apache/iceberg · error · UnsupportedOperationException

Managing snapshots is not supported by +…

Error message

Managing snapshots is not supported by + getClass().getName()

What it means

Transaction.manageSnapshots() is a default API method that throws UnsupportedOperationException because the concrete Transaction implementation does not support snapshot management operations. Iceberg uses this pattern for optional API surface: only implementations that can manage snapshots (e.g. a full table-backed transaction) override it. The message includes the class name so you can see which implementation lacks support.

Solutions

1. Manage snapshots directly on the Table (table.manageSnapshots()) instead of through the Transaction.
2. Use separate transactions: commit data/schema changes first, then manage snapshots on the committed table.
3. Check the concrete Transaction implementation to confirm which operations it supports before using optional APIs.
4. Upgrade Iceberg if a newer version added snapshot-management support to your implementation.

Example fix

// before
Transaction tx = table.newTransaction();
tx.manageSnapshots().cherrypick();

// after
Transaction tx = table.newTransaction();
tx.newAppend().appendFile(file).commit();
tx.commitTransaction();
table.manageSnapshots().cherrypick(snapshotId).commit();

if (tx.getClass().getSimpleName().toLowerCase().contains("transaction") && tx instanceof Transaction) {
  // only call manageSnapshots() on implementations known to support it
}

boolean supportsSnapshotMgmt = !tx.getClass().getName().contains("BaseTransaction") && tx.manageSnapshotsIfSupported(); // feature-check via implementation docs

try {
  tx.manageSnapshots().cherrypick(id).commit();
} catch (UnsupportedOperationException e) {
  // fall back to table.manageSnapshots()
  table.manageSnapshots().cherrypick(id).commit();
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling transaction.manageSnapshots() (or table.transaction().manageSnapshots()) on a Transaction implementation that does not override the default method, e.g. transactions obtained from contexts that only support schema/partition updates.

Common situations: Wrapping table changes in a transaction and then attempting to cherry-pick, rollback, or set current snapshot through the same transaction; using a custom or catalog-provided Transaction class that implements only a subset of operations.

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 call refresh on temporary table operations
• Cannot call refresh on temporary table operations
• Cannot create a transaction within a transaction
• Cannot create transactions for a
• Default values are not supported

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/140a757b326bd2c0. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at api/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/Transaction.java:175

  default UpdatePartitionStatistics updatePartitionStatistics() {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
        "Updating partition statistics is not supported by " + getClass().getName());
  }

  /**
   * Create a new {@link ExpireSnapshots expire API} to expire snapshots in this table.
   *
   * @return a new {@link ExpireSnapshots}
   */
  ExpireSnapshots expireSnapshots();

  /**
   * Create a new {@link ManageSnapshots manage snapshot API} to manage snapshots in this table.
   *
   * @return a new {@link ManageSnapshots}
   */
  default ManageSnapshots manageSnapshots() {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
        "Managing snapshots is not supported by " + getClass().getName());
  }

  /**
   * Apply the pending changes from all actions and commit.
   *
   * @throws ValidationException If any update cannot be applied to the current table metadata.
   * @throws CommitFailedException If the updates cannot be committed due to conflicts.
   */
  void commitTransaction();
}

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