pentaho/pentaho-kettle · warning · KettleException

Interrupted exception while running the process

Error message

Interrupted exception while running the process 

What it means

The thread running ExecProcess was interrupted while waiting (p.waitFor / stream reads) for the child process; Kettle rethrows it as a KettleException naming the command. Usually means the transformation/step was cancelled or its execution thread killed.

Solutions

1. Re-interrupt the current thread in surrounding handling and treat as a cancellation, not a retryable error.
2. Investigate why the transformation was stopped (manual stop, timeout, shutdown) before retrying.
3. Make the external command finish faster or run it asynchronously outside the transformation.
4. Avoid killing/timeout-terminating transformations with long child processes; use safe cancellation points.

Example fix

// before: retrying blindly after cancellation
while (true) { execProcess(...); }
// after: respect interruption
try {
  ProcessResult r = execProcess(...);
} catch (KettleException e) {
  if (e.getCause() instanceof InterruptedException) {
    Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
    return; // stop processing
  }
  throw e;
}

try { execProcess(...); } catch (KettleException e) { if (e.getCause() instanceof InterruptedException) { Thread.currentThread().interrupt(); return; } throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: execProcess: InterruptedException from p.waitFor() or buffered stream reads — step cancelled via Spoon/execution stop, transformation timeout/shutdown, or the parent thread interrupted programmatically.

Common situations: User hits 'Stop' in Spoon while a long-running external process executes; cluster/timeout policies killing worker threads; JVM shutdown hooks; misconfigured timeouts cancelling the transformation.

Related errors

• Command execution was interrupted
• ERROR_0006_ExceptionExecutingTalenJob
• Error while executing \'" + commandLine + "\'. Exit value =…
• Error while executing psql \'
• Error while executing sqlldr ''

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7cc4a8158240ad7d. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/trans/steps/execprocess/ExecProcess.java:232

      } else {
        // get output stream
        processresult.setOutputStream( getOutputString( new BufferedReader( new InputStreamReader( p
          .getInputStream() ) ) ) );

        // get error message
        processresult.setErrorStream( getOutputString( new BufferedReader( new InputStreamReader( p
          .getErrorStream() ) ) ) );

        // Wait until end
        p.waitFor();

        // get exit status
        processresult.setExistStatus( p.exitValue() );
      }
    } catch ( IOException ioe ) {
      throw new KettleException( "IO exception while running the process " + Arrays.toString( process ) + "!", ioe );
    } catch ( InterruptedException ie ) {
      throw new KettleException( "Interrupted exception while running the process " + Arrays.toString( process ) + "!", ie );
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new KettleException( e );
    } finally {
      if ( p != null ) {
        p.destroy();
      }
    }
  }

  private String getOutputString( BufferedReader b ) throws IOException {
    StringBuilder retvalBuff = new StringBuilder();
    String line;
    String delim = meta.getOutputLineDelimiter();
    if ( delim == null ) {
      delim = "";
    } else {
      delim = environmentSubstitute( delim );
    }

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