apache/seatunnel · error · SeaTunnelRuntimeException

COMMON-17

COMMON-17

Error message

'${identifier}' unsupported convert type '${dataType}' of '${field}' to SeaTunnel data type.

What it means

PostgresTypeConverter.convert() throws this when a PostgreSQL column type cannot be mapped to a SeaTunnel type. The default branch maps Types.OTHER columns to STRING, but any other unrecognized type falls through to CommonError.convertToSeaTunnelTypeError with the Postgres identifier.

Source

Thrown at seatunnel-connectors-v2/connector-jdbc/src/main/java/org/apache/seatunnel/connectors/seatunnel/jdbc/internal/dialect/psql/PostgresTypeConverter.java:293

                    builder.scale(typeDefine.getScale());
                }
                break;
            case PG_TIMESTAMP_TZ:
                // timestamptz -> TIMESTAMP_TZ
                builder.dataType(LocalTimeType.OFFSET_DATE_TIME_TYPE);
                if (typeDefine.getScale() != null && typeDefine.getScale() > MAX_TIMESTAMP_SCALE) {
                    builder.scale(MAX_TIMESTAMP_SCALE);
                } else {
                    builder.scale(typeDefine.getScale());
                }
                break;
            default:
                if (typeDefine.getSqlType() == Types.OTHER) {
                    builder.dataType(BasicType.STRING_TYPE);
                    builder.sourceType(typeDefine.getColumnType());
                    break;
                }
                throw CommonError.convertToSeaTunnelTypeError(
                        identifier(), typeDefine.getDataType(), typeDefine.getName());
        }
        return builder.build();
    }

    @Override
    public BasicTypeDefine reconvert(Column column) {
        BasicTypeDefine.BasicTypeDefineBuilder builder =
                BasicTypeDefine.builder()
                        .name(column.getName())
                        .nullable(column.isNullable())
                        .comment(column.getComment())
                        .defaultValue(column.getDefaultValue());
        switch (column.getDataType().getSqlType()) {
            case BOOLEAN:
                builder.columnType(PG_BOOLEAN);
                builder.dataType(PG_BOOLEAN);
                break;

View on GitHub (pinned to cf67b549a7)

Solutions

1. CAST the offending column in the query (e.g. to TEXT or a numeric type)
2. Check the driver/SeaTunnel version — upgrade to one that handles the type
3. Wrap custom extension columns as TEXT (e.g. geometry::text)

Example fix

// before: SELECT geom FROM places (PostGIS geometry)
// after
String query = "SELECT ST_AsText(geom) AS geom FROM places";

// Check column JDBC types are convertible before reading:
ResultSet cols = meta.getColumns(null, schema, table, null);
while (cols.next()) {
    int jdbcType = cols.getInt("DATA_TYPE");
    if (jdbcType == Types.OTHER || jdbcType == Types.STRUCT || jdbcType == Types.ARRAY) {
    LOG.warn("Column {} may need a CAST: {}", cols.getString("COLUMN_NAME"), cols.getString("TYPE_NAME"));
    }
}

try {
    CatalogTable table = converter.convert(typeDefinition);
} catch (SeaTunnelRuntimeException e) {
    LOG.warn("Unsupported Postgres type, cast or exclude the column: {}", e.getMessage());
    // fall back to TEXT cast via custom query
}

When it happens

Trigger: Reading a Postgres table whose column has a JDBC type not handled by convert() and not Types.OTHER — e.g. custom enum domains surfaced differently, geometric/JSON types on unhandled drivers, or PG array types the converter predates.

Common situations: Tables with custom types/extensions (postgis geometry on old drivers, custom composite types), or newer Postgres versions introducing types unknown to the connector; schema read fails during job initialization.

Related errors

• COMMON-19
• The DB connection is not a valid replication connection
• Unable to parse create_replication_slot response
• Read the binlog offset error
• SQL_OPERATION_FAILED

AI-assisted analysis of apache/seatunnel@cf67b549a7 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1b7c50e46a5bd83f. Report an issue: GitHub.