apache/iceberg · warning

Failed to delete: {}

Error message

Failed to delete: {}

What it means

WARN logged by RewriteDataFilesCommitManager.abortFileGroup when deleting the files added by a rewrite group whose commit failed. abortFileGroup is invoked after a failed or cancelled commit to remove the new data files; each delete failure is logged individually and suppressed so the whole cleanup pass completes.

Source

Thrown at core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/actions/RewriteDataFilesCommitManager.java:128

    }

    rewrite.commit();
  }

  /**
   * Clean up a specified file set by removing any files created for that operation, should not
   * throw any exceptions
   *
   * @param fileGroup group of files which has already been rewritten
   */
  public void abortFileGroup(RewriteFileGroup fileGroup) {
    Preconditions.checkState(
        fileGroup.addedFiles() != null, "Cannot abort a fileGroup that was not rewritten");

    Tasks.foreach(fileGroup.addedFiles())
        .noRetry()
        .suppressFailureWhenFinished()
        .onFailure((dataFile, exc) -> LOG.warn("Failed to delete: {}", dataFile.location(), exc))
        .run(dataFile -> table.io().deleteFile(dataFile.location()));
  }

  public void commitOrClean(Set<RewriteFileGroup> rewriteGroups) {
    try {
      commitFileGroups(rewriteGroups);
    } catch (CommitStateUnknownException e) {
      LOG.error(
          "Commit state unknown for {}, cannot clean up files because they may have been committed successfully.",
          rewriteGroups,
          e);
      throw e;
    } catch (Exception e) {
      if (e instanceof CleanableFailure) {
        LOG.error(
            "Cannot commit groups {}, attempting to clean up written files", rewriteGroups, e);
        rewriteGroups.forEach(this::abortFileGroup);
      }

View on GitHub (pinned to 86d9c8fc54)

Solutions

1. Read the chained cause in the WARN to find the delete error (ACL, throttling, missing file).
2. Verify table.io() credentials/permissions allow deletion in the table's data directory.
3. Re-run the rewrite; uncommitted leftovers can be cleaned with orphan file removal.
4. For 'already deleted' errors, no action needed — files were never referenced by a snapshot.

Example fix

// before
table.io().deleteFile(dataFile.location());
// after
try {
  table.io().deleteFile(dataFile.location());
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
  LOG.warn("Skipping already-deleted file {}", dataFile.location(), e);
}

// ensure table.io() supports deletion
try (// probe: table.io().deleteFile on a temp file in data dir if feasible) {}

try {
  rewrite.commit();
} catch (Exception e) {
  rewrite.abortFileGroups(); // deletes may warn; leftover files cleaned by expire orphans
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: commitFileGroups fails (or is aborted), abortFileGroup runs Tasks.foreach over fileGroup.addedFiles(), and table.io().deleteFile(dataFile.location()) throws for at least one file.

Common situations: Object store permission errors or rate limiting during cleanup; file already deleted by a concurrent operation; transient network failure during bulk deletes.

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 delete: {}
• Failed to commit rewrite, cleaning up rewritten files
• The iceberg transaction has been committed, but we failed to
• Failed to delete uncommitted DV {} for table {} task {}
• Failed to delete {} ({})

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ee6eb9700306624b. Report an issue: GitHub.