risingwavelabs/risingwave · error

The upstream table name must contain database name prefix, e

Error message

The upstream table name must contain database name prefix, e.g. 'database.table'

What it means

For MySQL CDC sources, the upstream table name in the FROM clause must carry a database prefix (`database.table`) because MySQL disallows `.` inside its database and table identifiers, so the name is split on the first `.`. If `external_table_name` has no `.`, `split_once` fails and this error is raised.

Source

Thrown at src/frontend/src/handler/create_table.rs:1009

/// - For MySQL/Postgres: Returns the original `external_table_name` unchanged.
fn derive_with_options_for_cdc_table(
    source_with_properties: &WithOptionsSecResolved,
    external_table_name: String,
) -> Result<(WithOptionsSecResolved, String)> {
    use source::cdc::{MYSQL_CDC_CONNECTOR, POSTGRES_CDC_CONNECTOR, SQL_SERVER_CDC_CONNECTOR};
    // we should remove the prefix from `full_table_name`
    let source_database_name: &str = source_with_properties
        .get("database.name")
        .ok_or_else(|| anyhow!("The source with properties does not contain 'database.name'"))?
        .as_str();
    let mut with_options = source_with_properties.clone();
    if let Some(connector) = source_with_properties.get(UPSTREAM_SOURCE_KEY) {
        match connector.as_str() {
            MYSQL_CDC_CONNECTOR => {
                // MySQL doesn't allow '.' in database name and table name, so we can split the
                // external table name by '.' to get the table name
                let (db_name, table_name) = external_table_name.split_once('.').ok_or_else(|| {
                    anyhow!("The upstream table name must contain database name prefix, e.g. 'database.table'")
                })?;
                // We allow multiple database names in the source definition
                if !source_database_name
                    .split(',')
                    .map(|s| s.trim())
                    .any(|name| name == db_name)
                {
                    return Err(anyhow!(
                        "The database name `{}` in the FROM clause is not included in the database name `{}` in source definition",
                        db_name,
                        source_database_name
                    ).into());
                }
                with_options.insert(DATABASE_NAME_KEY.into(), db_name.into());
                with_options.insert(TABLE_NAME_KEY.into(), table_name.into());
                // Return original external_table_name unchanged for MySQL
                return Ok((with_options, external_table_name));
            }

View on GitHub (pinned to 6469eb736d)

Solutions

1. Write the FROM clause table name as `'database.table'`, e.g. `FROM mysql_src TABLE 'mydb.orders'`.
2. Alternatively use `schema.table` format if supported for your connector, letting the source's `database.name` be validated against the prefix.
3. Check the exact name in MySQL (`SHOW TABLES` / `SELECT DATABASE()`) and mirror it in the FROM clause.

Example fix

-- before
CREATE TABLE t FROM mysql_src TABLE 'orders';
-- after
CREATE TABLE t FROM mysql_src TABLE 'mydb.orders';

fn valid_mysql_from_name(name: &str) -> bool {
    name.contains('.') && name.split_once('.').map(|(db, t)| !db.is_empty() && !t.is_empty()).unwrap_or(false)
}

When it happens

Trigger: `CREATE TABLE t (...) FROM mysql_src TABLE 'mytable'` (or unquoted table name without prefix) where the MySQL CDC source requires `'mydb.mytable'`; same check during `generate_stream_graph_for_replace_table`.

Common situations: Users following Postgres-style `schema.table` examples for MySQL, or omitting the prefix thinking the source's `database.name` suffices.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid ... format", "must be in format X", "does not look like a ..." — invalid argument format errors across CLI tools and libraries — this error's family across 17 libraries.

Related errors

• The database name `{}` in the FROM clause is not included in
• received a DDL message, please set `canal.instance.filter.qu
• no value found at column: {}, index: {}
• failed to deserialize MySQL value into rust value
• failed to deserialize MySQL value into rw value

AI-assisted analysis of risingwavelabs/risingwave@6469eb736d (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5cb99077dd1ab872. Report an issue: GitHub.