testcontainers/testcontainers-java · info · SQLFeatureNotSupportedException

getParentLogger not supported

Error message

getParentLogger not supported

What it means

The JDBC proxy driver's getParentLogger returns the delegate driver's parent logger when a real container-backed driver is active; otherwise it throws SQLFeatureNotSupportedException because the proxy itself has no underlying driver to delegate to. This mirrors the JDBC optional-API semantics.

Solutions

1. Only call getParentLogger after establishing a jdbc:tc connection so the delegate driver exists
2. Guard the call site for SQLFeatureNotSupportedException (an allowed outcome per JDBC spec)
3. Get the parent logger from the underlying vendor driver directly if needed

Example fix

// before
Logger l = new ContainerDatabaseDriver().getParentLogger();
// after
Logger l;
try {
    l = driver.getParentLogger();
} catch (SQLFeatureNotSupportedException e) {
    l = null; // no delegate driver active
}

Logger l;
try {
    l = driver.getParentLogger();
} catch (java.sql.SQLFeatureNotSupportedException e) {
    l = null; // no delegate active; acceptable per JDBC spec
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Driver.getParentLogger() on a ContainerDatabaseDriver instance before any jdbc:tc connection was established (delegate == null), e.g. using the driver standalone rather than through a container connection.

Common situations: Driver-management/monitoring tools enumerating all registered drivers and calling getParentLogger on each; obtaining the driver via new ContainerDatabaseDriver() instead of via a jdbc:tc connection.

Understand the failure class

Background: UnsupportedOperationException and "is not supported" errors: when a library deliberately refuses a call — this error's family across 30 libraries.

Related errors

• The ClickHouse does not support this
• The Oracle Database driver does not support this
• Setting a in not supported in the versions below 22.1.0
• Database name not supported
• Could not load classpath init script

AI-assisted analysis of testcontainers/testcontainers-java@8e549514e3 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6f9bc675fa27617a. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/jdbc/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/jdbc/ContainerDatabaseDriver.java:288

        return delegate != null ? delegate.getMajorVersion() : 1;
    }

    @Override
    public int getMinorVersion() {
        return delegate != null ? delegate.getMinorVersion() : 0;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean jdbcCompliant() {
        return delegate != null && delegate.jdbcCompliant();
    }

    @Override
    public Logger getParentLogger() throws SQLFeatureNotSupportedException {
        if (delegate != null) {
            return delegate.getParentLogger();
        }
        throw new SQLFeatureNotSupportedException("getParentLogger not supported");
    }

    /**
     * Utility method to kill ALL database containers directly from test support code. It shouldn't be necessary to use this,
     * but it is provided for convenience - e.g. for situations where many different database containers are being
     * tested and cleanup is needed to limit resource usage.
     */
    public static void killContainers() {
        synchronized (jdbcUrlContainerCache) {
            jdbcUrlContainerCache.values().forEach(JdbcDatabaseContainer::stop);
            jdbcUrlContainerCache.clear();
            containerConnections.clear();
            initializedContainers.clear();
        }
    }

    /**
     * Utility method to kill a database container directly from test support code. It shouldn't be necessary to use this,

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