[For table {} with {}[{}] at {}]: Failed to plan data file r

Error message

[For table {} with {}[{}] at {}]: Failed to plan data file rewrite groups

What it means

This warning is emitted by DataFileRewritePlanner.processElement when planning rewrite groups for a table fails. The planner refreshes the table, finds data files exceeding the rewrite threshold, and groups them into commits; any exception in that planning pipeline (table refresh, scanning, group construction) is caught, logged with table/task context, and does not fail the Flink job. The affected maintenance trigger cycle is simply skipped.

Source

Thrown at flink/v2.2/flink/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/maintenance/operator/DataFileRewritePlanner.java:184

          taskName,
          taskIndex,
          ctx.timestamp(),
          groups.size(),
          groups);
      plannedGroupsCounter.inc(groups.size());

      for (RewriteFileGroup group : groups) {
        LOG.info(
            DataFileRewritePlanner.MESSAGE_PREFIX + "Emitting {}",
            tableName,
            taskName,
            taskIndex,
            ctx.timestamp(),
            group);
        out.collect(new PlannedGroup(table, groupsPerCommit, group, branch));
      }
    } catch (Exception e) {
      LOG.warn(
          DataFileRewritePlanner.MESSAGE_PREFIX + "Failed to plan data file rewrite groups",
          tableName,
          taskName,
          taskIndex,
          ctx.timestamp(),
          e);
      ctx.output(TaskResultAggregator.ERROR_STREAM, e);
      errorCounter.inc();
    }
  }

  @Override
  public void close() throws Exception {
    super.close();
    tableLoader.close();
  }

  public static class PlannedGroup {

View on GitHub (pinned to 86d9c8fc54)

Solutions

Read the nested exception in the log; fix the underlying cause (catalog access, bad rewrite option, corrupted metadata)
Verify catalog connectivity and credentials from the Flink TaskManager
Validate the RewriteDataFiles options (e.g. min-input-files, partial-progress.enabled) passed to the maintenance action
Re-trigger the maintenance job after the table is consistent; the planner is designed to retry on the next trigger

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Try / catch

// Watch the ERROR_STREAM / logs; the planner already catches internally
// e.g. consume side output when wiring the action job

Prevention

Validate RewriteDataFiles options before submitting the maintenance action
Ensure catalog connectivity and credentials from TaskManagers
Retry on the next scheduled trigger; the planner is idempotent
Avoid schema/spec evolution overlapping rewrite planning windows

When it happens

Trigger: Raised in DataFileRewritePlanner.processElement when rewritingGroups()/table operations throw — e.g. TableMetadata refresh failure against the catalog, snapshot scan errors while finding oversized/fragmented files, or exceptions building the rewrite groups with the configured options (partial progress, max-file-group-size, etc.).

Common situations: Catalog connectivity problems (Hive/REST/JDBC catalog timeout) during table refresh; corrupted or missing metadata/snapshot; invalid rewrite options passed via the action configuration; concurrent schema or partition-spec evolution during planning.

Understand the failure class

Background: "API request failed": what wrapped HTTP errors from external APIs mean and how to find the real cause — this error's family across 29 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/44c649bb6c807b5b. Report an issue: GitHub.