prestodb/presto · error · RedirectException

Failed to redirect

Error message

Failed to redirect

What it means

After confirming a desktop browser is supported, DesktopBrowserRedirectHandler attempts Desktop.browse(uri) to complete external authentication. If browsing throws an IOException (browser launch failure, no associated browser application, OS-level error), the handler wraps it in this RedirectException.

Source

Thrown at presto-client/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/client/auth/external/DesktopBrowserRedirectHandler.java:38

import static java.awt.Desktop.getDesktop;
import static java.awt.Desktop.isDesktopSupported;

public final class DesktopBrowserRedirectHandler
        implements RedirectHandler
{
    @Override
    public void redirectTo(URI uri)
            throws RedirectException
    {
        if (!isDesktopSupported() || !getDesktop().isSupported(BROWSE)) {
            throw new RedirectException("Desktop Browser is not available. Make sure your Java process is not in headless mode (-Djava.awt.headless=false)");
        }

        try {
            getDesktop().browse(uri);
        }
        catch (IOException e) {
            throw new RedirectException("Failed to redirect", e);
        }
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

1. Install and set a default browser on the machine (e.g. xdg-settings set default-web-browser firefox.desktop) and retry authentication.
2. Check the wrapped IOException (getCause()) for the underlying OS error and fix it (install xdg-open, repair browser registration).
3. Use a different RedirectHandler implementation that prints the auth URI for manual opening.
4. Avoid the browser flow by using non-external authentication credentials.

Example fix

// before
handler.redirectTo(tokenUri); // fails on browser-less box
// after
if (Desktop.isDesktopSupported() && Desktop.getDesktop().isSupported(Desktop.Action.BROWSE)) {
    handler.redirectTo(tokenUri);
} else {
    System.out.println("Open manually: " + tokenUri);
}

java.awt.Desktop desktop = java.awt.Desktop.isDesktopSupported()
        ? java.awt.Desktop.getDesktop() : null;
if (desktop == null || !desktop.isSupported(java.awt.Desktop.Action.BROWSE)) {
    throw new IllegalStateException("No desktop browser; print URI manually instead");
}

try {
    handler.redirectTo(uri);
} catch (RedirectException e) {
    e.getCause().printStackTrace(); // IOException: fix default browser / xdg-open
    System.out.println("Open manually: " + uri);
}

When it happens

Trigger: redirectTo(uri) succeeds the isSupported checks but Desktop.browse(uri) throws IOException — e.g. no default browser configured on the OS, xdg-open missing/broken on Linux, browser process fails to spawn, or an unsupported/badly formed URI is passed.

Common situations: Linux machines with no x-www-browser/xdg-open default; minimal desktop installs lacking a registered browser; corrupted default-browser associations; security software blocking AWT from spawning processes.

Related errors

• Desktop Browser is not available. Make sure your Java proces
• UNEXPECTED_ACCUMULO_ERROR
• UNEXPECTED_ACCUMULO_ERROR
• Failed to create Credentials from key
• Illegal character ':' found in username

AI-assisted analysis of prestodb/presto@55bb57d202 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/69954e51c43da0a4. Report an issue: GitHub.