apache/pulsar · error · ParameterException

delete mode can only be set to delete_when_no_subscriptions

Error message

delete mode can only be set to delete_when_no_subscriptions or delete_when_subscriptions_caught_up

What it means

Thrown by 'set-inactive-topic-policies' when the value passed to the inactive-topic-delete-mode flag is not a valid InactiveTopicDeleteMode enum constant. The code does InactiveTopicDeleteMode.valueOf(...) and converts the resulting IllegalArgumentException into this ParameterException, listing the only accepted values: delete_when_no_subscriptions or delete_when_subscriptions_caught_up. It is a client-side value validation before any admin call.

Source

Thrown at pulsar-client-tools/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/admin/cli/CmdNamespaces.java:1601

                converter = TimeUnitToSecondsConverter.class)
        private Long maxInactiveDurationInSeconds;

        @Option(names = { "--delete-mode", "-m" }, description = "Mode of delete inactive topic, Valid options are: "
                + "[delete_when_no_subscriptions, delete_when_subscriptions_caught_up]", required = true)
        private String inactiveTopicDeleteMode;

        @Override
        void run() throws PulsarAdminException {
            String namespace = validateNamespace(namespaceName);
            if (enableDeleteWhileInactive == disableDeleteWhileInactive) {
                throw new ParameterException("Need to specify either enable-delete-while-inactive or "
                        + "disable-delete-while-inactive");
            }
            InactiveTopicDeleteMode deleteMode = null;
            try {
                deleteMode = InactiveTopicDeleteMode.valueOf(inactiveTopicDeleteMode);
            } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
                throw new ParameterException("delete mode can only be set to delete_when_no_subscriptions or "
                        + "delete_when_subscriptions_caught_up");
            }
            getAdmin().namespaces().setInactiveTopicPolicies(namespace, new InactiveTopicPolicies(deleteMode,
                    maxInactiveDurationInSeconds.intValue(), enableDeleteWhileInactive));
        }
    }

    @Command(description = "Set the delayed delivery policy on a namespace")
    private class SetDelayedDelivery extends CliCommand {
        @Parameters(description = "tenant/namespace", arity = "1")
        private String namespaceName;

        @Option(names = { "--enable", "-e" }, description = "Enable delayed delivery messages")
        private boolean enable = false;

        @Option(names = { "--disable", "-d" }, description = "Disable delayed delivery messages")
        private boolean disable = false;

View on GitHub (pinned to 820761864e)

Solutions

1. Use exactly one of the accepted values: delete_when_no_subscriptions or delete_when_subscriptions_caught_up (all lowercase).
2. Check the enum spelling with the values shown in this message or 'pulsar-admin namespaces set-inactive-topic-policies --help'.
3. Fix shell variables so an empty/undefined value is not expanded into the flag.

Example fix

// before
pulsar-admin namespaces set-inactive-topic-policies public/default --enable-delete-while-inactive --deleteWhenNoSubscriptions --max-inactive-duration 30
// after
pulsar-admin namespaces set-inactive-topic-policies public/default --enable-delete-while-inactive --delete_when_no_subscriptions --max-inactive-duration 30

MODE="$1"
case "$MODE" in
  delete_when_no_subscriptions|delete_when_subscriptions_caught_up) ;;
  *) echo "invalid delete mode: $MODE"; exit 1;;
esac

When it happens

Trigger: Passing an unknown/misspelled delete mode string (e.g. 'deleteWhenNoSubscriptions', 'delete_when_subscription_caught_up', 'none') to the delete-mode flag of set-inactive-topic-policies.

Common situations: Case mismatch (camelCase vs SCREAMING_SNAKE); hand-editing scripts with a guessed enum name; docs/versions drift where an old or hypothetical mode value is used.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid enum value errors: "Unknown type", "Invalid scope", "must be one of" — when a string is not on the library's allowed list — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• Either --compatibility or --disabled must be specified
• Illegal schema compatibility strategy %s. Possible values: %
• Need to provide a persistent topic name
• Need to provide a non-persistent topic name
• Invalid message id (must be in format: ledgerId:entryId) val

AI-assisted analysis of apache/pulsar@820761864e (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4c15503445e87113. Report an issue: GitHub.