theonedev/onedev · error · InUseException

${inUseMessage}

Error message

${inUseMessage}

What it means

Usage.checkInUse(thing) calls getInUseMessage(thing); if a non-null message is returned it throws InUseException with that message. It guards destructive operations (delete/update) on entities still referenced elsewhere, and callers like checkUsage rely on it to block the operation.

Source

Thrown at server-core/src/main/java/io/onedev/server/util/usage/Usage.java:57

		if (!places.isEmpty()) {
			StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder(thing + " is still being used in below places:\n");
			for (String place: places) {
				if (!place.startsWith("->"))
					builder.append("    -> " + place).append("\n");
				else
					builder.append("    " + place).append("\n");
			}
			String message = builder.toString();
			return message.substring(0, message.length()-1);
		} else {
			return null;
		}
	}
	
	public void checkInUse(String thing) {
		String inUseMessage = getInUseMessage(thing);
		if (inUseMessage != null)
			throw new InUseException(inUseMessage);
	}
	
}

View on GitHub (pinned to d44925c47c)

Solutions

1. Remove the references reported in the in-use message, then retry delete/update
2. Call getInUseMessage beforehand and display it to the user instead of attempting the operation
3. Catch InUseException around delete/update and surface the message in the UI

Example fix

// before
groupService.delete(group);
// after
String inUse = groupService.getInUseMessage(group);
if (inUse == null) {
    groupService.delete(group);
} else {
    throw new ExplicitException(inUse);
}

String inUse = entityService.getInUseMessage(entity);
if (inUse != null) {
    throw new ExplicitException(inUse);
}

try {
    service.delete(entity);
} catch (InUseException e) {
    ui.showError(e.getMessage());
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling delete or update on an entity (project, group, role, etc.) that other entities still reference; the concrete message comes from the subclass's getInUseMessage implementation.

Common situations: Deleting a group that still has members or is referenced by authorizations; removing a build spec or secret still used by jobs; cascade deletes attempted manually instead of via the guarded API.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid state transition" errors: "status must be X, actually Y", "already rejected/charging/uninstalled", "cannot ... while running" — what they mean when a library rejects your call — this error's family across 31 libraries.

Related errors

• Cannot delete pull request "${request.getReference().toStrin
• errorMessage (from checkDeleteSourceBranchCondition)

AI-assisted analysis of theonedev/onedev@d44925c47c (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b4622c7fad99335f. Report an issue: GitHub.