prestodb/presto · error · PrestoException

HIVE_WRITER_OPEN_ERROR

HIVE_WRITER_OPEN_ERROR

Error message

Error creating %s file. %s

What it means

OrcFileWriterFactory.createFileWriter opens the target file and constructs an OrcWriter for ORC or DWRF encoding. Any IOException during file creation/ writer construction (before writing rows) is wrapped in HIVE_WRITER_OPEN_ERROR with 'Error creating <encoding> file'. It signals the output file could not be opened for writing.

Source

Thrown at presto-hive/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/hive/OrcFileWriterFactory.java:295

            return Optional.of(new OrcFileWriter(
                    dataSink,
                    rollbackAction,
                    orcEncoding,
                    fileColumnNames,
                    fileColumnTypes,
                    compression,
                    orcWriterOptions,
                    fileInputColumnIndexes,
                    metadata.build(),
                    session.getSqlFunctionProperties().isLegacyTimestamp() ? hiveStorageTimeZone : UTC,
                    validationInputFactory,
                    getOrcOptimizedWriterValidateMode(session),
                    stats,
                    dwrfEncryptionProvider,
                    dwrfWriterEncryption));
        }
        catch (IOException e) {
            throw new PrestoException(HIVE_WRITER_OPEN_ERROR, "Error creating " + orcEncoding + " file. " + e.getMessage(), e);
        }
    }

    @VisibleForTesting
    OrcWriterOptions buildOrcWriterOptions(ConnectorSession session, Properties schema)
    {
        boolean mapStatisticsEnabled = isMapStatisticsEnabled(schema);
        int flatMapKeyLimit = getFlatMapKeyLimit(schema);
        Set<Integer> flattenedColumns = getFlattenedColumns(schema, session);

        return orcFileWriterConfig
                .toOrcWriterOptionsBuilder()
                .withFlushPolicy(DefaultOrcWriterFlushPolicy.builder()
                        .withStripeMinSize(getOrcOptimizedWriterMinStripeSize(session))
                        .withStripeMaxSize(getOrcOptimizedWriterMaxStripeSize(session))
                        .withStripeMaxRowCount(getOrcOptimizedWriterMaxStripeRows(session))
                        .build())
                .withDictionaryMaxMemory(getOrcOptimizedWriterMaxDictionaryMemory(session))

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

  1. Fix the underlying IOException cause shown in the message (permissions, quota, connectivity) and retry the write.
  2. Verify the staging directory (hive temp/staging path) exists and is writable by the Presto user.
  3. Check S3/HDFS configuration (credentials, endpoint, bucket existence) if writing to object storage.
  4. Review orc_writer_* session properties and table ORC options for invalid values that break writer construction.
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Verify destination is writable before running the write
hdfs dfs -test -w /user/presto/staging && echo OK
// or for S3: s3api put-object --bucket target --key write-test --body /dev/null

Try / catch

try {
    insertInto(orcTable, data);
} catch (PrestoException e) {
    if ("HIVE_WRITER_OPEN_ERROR".equals(e.getErrorCode().getName())) {
        fixStorageAccess(e.getCause()); // permissions/credentials/quota
        return retry(insertInto, attempts = 2);
    }
    throw e;
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: createFileWriter when new OrcWriter(...) or the underlying filesystem output stream creation throws IOException — e.g. cannot create the file at the staging path, or the writer fails on first open.

Common situations: Missing write permission on the staging/target directory, HDFS not available or in safe mode, S3 bucket/credential misconfiguration, disk full, or invalid ORC writer options derived from session properties.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to write file", "Could not save figure", "Error saving remote file" — file write failed: causes and fixes across languages and libraries — this error's family across 38 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of prestodb/presto@55bb57d202 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8c7d473267c25d6b. Report an issue: GitHub.