pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

KettleDatabaseRepositorySecurityProvider.ERROR_0001_UNABLE_TO_CREATE_USER

KettleDatabaseRepositorySecurityProvider.ERROR_0001_UNABLE_TO_CREATE_USER

Error message

KettleDatabaseRepositorySecurityProvider.ERROR_0001_UNABLE_TO_CREATE_USER

What it means

KettleDatabaseRepositorySecurityProvider.saveUserInfo() throws a KettleException with the localized ERROR_0001_UNABLE_TO_CREATE_USER message when normalizeUserInfo() passes but validateUserInfo() returns false, i.e. the IUser data failed validation before any insert. Note the message key text is thrown, not a formatted user-facing description.

Solutions

  1. Populate all required IUser fields (login, password, etc.) before calling saveUserInfo().
  2. Call validateUserInfo() logic yourself (or replicate checks) and reject invalid users upstream.
  3. Use updateUser() instead when userInfo.getObjectId() != null (that path throws IllegalArgumentException).
  4. Check field lengths against R_USER column sizes to avoid validation failure.

Example fix

// before
IUser u = new User(); u.setName(null); u.setPassword("x");
security.saveUserInfo(u); // throws ERROR_0001
// after
IUser u = new User();
u.setName("jsmith"); u.setPassword("secret"); u.addProfile(...);
if (u.getLogin() != null && !u.getLogin().isEmpty()) {
  security.saveUserInfo(u);
}
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

boolean canSave(IUser u) {
  return u != null && u.getName() != null && !u.getName().isEmpty()
      && u.getPassword() != null && !u.getPassword().isEmpty();
}
if (!canSave(userInfo)) throw new IllegalArgumentException("invalid IUser");

Type guard

boolean isValidUser(IUser u) { return u != null && u.getName() != null && !u.getName().trim().isEmpty() && u.getPassword() != null; }

Try / catch

try {
  security.saveUserInfo(userInfo);
} catch (KettleException e) {
  if (e.getMessage().contains("ERROR_0001_UNABLE_TO_CREATE_USER")) {
    // user data failed validation; fix IUser fields
  }
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling saveUserInfo(userInfo) with an IUser whose required fields are missing/invalid after normalization (e.g. null/empty login, password, or other mandated fields), or fields exceeding database column limits.

Common situations: Programmatic user provisioning via the Kettle security provider with incomplete IUser objects; importing users from LDAP/CSV where some accounts lack login or password; UIless scripts creating users with blank names.

Understand the failure class

Background: Schema validation failed / invalid input schema: payload rejected because its shape doesn't match the expected schema — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f885ab9a3b728530. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/repository/kdr/KettleDatabaseRepositorySecurityProvider.java:98

  // UserInfo

  public IUser loadUserInfo( String login ) throws KettleException {
    return userDelegate.loadUserInfo( new UserInfo(), login );
  }

  /**
   * This method creates new user after all validations have been done. For updating user's data please use {@linkplain
   * #updateUser(IUser)}.
   *
   * @param userInfo user's info
   * @throws KettleException
   * @throws IllegalArgumentException if {@code userInfo.getObjectId() != null}
   */
  public void saveUserInfo( IUser userInfo ) throws KettleException {
    normalizeUserInfo( userInfo );
    if ( !validateUserInfo( userInfo ) ) {
      throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString( KettleDatabaseRepositorySecurityProvider.class,
        "KettleDatabaseRepositorySecurityProvider.ERROR_0001_UNABLE_TO_CREATE_USER" ) );
    }

    if ( userInfo.getObjectId() != null ) {
      // not a message for UI
      throw new IllegalArgumentException( "Use updateUser() for updating" );
    }

    String userLogin = userInfo.getLogin();
    ObjectId exactMatch = userDelegate.getUserID( userLogin );
    if ( exactMatch != null ) {
      // found the corresponding record in db, prohibit creation!
      throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString( KettleDatabaseRepositorySecurityProvider.class,
        "KettleDatabaseRepositorySecurityProvider.ERROR_0001_USER_NAME_ALREADY_EXISTS" ) );
    }

    userDelegate.saveUserInfo( userInfo );
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to f3058517a1)