pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

JobEntryTruncateTables.UnableSaveRep

Error message

JobEntryTruncateTables.UnableSaveRep

What it means

JobEntryTruncateTables.saveRep() wraps a KettleDatabaseException from rep.saveJobEntryAttribute(...) into a KettleException with message 'JobEntryTruncateTables.UnableSaveRep' plus the id_job. It means the job entry's table list could not be written to the repository database.

Solutions

1. Check the repository database is writable and the user has INSERT/UPDATE rights on R_JOBENTRY_ATTRIBUTE.
2. Retry the save after confirming DB connectivity; inspect the cause for the exact SQL error.
3. Free up space / resolve lock contention on the repository tables.
4. If the repository is consistently failing, export the job to XML (.kjb) as a workaround and fix the DB.

Example fix

// before: saving with a disconnected repository
rep.saveRep(...); // fails silently earlier, then saveRep throws
// after: check connection before saving
if ( !rep.isConnected() ) { rep.connect(user, pass); }
rep.saveRep(metaStore, id_job);

// Pre-flight checks before saveRep
if ( !rep.isConnected() ) throw new KettleException("Repository not connected");
for ( String arg : jobEntry.getArguments() ) {
  if ( arg == null ) throw new KettleException("Null table name in truncate-tables entry");
}

boolean canSaveToRepository(Repository rep, ObjectId id_job) {
  return rep != null && rep.isConnected() && id_job != null;
}

try {
  jobEntry.saveRep(rep, metaStore, id_job);
} catch ( KettleException e ) {
  logError("Repository save failed for id_job=" + id_job + ": " + e.getCause(), e);
  // export to .kjb as fallback so work is not lost
  jobMeta.saveXMLFile(fallbackPath);
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling saveRep(rep, metaStore, id_job) when the repository DB insert/update of the 'name'/'schemaname' attributes fails — connection loss, constraint violation, read-only schema, or null arguments/schemaname array entries on a repository that rejects them.

Common situations: Repository database read-only or out of space; network drop mid-save; concurrent edits causing lock timeouts; missing write privileges for the repository user.

Related errors

• ERROR_0002
• HTTPMeta.Exception.UnableToSaveStepInfo
• JobEntryEval.UnableToSaveToRepo
• JobEntryEvalTableContent.UnableSaveRep
• JobEntrySimple.Error.Exception.UnableSaveRep

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/860839941938a59a. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/job/entries/truncatetables/JobEntryTruncateTables.java:180

      throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "JobEntryTruncateTables.UnableLoadRep", ""
        + id_jobentry ), dbe );
    }
  }

  public void saveRep( Repository rep, IMetaStore metaStore, ObjectId id_job ) throws KettleException {
    try {
      rep.saveDatabaseMetaJobEntryAttribute( id_job, getObjectId(), "connection", "id_database", connection );

      rep.saveJobEntryAttribute( id_job, getObjectId(), "arg_from_previous", this.argFromPrevious );
      // save the arguments...
      if ( this.arguments != null ) {
        for ( int i = 0; i < this.arguments.length; i++ ) {
          rep.saveJobEntryAttribute( id_job, getObjectId(), i, "name", this.arguments[i] );
          rep.saveJobEntryAttribute( id_job, getObjectId(), i, "schemaname", this.schemaname[i] );
        }
      }
    } catch ( KettleDatabaseException dbe ) {
      throw new KettleException(
        BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "JobEntryTruncateTables.UnableSaveRep", "" + id_job ), dbe );
    }
  }

  public void setDatabase( DatabaseMeta database ) {
    this.connection = database;
  }

  public DatabaseMeta getDatabase() {
    return this.connection;
  }

  public boolean evaluates() {
    return true;
  }

  public boolean isUnconditional() {
    return true;

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