %s
• Cannot read manifest list file: %s
• Failed to close manifest reader
• Failed to get stream length

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/26ba2526df1217f4. Report an issue: GitHub.