apache/pulsar · error · ParameterException

Cannot specify both archive and source-type

Error message

Cannot specify both archive and source-type

What it means

Mirror of the sinks rule for sources: a source is deployed either via a custom NAR archive (--archive) or a built-in connector type (--source-type), and supplying both is ambiguous, so a ParameterException is thrown.

Source

Thrown at pulsar-client-tools/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/admin/cli/CmdSources.java:443

                sourceConfig.setSerdeClassName(deserializationClassName);
            }
            if (null != schemaType) {
                sourceConfig.setSchemaType(schemaType);
            }

            if (null != batchBuilder) {
                sourceConfig.setBatchBuilder(batchBuilder);
            }

            if (null != processingGuarantees) {
                sourceConfig.setProcessingGuarantees(processingGuarantees);
            }
            if (parallelism != null) {
                sourceConfig.setParallelism(parallelism);
            }

            if (archive != null && (sourceType != null || sourceConfig.getSourceType() != null)) {
                throw new ParameterException("Cannot specify both archive and source-type");
            }

            if (archive != null) {
                sourceConfig.setArchive(archive);
            }

            if (sourceType != null) {
                sourceConfig.setArchive(validateSourceType(sourceType));
            } else if (sourceConfig.getSourceType() != null) {
                sourceConfig.setArchive(validateSourceType(sourceConfig.getSourceType()));
            }

            Resources resources = sourceConfig.getResources();
            if (cpu != null) {
                if (resources == null) {
                    resources = new Resources();
                }
                resources.setCpu(cpu);

View on GitHub (pinned to 820761864e)

Solutions

1. Keep only --source-type for built-in connectors
2. Keep only --archive for custom NARs
3. Remove sourceType from the source config JSON when using --archive

Example fix

// before
pulsar-admin sources create --archive ./src.nar --source-type kafka ...
// after
pulsar-admin sources create --source-type kafka ...

const hasArchive = args.includes('--archive');
const hasSourceType = args.includes('--source-type');
if (hasArchive && hasSourceType) throw new Error('Pass either --archive or --source-type, not both');

const isSourceDeployment = (o) => o.archive == null || (o.sourceType == null && o.sourceConfig?.sourceType == null);

try {
  // run sources create
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message.includes('both archive and source-type')) { /* remove one flag */ }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `pulsar-admin sources create` (or update) with both `--archive` and `--source-type`, or with --archive while a config (--source-config-file) already sets sourceType.

Common situations: Appending --source-type to an existing archive-based command; config file already containing sourceType while the user also passes --archive.

Related errors

• Cannot specify both archive and sink-type
• Sink archive not specified
• Sink Archive file %s does not exist
• Invalid sink type '%s' -- Available sinks are: %s
• You must specify a name for the sink

AI-assisted analysis of apache/pulsar@820761864e (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f0d7c07580804440. Report an issue: GitHub.