prestodb/presto · error · UnsupportedOperationException

Listing all tables after adding/dropping/altering tables/vie

Error message

Listing all tables after adding/dropping/altering tables/views in a transaction is not supported

What it means

getAllTables on SemiTransactionalHiveMetastore refuses to list tables when the current transaction already contains add/drop/alter actions on tables or views, because the delegate metastore's listing would not reflect those uncommitted changes and could yield inconsistent results.

Source

Thrown at presto-hive-metastore/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/hive/metastore/SemiTransactionalHiveMetastore.java:204

    }

    public synchronized List<String> getAllDatabases(MetastoreContext metastoreContext)
    {
        checkReadable();
        return delegate.getAllDatabases(metastoreContext);
    }

    public synchronized Optional<Database> getDatabase(MetastoreContext metastoreContext, String databaseName)
    {
        checkReadable();
        return delegate.getDatabase(metastoreContext, databaseName);
    }

    public synchronized Optional<List<String>> getAllTables(MetastoreContext metastoreContext, String databaseName)
    {
        checkReadable();
        if (!tableActions.isEmpty()) {
            throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Listing all tables after adding/dropping/altering tables/views in a transaction is not supported");
        }
        return delegate.getAllTables(metastoreContext, databaseName);
    }

    public Optional<Table> getTable(MetastoreContext metastoreContext, String databaseName, String tableName)
    {
        HiveTableHandle hiveTableHandle = new HiveTableHandle(databaseName, tableName);
        return getTable(metastoreContext, hiveTableHandle);
    }

    public synchronized Optional<Table> getTable(MetastoreContext metastoreContext, HiveTableHandle hiveTableHandle)
    {
        checkReadable();
        Action<TableAndMore> tableAction = tableActions.get(hiveTableHandle.getSchemaTableName());
        if (tableAction == null) {
            return metastoreContext.getRuntimeStats().recordWallTime(GET_TABLE_TIME_NANOS, () -> delegate.getTable(metastoreContext, hiveTableHandle));
        }
        switch (tableAction.getType()) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

1. Restructure the workload so table listing happens before any DDL in the same transaction, or in a separate transaction/session
2. Commit or roll back the pending table changes before calling listTables

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at presto-hive-metastore/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/hive/metastore/SemiTransactionalHiveMetastore.java:204 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/4951f8fde1593394. Report an issue: GitHub.