apache/iceberg · error · NoSuchNamespaceException

Namespace does not exist: namespace

Error message

Namespace does not exist: namespace

What it means

SparkCatalog.dropNamespace throws NoSuchNamespaceException when the underlying catalog's dropNamespace reports the namespace missing (converted from org.apache.iceberg.exceptions.NoSuchNamespaceException). Returned as Spark's 'Namespace does not exist: namespace' so DROP NAMESPACE fails instead of silently returning false.

Solutions

1. Use DROP NAMESPACE IF EXISTS <catalog>.<ns>
2. Check catalog.namespaceExists(namespace) before dropping
3. Verify you are targeting the intended catalog configuration

Example fix

// before
spark.sql("DROP NAMESPACE prod.tmp_staging");
// after
spark.sql("DROP NAMESPACE IF EXISTS prod.tmp_staging");

if (catalog.namespaceExists(namespace)) {
  catalog.dropNamespace(namespace, cascade);
} // otherwise nothing to do

try {
  catalog.dropNamespace(namespace, cascade);
} catch (NoSuchNamespaceException e) {
  // already gone; treat as success in cleanup jobs
}

When it happens

Trigger: DROP NAMESPACE <catalog>.<ns> (cascade or not) when the namespace does not exist in the backing catalog; also thrown by the wrapped catalog during cascade deletes when a child namespace is missing.

Common situations: Drop scripts run twice; dropping namespaces in the wrong catalog/environment; concurrent jobs dropping the same namespace.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Not found" and "does not exist" errors: why "Task not found", "No such folder", and "Can't find" fire when a lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 14 libraries.

Related errors

• Cannot apply unknown namespace change
• Cannot apply unknown namespace change
• Cannot apply unknown namespace change
• Cannot apply unknown namespace change
• Cannot create table as the namespace does not exist

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8efa3f1931371412. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at spark/v3.5/spark/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/SparkCatalog.java:568

          asNamespaceCatalog.removeProperties(Namespace.of(namespace), removals);
        }

      } catch (org.apache.iceberg.exceptions.NoSuchNamespaceException e) {
        throw new NoSuchNamespaceException(namespace);
      }
    } else {
      throw new NoSuchNamespaceException(namespace);
    }
  }

  @Override
  public boolean dropNamespace(String[] namespace, boolean cascade)
      throws NoSuchNamespaceException {
    if (asNamespaceCatalog != null) {
      try {
        return asNamespaceCatalog.dropNamespace(Namespace.of(namespace));
      } catch (org.apache.iceberg.exceptions.NoSuchNamespaceException e) {
        throw new NoSuchNamespaceException(namespace);
      }
    }

    return false;
  }

  @Override
  public Identifier[] listViews(String... namespace) {
    if (null != asViewCatalog) {
      return asViewCatalog.listViews(Namespace.of(namespace)).stream()
          .map(ident -> Identifier.of(ident.namespace().levels(), ident.name()))
          .toArray(Identifier[]::new);
    }

    return new Identifier[0];
  }

  @Override

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