prestodb/presto · error · PrestoException

HIVE_INVALID_METADATA

HIVE_INVALID_METADATA

Error message

SerDe is not present in StorageFormat

What it means

StorageFormat is an optional-container for serDe/inputFormat/outputFormat read from Hive storage descriptors. getSerDe() throws HIVE_INVALID_METADATA when the serDe field is null, meaning the table or partition's storage descriptor lacks a SerDe name — the metadata cannot describe how to serialize/deserialize the data, so reads/writes are impossible.

Source

Thrown at presto-hive-metastore/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/hive/metastore/StorageFormat.java:48

public class StorageFormat
{
    public static final StorageFormat VIEW_STORAGE_FORMAT = StorageFormat.createNullable(null, null, null);

    private final String serDe;
    private final String inputFormat;
    private final String outputFormat;

    private StorageFormat(String serDe, String inputFormat, String outputFormat)
    {
        this.serDe = serDe;
        this.inputFormat = inputFormat;
        this.outputFormat = outputFormat;
    }

    public String getSerDe()
    {
        if (serDe == null) {
            throw new PrestoException(HIVE_INVALID_METADATA, "SerDe is not present in StorageFormat");
        }
        return serDe;
    }

    public String getInputFormat()
    {
        if (inputFormat == null) {
            throw new PrestoException(HIVE_UNSUPPORTED_FORMAT, "InputFormat is not present in StorageFormat");
        }
        return inputFormat;
    }

    public String getOutputFormat()
    {
        if (outputFormat == null) {
            throw new PrestoException(HIVE_UNSUPPORTED_FORMAT, "OutputFormat is not present in StorageFormat");
        }
        return outputFormat;

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

1. Fix the table/partition metadata so the storage descriptor includes a valid SerDe (e.g. ALTER TABLE ... SET SERDE 'org.apache.hadoop.hive.serde2.lazy.LazySimpleSerDe')
2. Drop and re-create the table/partition with a complete ROW FORMAT SERDE clause
3. Restore the storage descriptor from metastore backup if corrupted
4. If a partition was added manually, re-add it with MSCK or with full storage descriptor info

Example fix

// before (metadata without serde)
CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE t (a int) STORED AS TEXTFILE LOCATION '...';
// after
CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE t (a int)
ROW FORMAT SERDE 'org.apache.hadoop.hive.serde2.lazy.LazySimpleSerDe'
STORED AS TEXTFILE LOCATION '...';

// Validate storage descriptor before querying the table via Thrift metastore
StorageDescriptor sd = table.getSd();
if (sd.getSerdeInfo() == null || sd.getSerdeInfo().getSerializationLib() == null) {
    throw new IllegalStateException("table missing SerDe: " + table.getTableName());
}

boolean hasSerde(StorageFormat format) {
    return format.getSerDeNullable() != null;
}

try {
    selectFrom(table);
} catch (PrestoException e) {
    if (e.getErrorCode().getName().equals("HIVE_INVALID_METADATA")) {
        // ALTER TABLE ... SET SERDE or recreate the table
    }
    throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Querying or writing a table/partition whose metastore StorageDescriptor has no SerDe (null serDe in StorageFormat), typically from metadata written without a SerDe or stripped by another tool; getSerDe is called by serde(), fileContent(), createFileWriter(), etc.

Common situations: Tables created by external tools with incomplete storage descriptors; partitions added manually to the metastore without serde info; corrupted storage descriptors after migration; CREATE TABLE scripts omitting ROW FORMAT SERDE.

Related errors

• HIVE_UNSUPPORTED_FORMAT
• HIVE_SERDE_NOT_FOUND
• HIVE_SERDE_NOT_FOUND
• HIVE_UNSUPPORTED_FORMAT
• GENERIC_INTERNAL_ERROR

AI-assisted analysis of prestodb/presto@55bb57d202 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f30a649681a9f020. Report an issue: GitHub.