pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleObjectExistsException

Failed to create object in repository. Object

Error message

Failed to create object in repository. Object [{0}] already exists.

What it means

insertPartitionSchema throws KettleObjectExistsException before generating an ID if a partition schema with the same name already exists in R_PARTITION_SCHEMA. This is the low-level guard preventing duplicate-named partition schemas in the repository.

Solutions

Check existence first (getPartitionSchemaID) and update the existing object instead of inserting
Rename the schema to something unique before inserting
Catch KettleObjectExistsException and fall back to updatePartitionSchema on the existing ID
Serialize inserts (the method is synchronized) through a single writer process to avoid races

Example fix

// before
ObjectId id = delegate.insertPartitionSchema(schema);
// after
ObjectId existingId = delegate.getPartitionSchemaID(schema.getName());
ObjectId id = (existingId != null)
  ? existingId // reuse existing schema
  : delegate.insertPartitionSchema(schema);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

ObjectId existingId = delegate.getPartitionSchemaID(schema.getName());
if (existingId != null) { /* update existing instead of inserting */ }

Prevention

Always upsert by name: check existence first, then insert or update
Avoid parallel inserts of identically named schemas across clients
Make import scripts idempotent
Catch KettleObjectExistsException and fall back to update

When it happens

Trigger: Calling insertPartitionSchema(partitionSchema) when getPartitionSchemaID(name) returns a non-null ID, i.e. the name is already taken. Reached via savePartitionSchema flows that decide to insert rather than update.

Common situations: Race between two clients inserting the same schema name concurrently; programmatic import loops that insert schemas without checking existence first; re-running migration scripts.

Understand the failure class

Background: "already exists" / EEXIST / FileAlreadyExistsException: what the 'file already exists' error means and how to fix it — this error's family across 37 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/afa4cd3f0c201c03. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/repository/kdr/delegates/KettleDatabaseRepositoryPartitionSchemaDelegate.java:140

    RowMetaAndData row = getPartitionSchema( id_partition_schema );

    partitionSchema.setName( row.getString( "NAME", null ) );

    ObjectId[] pids = repository.getPartitionIDs( id_partition_schema );
    for ( int i = 0; i < pids.length; i++ ) {
      partitionSchema.getPartitionIDs().add( getPartition( pids[i] ).getString( "PARTITION_ID", null ) );
    }

    partitionSchema.setDynamicallyDefined( row.getBoolean( "DYNAMIC_DEFINITION", false ) );
    partitionSchema.setNumberOfPartitionsPerSlave( row.getString( "PARTITIONS_PER_SLAVE", null ) );

    return partitionSchema;
  }

  public synchronized ObjectId insertPartitionSchema( PartitionSchema partitionSchema ) throws KettleException {
    if ( getPartitionSchemaID( partitionSchema.getName() ) != null ) {
      // This partition schema name is already in use. Throw an exception.
      throw new KettleObjectExistsException( "Failed to create object in repository. Object ["
        + partitionSchema.getName() + "] already exists." );
    }

    ObjectId id = repository.connectionDelegate.getNextPartitionSchemaID();

    RowMetaAndData table = new RowMetaAndData();

    table.addValue( new ValueMetaInteger( KettleDatabaseRepository.FIELD_PARTITION_SCHEMA_ID_PARTITION_SCHEMA ), id );
    table.addValue( new ValueMetaString( KettleDatabaseRepository.FIELD_PARTITION_SCHEMA_NAME ),
      partitionSchema.getName() );
    table.addValue( new ValueMetaBoolean( KettleDatabaseRepository.FIELD_PARTITION_SCHEMA_DYNAMIC_DEFINITION ),
      partitionSchema.isDynamicallyDefined() );
    table.addValue( new ValueMetaString( KettleDatabaseRepository.FIELD_PARTITION_SCHEMA_PARTITIONS_PER_SLAVE ),
      partitionSchema.getNumberOfPartitionsPerSlave() );

    repository.connectionDelegate.getDatabase().prepareInsert(
      table.getRowMeta(), KettleDatabaseRepository.TABLE_R_PARTITION_SCHEMA );
    repository.connectionDelegate.getDatabase().setValuesInsert( table );

View on GitHub (pinned to f3058517a1)