pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

ERROR_0013_UNABLE_TO_DELETE_ROLE

ERROR_0013_UNABLE_TO_DELETE_ROLE

Error message

UserRoleDelegate.ERROR_0013_UNABLE_TO_DELETE_ROLE

What it means

Second throw site of UserRoleDelegate.deleteRole(): thrown when the role exists (roleToDelete found) but the deleteRoles web-service call fails. The original lookup-miss throw at line 447 and this wrap share the same message key ERROR_0013_UNABLE_TO_DELETE_ROLE with the role name as parameter.

Solutions

  1. Inspect the cause for the web-service error
  2. Re-list roles to confirm the role still exists on the server
  3. Verify admin permissions for the connected user
  4. Reconnect if the session expired
  5. Check server logs for refusal reasons (system role, last admin role)

Example fix

// before
roleDelegate.deleteRole( "Analyst" );
// after
try {
  roleDelegate.deleteRole( "Analyst" );
} catch ( KettleException e ) {
  logError( "Delete failed", e );
}
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

IRole toDelete = delegate.findRole( name ); // non-null before deleting

Try / catch

try { delegate.deleteRole( name ); } catch ( KettleException e ) { if ( e.getCause() != null ) logError( "Server refused delete", e.getCause() ); }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Role was found locally, but userRoleWebService.deleteRoles throws — server-side delete refused (permissions, session expired, concurrent deletion, network failure).

Common situations: Another admin deleted the role between lookup and delete; non-admin user; server connection dropped; server refuses to delete a system/last-admin role.

Understand the failure class

Background: "API request failed": what wrapped HTTP errors from external APIs mean and how to find the real cause — this error's family across 29 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b62fe5ecb320d174. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/pur/core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/repository/pur/UserRoleDelegate.java:447

      fireUserRoleListChange();
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString( UserRoleDelegate.class,
          "UserRoleDelegate.ERROR_0012_UNABLE_TO_UPDATE_ROLE", role.getName() ), e ); //$NON-NLS-1$
    }
  }

  public void deleteRole( String name ) throws KettleException {
    ensureHasPermissions();

    try {
      ProxyPentahoRole roleToDelete = UserRoleHelper.getProxyPentahoRole( userRoleWebService, name );
      if ( roleToDelete != null ) {
        ProxyPentahoRole[] roleArray = new ProxyPentahoRole[1];
        roleArray[0] = roleToDelete;
        userRoleWebService.deleteRoles( roleArray );
        fireUserRoleListChange();
      } else {
        throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString( UserRoleDelegate.class,
            "UserRoleDelegate.ERROR_0013_UNABLE_TO_DELETE_ROLE", name ) ); //$NON-NLS-1$
      }
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString( UserRoleDelegate.class,
          "UserRoleDelegate.ERROR_0013_UNABLE_TO_DELETE_ROLE", name ), e ); //$NON-NLS-1$
    }
  }

  public void setRoles( List<IRole> roles ) throws KettleException {
    // TODO Figure out what to do here
  }

  public void addUserRoleListChangeListener( IUserRoleListChangeListener listener ) {
    if ( userRoleListChangeListeners == null ) {
      userRoleListChangeListeners = new UserRoleListChangeListenerCollection();
    }
    userRoleListChangeListeners.add( listener );
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to f3058517a1)