prestodb/presto · error · IllegalArgumentException

Selector refers to nonexistent group: %s

Error message

Selector refers to nonexistent group: %s

What it means

AbstractResourceConfigurationManager.validateSelectors walks each selector's group path, matching successive subgroup names against the configured resource group tree. If any segment of the selector's fully-qualified group path does not exist in the resource group specification, it throws IllegalArgumentException 'Selector refers to nonexistent group'.

Source

Thrown at presto-resource-group-managers/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/resourceGroups/AbstractResourceConfigurationManager.java:122

                    spec.getGroup()));
        }
        return selectors.build();
    }

    private void validateSelectors(List<ResourceGroupSpec> groups, SelectorSpec spec)
    {
        spec.getQueryType().ifPresent(this::validateQueryType);
        List<ResourceGroupNameTemplate> selectorGroups = spec.getGroup().getSegments();
        StringBuilder fullyQualifiedGroupName = new StringBuilder();
        while (!selectorGroups.isEmpty()) {
            ResourceGroupNameTemplate groupName = selectorGroups.get(0);
            fullyQualifiedGroupName.append(groupName);
            Optional<ResourceGroupSpec> match = groups
                    .stream()
                    .filter(groupSpec -> groupSpec.getName().equals(groupName))
                    .findFirst();
            if (!match.isPresent()) {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException(format("Selector refers to nonexistent group: %s", fullyQualifiedGroupName.toString()));
            }
            fullyQualifiedGroupName.append(".");
            groups = match.get().getSubGroups();
            selectorGroups = selectorGroups.subList(1, selectorGroups.size());
        }
    }

    private void validateQueryType(String queryType)
    {
        try {
            QueryType.valueOf(queryType.toUpperCase());
        }
        catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(format("Selector specifies an invalid query type: %s", queryType));
        }
    }

    protected AbstractResourceConfigurationManager(ClusterMemoryPoolManager memoryPoolManager)

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

  1. Align each selector's group path with the actual resource group tree in the config
  2. Fix typos in group names in selector definitions
  3. Check startup logs for resource group spec load failures that leave the tree incomplete
  4. Validate the whole config (group names vs selector references) before deploying

Example fix

// before
"selectors": [{ "group": "global.adhoc.bi" }] // 'bi' does not exist
// after
"selectors": [{ "group": "global.adhoc.analytics" }]
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

Set<String> definedGroups = collectAllGroupPaths(resourceGroupSpecs);
for (SelectorSpec s : selectors) {
    if (!definedGroups.contains(s.getGroup())) {
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("selector references unknown group: " + s.getGroup());
    }
}

Try / catch

try { manager.validateSelectors(selectors, groups); } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) { log.error("selector config error: " + e.getMessage()); throw new ConfigurationException(e.getMessage()); }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: A selector's group property names a resource group (or nested sub-group) that is absent from the resource group config, or a typo'd group name in a selector, or a selector path whose prefix exists but whose deeper segment doesn't.

Common situations: Renamed/deleted resource groups without updating selector rules; JSON/YAML selector files referencing groups defined in a different file that failed to load; indentation mistakes nesting a group under the wrong parent.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of prestodb/presto@55bb57d202 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b7cba42a7e1b6d24. Report an issue: GitHub.