apache/iceberg · error · UnsupportedOperationException

Updating partition statistics is not supported by + getClass

Error message

Updating partition statistics is not supported by + getClass().getName()

What it means

The default Transaction.updatePartitionStatistics() throws UnsupportedOperationException because not every Transaction implementation can stage partition-statistics file changes. Implementations must override it to support adding or removing partition statistics files within a transaction; the message names the class that does not.

Source

Thrown at api/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/Transaction.java:158

  /**
   * Create a new {@link UpdateStatistics update table statistics API} to add or remove statistics
   * files in this table.
   *
   * @return a new {@link UpdateStatistics}
   */
  default UpdateStatistics updateStatistics() {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
        "Updating statistics is not supported by " + getClass().getName());
  }

  /**
   * Create a new {@link UpdatePartitionStatistics update partition statistics API} to add or remove
   * partition statistics files in this table.
   *
   * @return a new {@link UpdatePartitionStatistics}
   */
  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());

View on GitHub (pinned to 86d9c8fc54)

Solutions

Apply partition statistics updates directly via table.updatePartitionStatistics() instead of through the transaction.
Obtain the transaction from the real BaseTable so it overrides updatePartitionStatistics().
Catch UnsupportedOperationException and fall back to a standalone statistics commit.
Override updatePartitionStatistics() in custom Transaction implementations.

Example fix

// before
Transaction txn = table.newTransaction();
txn.updatePartitionStatistics().addPartitionStatisticsFile(file).commit();
txn.commitTransaction();

// after
try {
  Transaction txn = table.newTransaction();
  txn.updatePartitionStatistics().addPartitionStatisticsFile(file).commit();
  txn.commitTransaction();
} catch (UnsupportedOperationException e) {
  table.updatePartitionStatistics().addPartitionStatisticsFile(file).commit();
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Validate before calling

// probe support before staging partition statistics in the txn
try {
  txn.updatePartitionStatistics();
} catch (UnsupportedOperationException e) {
  useDirectPartitionStatsUpdate(table);
}

Type guard

boolean txnSupportsPartitionStats(Transaction txn) {
  try { txn.updatePartitionStatistics(); return true; }
  catch (UnsupportedOperationException e) { return false; }
}

Try / catch

try {
  txn.updatePartitionStatistics().addPartitionStatisticsFile(f).commit();
} catch (UnsupportedOperationException e) {
  table.updatePartitionStatistics().addPartitionStatisticsFile(f).commit();
}

Prevention

Fall back to table.updatePartitionStatistics() when the transaction cannot stage partition stats
Verify the table implementation supports partition statistics before wrapping work in a transaction
Add partition-stats transaction tests to any custom Transaction implementation's suite

When it happens

Trigger: Calling transaction.updatePartitionStatistics() (e.g. commitPartitionStatsTxn / removePartitionStatsTxn flows) on a Transaction implementation that keeps the throwing default — transactions on tables/wrappers without partition statistics support.

Common situations: Atomically committing partition statistics alongside other metadata operations; tests or maintenance jobs applying partition stats through a generic transaction object rather than the table directly.

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

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d48a8a1bd63d43dd. Report an issue: GitHub.