prestodb/presto · error · OrcCorruptionException

Invalid postscript

Error message

Invalid postscript

What it means

ORC metadata-reading error in ExceptionWrappingMetadataReader.readPostScript: parsing the postscript protobuf failed (InvalidProtocolBufferException), wrapped as 'Invalid postscript'. The postscript is the file's trailing metadata block, so this almost always means a truncated, corrupted, or non-ORC file.

Source

Thrown at presto-orc/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/orc/metadata/ExceptionWrappingMetadataReader.java:55

    private final OrcDataSourceId orcDataSourceId;
    private final MetadataReader delegate;

    public ExceptionWrappingMetadataReader(OrcDataSourceId orcDataSourceId, MetadataReader delegate)
    {
        this.orcDataSourceId = requireNonNull(orcDataSourceId, "orcDataSourceId is null");
        this.delegate = requireNonNull(delegate, "delegate is null");
        checkArgument(!(delegate instanceof ExceptionWrappingMetadataReader), "ExceptionWrappingMetadataReader can not wrap a ExceptionWrappingMetadataReader");
    }

    @Override
    public PostScript readPostScript(byte[] data, int offset, int length)
            throws OrcCorruptionException, IOException
    {
        try {
            return delegate.readPostScript(data, offset, length);
        }
        catch (InvalidProtocolBufferException e) {
            throw new OrcCorruptionException(e, orcDataSourceId, "Invalid postscript");
        }
    }

    @Override
    public Metadata readMetadata(HiveWriterVersion hiveWriterVersion, InputStream inputStream)
            throws OrcCorruptionException, IOException
    {
        try {
            return delegate.readMetadata(hiveWriterVersion, inputStream);
        }
        catch (InvalidProtocolBufferException e) {
            throw new OrcCorruptionException(e, orcDataSourceId, "Invalid file metadata");
        }
    }

    @Override
    public Footer readFooter(HiveWriterVersion hiveWriterVersion,
            InputStream inputStream,

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

1. Confirm the file is a complete ORC file (not truncated by a failed write)
2. Verify HDFS/S3 object size matches expectations
3. Recover from the original data source

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at presto-orc/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/orc/metadata/ExceptionWrappingMetadataReader.java:55 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of prestodb/presto@55bb57d202 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8d424dbaed3d0a16. Report an issue: GitHub.