What causes "JobFTPS.Error.DeletingFile" in pentaho/pentaho-kettle?

Check the FTPS user has DELETE permission on the remote folder

pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

JobFTPS.Error.DeletingFile

JobFTPS.Error.DeletingFile

Error message

JobFTPS.Error.DeletingFile

What it means

FTP client failure in FTPSConnection.deleteFile (called from downloadFiles): the remote file could not be deleted after processing. The localized message includes the filename and chains the underlying FTP error, typically a permission problem or the file already being gone.

Solutions

Check the FTPS user has DELETE permission on the remote folder
Guard against races: only delete files you just downloaded and handle 'file not found' as benign
Re-list the directory to confirm the file still exists before deleting
Verify connection health; reconnect and retry if the control channel dropped

Example fix

// before
connection.deleteFile(ftpFile); // fails if already deleted
// after
try {
  connection.deleteFile(ftpFile);
} catch (KettleException e) {
  logBasic("File already removed, skipping: " + ftpFile.getName());
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

boolean stillThere = Arrays.stream(connection.getFileNames(remoteDir, null))
  .anyMatch(n -> n.equals(file.getName()));

Try / catch

try {
  connection.deleteFile(ftpFile);
} catch (KettleException e) {
  logBasic("Delete after download failed (possibly already removed): " + ftpFile.getName());
}

Prevention

Treat not-found on post-download delete as benign
Grant delete permission to the FTPS user
Run a single job instance to avoid concurrent consumption races

When it happens

Trigger: downloadFiles -> deleteFile(FTPFile) after transfer when the server rejects DELE — file already gone, permission denied, or connection lost

Common situations: another process removed the file between listing and delete; FTPS user lacks delete permission; race with files being consumed by multiple job instances

Understand the failure class

Background: Permission denied / not authorized / 403 Forbidden: access-control rejections when the caller lacks the required role, grant, or ownership — this error's family across 18 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/78811dd98ffa1eb1. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/ftps/impl/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/job/entries/ftpsget/FTPSConnection.java:521

    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "JobFTPS.Error.RetrievingFilenames" ), e );
    }
    return list == null ? null : list.toArray( new String[list.size()] );
  }

  /**
   *
   * this method is used to delete a file in remote host
   *
   * @param file
   *          File on remote host to delete
   * @throws KettleException
   */
  public void deleteFile( FTPFile file ) throws KettleException {
    try {
      this.connection.deleteFile( file );
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "JobFTPS.Error.DeletingFile", file.getName() ), e );
    }
  }

  /**
   *
   * this method is used to delete a file in remote host
   *
   * @param filename
   *          Name of file on remote host to delete
   * @throws KettleException
   */
  public void deleteFile( String filename ) throws KettleException {
    try {
      this.connection.deleteFile( new FTPFile( getWorkingDirectory(), filename ) );
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString( PKG, "JobFTPS.Error.DeletingFile", filename ), e );
    }
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to f3058517a1)