pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

KettleDatabaseRepositorySecurityProvider.ERROR_0001_USER_NAME_ALREADY_EXISTS

KettleDatabaseRepositorySecurityProvider.ERROR_0001_USER_NAME_ALREADY_EXISTS

Error message

KettleDatabaseRepositorySecurityProvider.ERROR_0001_USER_NAME_ALREADY_EXISTS

What it means

Thrown by KettleDatabaseRepositorySecurityProvider.saveUserInfo when a user with the given login name already exists in the database repository. The delegate looks up an existing ObjectId for the user's login before inserting; if found, creation of a duplicate user is prohibited. This prevents duplicate user accounts with identical login names in the repository.

Solutions

Check existence first with securityProvider.getUserID(login) / getUser(login) and update the existing user instead of saving a new one
Use an update path (rename the existing user or modify it) rather than creating a new record
Catch KettleException and surface a 'user already exists' message to the user, prompting for a different login
Wrap creation in a synchronized/transactional section if concurrent provisioning is possible

Example fix

// before
userInfo.setLogin("admin");
repo.getUserID("admin"); // may already exist
repo.securityProvider.saveUserInfo(userInfo); // throws

// after
if (repo.getUserID("admin") == null) {
  repo.securityProvider.saveUserInfo(userInfo);
} else {
  userInfo.setLogin("admin2");
  repo.securityProvider.saveUserInfo(userInfo);
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

if (repository.getSecurityProvider().getUserID(userInfo.getLogin()) != null) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("User login already exists: " + userInfo.getLogin()); }

Type guard

boolean userExists = (login != null && repository.getUserID(login) != null);

Try / catch

try { securityProvider.saveUserInfo(userInfo); } catch (KettleException e) { if (e.getMessage().contains("already exists")) { /* prompt rename */ } else { throw e; } }

Prevention

Always look up the login before creating a new user
Use unique login conventions (e.g., domain prefix) to avoid collisions
Serialize user provisioning scripts
Catch and surface the error in UI instead of failing silently

When it happens

Trigger: Calling repository.securityProvider.saveUserInfo(userInfo) (or addUser) with a userInfo whose getLogin() already matches an existing row in the repository user table; exactMatch != null from userDelegate.getUserID(userLogin).

Common situations: Administrators re-running a user-provisioning script, importing users that already exist, or a UI race where two sessions create the same login simultaneously.

Understand the failure class

Background: "already exists" / EEXIST / FileAlreadyExistsException: what the 'file already exists' error means and how to fix it — this error's family across 37 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/790e87857ffeca8f. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/repository/kdr/KettleDatabaseRepositorySecurityProvider.java:111

   * @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 );
  }

  public void validateAction( RepositoryOperation... operations ) throws KettleException, KettleSecurityException {

  }

  public synchronized void delUser( ObjectId id_user ) throws KettleException {
    repository.connectionDelegate.performDelete( "DELETE FROM "
      + repository.quoteTable( KettleDatabaseRepository.TABLE_R_USER ) + " WHERE "
      + repository.quote( KettleDatabaseRepository.FIELD_USER_ID_USER ) + " = ? ", id_user );
  }

  public synchronized ObjectId getUserID( String login ) throws KettleException {
    return userDelegate.getUserID( login );

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