apache/skywalking · error · IllegalArgumentException

Incompatible BucketedValues [{}] for current PercentileFunct

Error message

Incompatible BucketedValues [{}] for current PercentileFunction[{}]

What it means

AvgHistogramPercentileFunction (avgHistogramPercentile / meterPercentile in MAL) accepts a PercentileArgument wrapping BucketedValues plus ranks. Before accumulating it checks the bucketed values against the already-populated dataset with isCompatible(); differing bucket key sets throw with both the incoming argument and the current dataset rendered in the message.

Source

Thrown at oap-server/server-core/src/main/java/org/apache/skywalking/oap/server/core/analysis/meter/function/avg/AvgHistogramPercentileFunction.java:121

    @Column(name = DATASET, storageOnly = true)
    @BanyanDB.MeasureField
    private DataTable dataset = new DataTable(30);
    /**
     * Rank
     */
    @Getter
    @Setter
    @Column(name = RANKS, storageOnly = true)
    @BanyanDB.MeasureField
    private IntList ranks = new IntList(10);

    private boolean isCalculated = false;

    @Override
    public void accept(final MeterEntity entity, final PercentileArgument value) {
        if (dataset.size() > 0) {
            if (!value.getBucketedValues().isCompatible(dataset)) {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                    "Incompatible BucketedValues [" + value + "] for current PercentileFunction[" + dataset + "]");
            }
        }

        for (final int rank : value.getRanks()) {
            if (rank <= 0) {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException("Illegal rank value " + rank + ", must be positive");
            }
        }

        if (ranks.size() > 0) {
            if (ranks.size() != value.getRanks().length) {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                    "Incompatible ranks size = [" + value.getRanks().length + "] for current PercentileFunction[" + ranks
                        .size() + "]");
            } else {
                for (final int rank : value.getRanks()) {
                    if (!ranks.include(rank)) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 102af09b4a)

Solutions

1. Use one bucket set per percentile metric name across all rules and producers
2. Version the metric name when bucket boundaries change instead of mutating the existing metric
3. After correcting config, restart OAP to reset in-memory aggregation state

Example fix

# before — same metric, two bucket sets
p50:
  exp: http_duration.bucket({'10','50','100'})
  meterFunction: avgHistogramPercentile
# other producer uses {'5','25','45'}

# after — unify, or rename
p50_v2:
  exp: http_duration.bucket({'5','25','45','95'})
  meterFunction: avgHistogramPercentile

long[] buckets = percentileContract.bucketsFor(metricName); // shared, versioned bucket contract
if (!Arrays.equals(incoming.getBucketedValues().getBuckets(), buckets)) {
    log.warn("Dropping {} sample with non-contract buckets", metricName);
    return;
}
percentileMetric.accept(entity, percentileArgument);

try {
    percentileMetric.accept(entity, percentileArgument);
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("Incompatible BucketedValues")) {
        log.error("Bucket set drift on percentile metric {}", metricName, e);
        return;
    }
    throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: A percentile metric defined with one buckets config receives BucketedValues built with another; two MAL rules or agents target the same percentile metric name with different bucket boundaries; buckets were edited in config and new data hits the surviving in-memory dataset.

Common situations: Same as other histogram functions: heterogeneous agent bucket defaults, runtime bucket-config edits, mixed collector versions — plus percentile rules copied between services with local bucket overrides.

Related errors

• Incompatible BucketedValues [{}] for current HistogramFuncti
• Incompatible BucketedValues [{}] for current HistogramFuncti
• Illegal rank value {rank}, must be positive
• Incompatible ranks size = [{value.getRanks().length}] for cu
• MeterSystem unavailable for MAL compile of {sourceName}

AI-assisted analysis of apache/skywalking@102af09b4a (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ca61202ef1bbd770. Report an issue: GitHub.