What causes "GPLoad.Exception.MaxErrorsInvalid" in pentaho/pentaho-kettle?

Set Max Errors to a non-negative integer (0 typically means unlimited for gpload) in the step dialog.

pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

GPLoad.Exception.MaxErrorsInvalid

Error message

GPLoad.Exception.MaxErrorsInvalid

What it means

GPLoad validates the ERROR_LIMIT (max errors) setting while emitting the control file. If the value parses as an integer but is negative, this exception is thrown because gpload's ERROR_LIMIT must be >= 0.

Solutions

Set Max Errors to a non-negative integer (0 typically means unlimited for gpload) in the step dialog.
Check the value of any ${MAX_ERRORS}-style environment variable at runtime.
Correct the value in kettle.properties or the job variable configuration.
Programmatically use meta.setMaxErrors("0") or a positive count.

Example fix

// before
meta.setMaxErrors("-1"); // throws GPLoad.Exception.MaxErrorsInvalid
// after
meta.setMaxErrors("0"); // 0 = unlimited, or e.g. "100"

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

String maxErrors = meta.getMaxErrors();
try {
  if (maxErrors != null && Integer.parseInt(maxErrors.trim()) < 0) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Max errors must be >= 0");
  }
} catch (NumberFormatException nfe) {
  throw new IllegalArgumentException("Max errors must be an integer", nfe);
}

Try / catch

try {
  step.createControlFile(meta);
} catch (KettleException e) {
  if (e.getMessage().contains("MaxErrorsInvalid")) { /* reset Max Errors to a valid integer */ }
  else throw e;
}

Prevention

Enter plain non-negative integers only; use 0 for unlimited.
Never use -1 as a sentinel in this field.
If driven by a variable, validate the variable value in a prior step.
Test the dialog's YAML output after changing numeric fields.

When it happens

Trigger: getControlFileContents called with meta.getMaxErrors() non-null, environment-substituted, and Integer.valueOf(maxErrors) < 0.

Common situations: User typed -1 intending 'unlimited'; an environment variable like ${MAX_ERRORS} resolves to a negative number; pasted value with a minus sign by mistake.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/08f6e30976aed20f. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/gpload/core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/gpload/GPLoad.java:317

    contents.append( GPLoad.INDENT ).append( "- QUOTE: " ).append( GPLoad.SINGLE_QUOTE ).append( enclosure ).append(
        GPLoad.SINGLE_QUOTE ).append( Const.CR );
    contents.append( GPLoad.INDENT ).append( "- HEADER: FALSE" ).append( Const.CR );

    // ENCODING
    String encoding = meta.getEncoding();
    if ( !Utils.isEmpty( encoding ) ) {
      contents.append( GPLoad.INDENT ).append( "- ENCODING: " ).append( encoding ).append( Const.CR );
    }

    // Max errors
    String maxErrors = meta.getMaxErrors();
    if ( maxErrors == null ) {
      maxErrors = GPLoadMeta.MAX_ERRORS_DEFAULT;
    } else {
      maxErrors = environmentSubstitute( maxErrors );
      try {
        if ( Integer.valueOf( maxErrors ) < 0 ) {
          throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "GPLoad.Exception.MaxErrorsInvalid" ) );
        }
      } catch ( NumberFormatException nfe ) {
        throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "GPLoad.Exception.MaxErrorsInvalid" ) );
      }
    }

    contents.append( GPLoad.INDENT ).append( "- ERROR_LIMIT: " ).append( maxErrors ).append( Const.CR );

    String errorTableName = meta.getErrorTableName();
    if ( !Utils.isEmpty( errorTableName ) ) {
      errorTableName = environmentSubstitute( errorTableName ).trim();
      if ( !Utils.isEmpty( errorTableName ) ) {
        contents.append( GPLoad.INDENT ).append( "- ERROR_TABLE: " ).append( errorTableName ).append( Const.CR );
      }
    }

    // -------------- OUTPUT section

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