apache/iceberg · warning · java.io.IOException

No mark defined

Error message

No mark defined

What it means

SingleBufferInputStream.reset() restores the stream to the position captured by mark(), but the mark is cleared after a single reset and mark is only set by an explicit call. IOException "No mark defined" is thrown when reset() is called without a preceding mark() call, or after the mark has already been consumed/reset once.

Solutions

1. Call mark(position) before reset(); re-mark after each reset if you need to rewind again.
2. Restructure the reader to track its own position and use seek() instead of mark/reset.
3. Wrap reset() in a check of markSupported()/your own saved position rather than relying on repeated resets.
4. If repeat rewinding is needed, duplicate the stream or re-create it from the source ByteBuffer.

Example fix

// before
stream.reset(); stream.reset(); // second reset: No mark defined

// after
stream.mark(0);
stream.reset();
stream.mark(0); // re-mark before resetting again
stream.reset();

try {
  stream.reset();
} catch (IOException e) {
  if ("No mark defined".equals(e.getMessage())) {
    stream.seek(savedPosition); // rewind via explicit position instead
  } else {
    throw e;
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling reset() before calling mark(pos), or calling reset() twice without re-marking, or after the underlying read consumed the marked state.

Common situations: Code ported from streams assumed mark() was implicit; retries that call reset() twice to rewind; copy/paste of stream logic where the first reset succeeded and a second one fails.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid state transition" errors: "status must be X, actually Y", "already rejected/charging/uninstalled", "cannot ... while running" — what they mean when a library rejects your call — this error's family across 31 libraries.

Related errors

• Cannot seek to position after end of file
• No mark defined or has read past the previous mark limit

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/462508129f8b528e. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/io/SingleBufferInputStream.java:189

    ByteBuffer remaining = buffer.duplicate();
    buffer.position(buffer.limit());

    return Collections.singletonList(remaining);
  }

  @Override
  public void mark(int readlimit) {
    this.mark = buffer.position();
  }

  @Override
  public void reset() throws IOException {
    if (mark >= 0) {
      buffer.position(mark);
      this.mark = -1;
    } else {
      throw new IOException("No mark defined");
    }
  }

  @Override
  public boolean markSupported() {
    return true;
  }

  @Override
  public int available() {
    return buffer.remaining();
  }
}

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