apache/seatunnel · error · CatalogException

Failed to create empty dataset at

Error message

Failed to create empty dataset at

What it means

LanceCatalog.createTable, when creating an empty dataset, wraps any exception from the dataset-creation flow (Arrow schema serialization, allocator usage, dataset write) into a CatalogException 'Failed to create empty dataset at <path>'. It indicates the empty Lance dataset could not be materialized at the target path.

Source

Thrown at seatunnel-connectors-v2/connector-lance/src/main/java/org/apache/seatunnel/connectors/seatunnel/lance/catalog/LanceCatalog.java:296

                        }

                        Schema schemaWithMetadata = new Schema(arrowSchema.getFields(), metadata);

                        org.apache.arrow.memory.BufferAllocator allocator =
                                new org.apache.arrow.memory.RootAllocator();
                        try {
                            com.lancedb.lance.WriteParams writeParams =
                                    new com.lancedb.lance.WriteParams.Builder().build();
                            com.lancedb.lance.Dataset.create(
                                    allocator, datasetPath, schemaWithMetadata, writeParams);
                            log.debug("Created empty dataset at {}", datasetPath);
                        } finally {
                            allocator.close();
                        }
                    }
                }
            } catch (Exception e) {
                throw new CatalogException("Failed to create empty dataset at " + datasetPath, e);
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void dropTable(TablePath tablePath, boolean ignoreIfNotExists)
            throws TableNotExistException, CatalogException {
        DropTableRequest request = new DropTableRequest();
        List<String> ids = Lists.newArrayList(tablePath.getTableName());
        request.setId(ids);
        try {
            namespace.dropTable(request);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            String errorMsg = e.getMessage();
            if (errorMsg != null
                    && (errorMsg.contains("Table does not exist")
                            || errorMsg.contains("TABLE_NOT_FOUND")
                            || errorMsg.contains("404")

View on GitHub (pinned to cf67b549a7)

Solutions

  1. Check the cause exception for the underlying storage or schema error
  2. Verify the warehouse/dataset path is writable and credentials are correct
  3. Validate the CatalogTable schema is compatible with Lance types before creating
  4. Ensure the target path does not contain a conflicting partial dataset from a previous failed create
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

Path p = Paths.get(datasetPath);
if (Files.exists(p) && !Files.isWritable(p)) {
    throw new IllegalStateException("Dataset path not writable: " + datasetPath);
}

Try / catch

try {
    lanceCatalog.createTable(tablePath, catalogTable, false);
} catch (CatalogException e) {
    // inspect cause: storage access, schema validity, or partial dataset
}

When it happens

Trigger: createTable is invoked with an empty initial schema (ignoreIfExists false) and the underlying write to datasetPath throws — e.g. storage failure, invalid schema, or allocator/deserializer errors.

Common situations: Warehouse path not writable or doesn't exist and cannot be created; object storage misconfigured (bad endpoint/credentials); schema passed to createTable is invalid for Lance; disk full.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to write file", "Could not save figure", "Error saving remote file" — file write failed: causes and fixes across languages and libraries — this error's family across 38 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/seatunnel@cf67b549a7 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e5fc42a14e82d446. Report an issue: GitHub.