prestodb/presto · error · PrestoException

HIVE_UNSUPPORTED_FORMAT

HIVE_UNSUPPORTED_FORMAT

Error message

Missing SerDe for SymlinkTextInputFormat

What it means

SymlinkTextInputFormat points to files listing target text files; to build the record reader the connector must know the SerDe of the underlying data. getInputFormat throws HIVE_UNSUPPORTED_FORMAT when a symlink-target split uses SymlinkTextInputFormat but no SerDe is available on the table/partition.

Source

Thrown at presto-hive/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/hive/HiveUtil.java:365

            throw new PrestoException(GENERIC_INTERNAL_ERROR, "Failed to find compressionCodec for inputFormat: " + inputFormat.getClass().getName(), e);
        }

        if (compressionCodecFactory == null) {
            return Optional.empty();
        }

        return Optional.ofNullable(compressionCodecFactory.getCodec(file));
    }

    public static InputFormat<?, ?> getInputFormat(Configuration configuration, String inputFormatName, String serDe, boolean symlinkTarget)
    {
        try {
            JobConf jobConf = toJobConf(configuration);

            Class<? extends InputFormat<?, ?>> inputFormatClass = getInputFormatClass(jobConf, inputFormatName);
            if (symlinkTarget && (inputFormatClass == SymlinkTextInputFormat.class)) {
                if (serDe == null) {
                    throw new PrestoException(HIVE_UNSUPPORTED_FORMAT, "Missing SerDe for SymlinkTextInputFormat");
                }

                /*
                 * https://github.com/apache/hive/blob/b240eb3266d4736424678d6c71c3c6f6a6fdbf38/ql/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/io/SymlinkTextInputFormat.java#L47-L52
                 * According to Hive implementation of SymlinkInputFormat, The target input data should be in TextInputFormat.
                 *
                 * But Delta Lake provides an integration with Presto using Symlink Tables with target input data as MapredParquetInputFormat.
                 * https://docs.delta.io/latest/presto-integration.html
                 *
                 * To comply with Hive implementation, we will keep the default value here as TextInputFormat unless serde is not LazySimpleSerDe
                 */
                if (serDe.equals(TEXTFILE.getSerDe())) {
                    inputFormatClass = TextInputFormat.class;
                    return ReflectionUtils.newInstance(inputFormatClass, jobConf);
                }

                for (HiveStorageFormat hiveStorageFormat : HiveStorageFormat.values()) {
                    if (serDe.equals(hiveStorageFormat.getSerDe())) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

1. Set the table/partition SerDe explicitly (e.g. STORED AS INPUTFORMAT 'org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.io.SymlinkTextInputFormat' WITH SERDE 'org.apache.hadoop.hive.serde2.lazy.LazySimpleSerDe')
2. Repair partition metadata with ALTER TABLE ... SET SERDE so the serde is present
3. Regenerate the symlink table using a tool that sets both input format and serde

Example fix

-- before
CREATE TABLE t (...) STORED AS INPUTFORMAT 'org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.io.SymlinkTextInputFormat';
-- after
CREATE TABLE t (...) STORED AS INPUTFORMAT 'org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.io.SymlinkTextInputFormat' WITH SERDE 'org.apache.hadoop.hive.serde2.lazy.LazySimpleSerDe';

if ("org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.io.SymlinkTextInputFormat".equals(inputFormatName) && serDe == null) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("SymlinkTextInputFormat requires an explicit SerDe");
}

boolean symlinkNeedsSerde(String inputFormatName) {
    return "org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.io.SymlinkTextInputFormat".equals(inputFormatName);
}

try { open(table); } catch (PrestoException e) { if (e.getErrorCode().getCode() == StandardErrorCode.HIVE_UNSUPPORTED_FORMAT.getCode()) { /* repair serde metadata before retry */ } else throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: Querying a table/partition with input format SymlinkTextInputFormat where serDe is null — e.g. table metadata missing the serde property, or a symlink-target read path constructed without the table's SerDe.

Common situations: Hand-crafted Hive tables with symlink input format but incomplete SerDe metadata; partitions created outside Hive with input format set but serde omitted; manifest-style symlink tables generated by external tools.

Related errors

• HIVE_SERDE_NOT_FOUND
• HIVE_SERDE_NOT_FOUND
• HIVE_INVALID_METADATA
• GENERIC_INTERNAL_ERROR
• unsupported string field type:

AI-assisted analysis of prestodb/presto@55bb57d202 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/35cabc7e55b3036e. Report an issue: GitHub.