apache/iceberg · error · java.lang.IllegalArgumentException

Unsupported manifest content type:

Error message

Unsupported manifest content type:

What it means

When planning a Spark action, manifests are read by content type: DATA manifests via ManifestFiles.read, DELETES via readDeleteManifest. Any other ManifestContent has no reader path and throws IllegalArgumentException, protecting against silently skipping unknown manifest kinds.

Solutions

1. Upgrade the Iceberg Spark runtime to a version handling the manifest content type
2. Remove/repair the offending manifests (e.g. via expireSnapshots on a compatible runtime)
3. Confirm no mixed Iceberg versions between catalog and executor

Example fix

// before
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported manifest content type:" + content);
// after
// upgrade runtime that supports the new ManifestContent before this default branch fires

try { SparkActions.get(spark).deleteOrphanFiles(table)...execute(); }
catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
  if (e.getMessage().startsWith("Unsupported manifest content type")) { /* upgrade runtime */ }
  else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running a Spark action (rewriteDataFiles, compute stats, etc.) against a table containing manifests whose content type is neither DATA nor DELETES — e.g. new manifest kinds introduced by a newer spec version.

Common situations: Reading tables written by a newer Iceberg version with an older Spark runtime on the classpath; corrupted or hand-edited metadata assigning unexpected content values.

Related errors

• Cannot create table as the namespace does not exist
• Cannot find source table
• Cannot find source table
• Cannot find source table
• Cannot use non-v1 table

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1dc92b586dc669ba. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at spark/v4.2/spark/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/actions/BaseSparkAction.java:436

    }

    public CloseableIterator<FileInfo> entries(ManifestFileBean manifest) {
      ManifestContent content = manifest.content();
      FileIO io = table.getValue().io();
      Map<Integer, PartitionSpec> specs = table.getValue().specs();
      List<String> proj = ImmutableList.of(DataFile.FILE_PATH.name(), DataFile.CONTENT.name());

      switch (content) {
        case DATA:
          return CloseableIterator.transform(
              ManifestFiles.read(manifest, io, specs).select(proj).iterator(),
              ReadManifest::toFileInfo);
        case DELETES:
          return CloseableIterator.transform(
              ManifestFiles.readDeleteManifest(manifest, io, specs).select(proj).iterator(),
              ReadManifest::toFileInfo);
        default:
          throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported manifest content type:" + content);
      }
    }

    static FileInfo toFileInfo(ContentFile<?> file) {
      return new FileInfo(file.location(), file.content().toString());
    }
  }
}

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