pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · RuntimeException

Exporting jobs: Couldn't create file

Error message

Exporting jobs: Couldn't create file [${filename}]

What it means

When exporting a job from the repository explorer, the XML is written with FileOutputStream. An IOException during file creation or writing is rethrown as RuntimeException 'Exporting jobs: Couldn't create file [filename]'. The target job export file could not be created.

Solutions

  1. Ensure the destination directory exists and is writable before exporting
  2. Use an absolute, variable-resolved path for the export filename
  3. Check disk space and file locks, then retry
  4. Read the wrapped IOException cause to identify the exact OS failure

Example fix

// before
exportJob("/mnt/ro-share/job.kjb");
// after
File out = new File(System.getProperty("user.home"), "job.kjb");
if (!out.getParentFile().canWrite()) { showError("Cannot write to " + out.getParent()); return; }
exportJob(out.getAbsolutePath());
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

File f = new File(filename);
File parent = f.getParentFile();
if (parent == null || !parent.canWrite()) throw new IllegalStateException("Cannot write to " + parent);

Try / catch

try { exportJob(filename); } catch (RuntimeException e) { if (e.getMessage().startsWith("Exporting jobs")) { showError("File creation failed for " + filename + ": " + e.getCause()); } else { throw e; } }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Exporting a job to a path with a missing parent directory, no write permission, a directory already at that path, or a full disk.

Common situations: Export destination on a read-only or disconnected network share; unresolved ${filename} variable; filename with characters invalid on the OS; insufficient privileges of the PDI process.

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 pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/47535b898cde6181. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at ui/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/ui/repository/dialog/RepositoryExplorerDialog.java:2682

            dir.mkdir();
            log.logBasic( "Exporting Jobs", "Created directory [" + dir.getName() + "]" );
          }

          for ( int i = 0; i < jobs.length; i++ ) {
            JobMeta ji = rep.loadJob( jobs[i], repdir, null, null ); // reads last version
            log.logBasic( "Exporting Jobs", "[" + jobs[i] + "] in directory [" + repdir.getPath() + "]" );

            String xml = XMLHandler.getXMLHeader() + ji.getXML();

            String filename =
              directory + repdir.getPath() + Const.FILE_SEPARATOR + fixFileName( jobs[i] ) + ".kjb";
            File f = new File( filename );
            try {
              FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream( f );
              fos.write( xml.getBytes( Const.XML_ENCODING ) );
              fos.close();
            } catch ( IOException e ) {
              throw new RuntimeException( "Exporting jobs: Couldn't create file [" + filename + "]", e );
            }
          }
        }
      }
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      new ErrorDialog( shell,
        BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "RepositoryExplorerDialog.ExportJobs.UnexpectedError.Title" ),
        BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "RepositoryExplorerDialog.ExportJobs.UnexpectedError.Message" ), e );
    }
  }

  public void exportAll( RepositoryDirectoryInterface dir ) {
    FileDialog dialog = Spoon.getInstance().getExportFileDialog(); // new FileDialog( shell, SWT.SAVE | SWT.SINGLE );
    if ( dialog.open() == null ) {
      return;
    }

    String filename = dialog.getFilterPath() + Const.FILE_SEPARATOR + dialog.getFileName();

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