{"record":{"id":"9d85d112a89e25e4","repo":"apache/iceberg","slug":"failed-to-drop-identifier","errorCode":null,"errorMessage":"Failed to drop ${identifier}","messagePattern":"Failed to drop (.+?)","errorType":"exception","errorClass":"RuntimeException","httpStatus":null,"severity":"error","filePath":"hive-metastore/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveCatalog.java","lineNumber":286,"sourceCode":"                identifier.name(),\n                false /* do not delete data */,\n                false /* throw NoSuchObjectException if the table doesn't exist */);\n            return null;\n          });\n\n      if (purge && lastMetadata != null) {\n        CatalogUtil.dropTableData(ops.io(), lastMetadata);\n      }\n\n      LOG.info(\"Dropped table: {}\", identifier);\n      return true;\n\n    } catch (NoSuchTableException | NoSuchObjectException e) {\n      LOG.info(\"Skipping drop, table does not exist: {}\", identifier, e);\n      return false;\n\n    } catch (TException e) {\n      throw new RuntimeException(\"Failed to drop \" + identifier, e);\n\n    } catch (InterruptedException e) {\n      Thread.currentThread().interrupt();\n      throw new RuntimeException(\"Interrupted in call to dropTable\", e);\n    }\n  }\n\n  @Override\n  public boolean dropView(TableIdentifier identifier) {\n    if (!isValidIdentifier(identifier)) {\n      return false;\n    }\n\n    try {\n      String database = identifier.namespace().level(0);\n      String viewName = identifier.name();\n\n      HiveViewOperations ops = (HiveViewOperations) newViewOps(identifier);","sourceCodeStart":268,"sourceCodeEnd":304,"githubUrl":"https://github.com/apache/iceberg/blob/86d9c8fc543e7c56c9f624eb725f76c9baff9570/hive-metastore/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/hive/HiveCatalog.java#L268-L304","documentation":"dropTable() wraps a Thrift TException from the Hive Metastore in a RuntimeException with this message when the table drop fails at the metastore RPC level. Missing tables are not an error here (they log and return false); this is for genuine metastore failures.","triggerScenarios":"Calling catalog.dropTable(identifier) (optionally with purge flag) and the Hive Metastore throws a TException — connection loss, protocol error, or metastore-side failure during dropTable/drop_database dependent operations.","commonSituations":"Metastore unavailable or network partition; Hive client/server version mismatch; metastore lock or HMS backend (RDBMS) failure while deleting entries; concurrent modifications hitting a metastore bug.","solutions":["Check metastore health and connectivity; inspect the chained TException cause.","Retry the drop with backoff — metastore RPC failures are often transient.","Verify Hive client and metastore server versions are compatible.","If the table is a non-Iceberg/HMS-managed table causing issues, use Hive tooling directly to inspect its state."],"exampleFix":"// before\nboolean dropped = catalog.dropTable(identifier);\n// after\nboolean dropped;\ntry {\n  dropped = catalog.dropTable(identifier);\n} catch (RuntimeException e) {\n  LOG.error(\"Metastore failed dropping {}\", identifier, e.getCause());\n  dropped = false; // surface to caller, retry later\n}","handlingStrategy":"try-catch","validationCode":"// Pre-check is advisory only (TOCTOU); connectivity check recommended:\n// boolean metastoreUp = /* health probe on metastore URI */;","typeGuard":null,"tryCatchPattern":"try {\n  dropped = catalog.dropTable(id);\n} catch (RuntimeException e) {\n  LOG.error(\"Drop failed for {} cause={}\", id, e.getCause());\n  dropped = false; // schedule retry\n}","preventionTips":["Add retry with backoff around dropTable for transient Thrift failures.","Check the exception cause to distinguish metastore outages from data issues.","Keep Hive client library versions compatible with the server."],"tags":["hive-metastore","thrift","drop-table","rpc"],"backgroundTag":"metastore-rpc-failed","analyzedSha":"86d9c8fc543e7c56c9f624eb725f76c9baff9570","analyzedAt":"2026-09-12T00:46:39.097Z","contentChangedAt":"2026-09-12T00:46:39.097Z","schemaVersion":2},"datasetVersion":"2026-09-14T16:17:12.679Z"}