pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · java.lang.RuntimeException

Error de-serializing row of data from byte array

Error message

Error de-serializing row of data from byte array

What it means

RowMeta.getRow(RowMetaInterface, byte[]) deserializes a byte[] back into an Object[] row. Any exception during metadata.readData (truncated/corrupt data, format mismatch) is wrapped in a RuntimeException with this message, keeping the original as cause.

Solutions

  1. Verify the byte[] was produced by RowMeta.getData() with an identical RowMetaInterface layout
  2. Check e.getCause() (often EOFException or KettleFileException) for the exact read failure
  3. Ensure all nodes/steps run the same PDI version
  4. Re-serialize the data from the original source instead of reusing stale bytes

Example fix

// before
Object[] row = RowMeta.getRow(otherMeta, storedBytes); // meta differs from producer
// after
Object[] row = RowMeta.getRow(producerMeta, storedBytes); // use the same meta used to serialize
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// Java: only deserialize bytes produced by RowMeta.getData with the same meta
if (data == null || data.length == 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException("empty payload");
// compare layout checksums if you store them alongside the payload

Try / catch

try {
  Object[] row = RowMeta.getRow(meta, data);
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
  Throwable cause = e.getCause(); // usually EOFException / KettleFileException
  throw new IllegalStateException("Row deserialization failed: " + cause, cause);
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling RowMeta.getRow() with a byte[] that was not produced by the matching RowMeta.getData() (different row layout, truncated buffer, wrong serialization version).

Common situations: Replaying stored binary payloads after the row structure changed; mixing cluster nodes on different Kettle versions; manually editing or truncating serialized rows.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to unmarshal" / json.Unmarshal errors: why parsing a response into a Go struct fails and how to fix it — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/78b7a69826a70169. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/core/row/RowMeta.java:1147

    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new RuntimeException( "Error serializing row to byte array", e );
    }
  }

  /**
   * Create a row of data bases on a serialized format (byte[])
   *
   * @param data     the serialized data
   * @param metadata the metadata to use
   * @return a new row of data
   */
  public static Object[] getRow( RowMetaInterface metadata, byte[] data ) {
    try {
      ByteArrayInputStream byteArrayInputStream = new ByteArrayInputStream( data );
      DataInputStream dataInputStream = new DataInputStream( byteArrayInputStream );
      return metadata.readData( dataInputStream );
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new RuntimeException( "Error de-serializing row of data from byte array", e );
    }
  }

  public static Row createOriginalRow( RowMetaInterface rowMeta, Object[] rowData ) throws KettleValueException {
    Row row = new Row();

    for ( int i = 0; i < rowMeta.size(); i++ ) {
      ValueMetaInterface valueMeta = rowMeta.getValueMeta( i );
      Object valueData = rowData[ i ];

      Value value = valueMeta.createOriginalValue( valueData );
      row.addValue( value );
    }

    return row;
  }

  /**

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