Informix Error -26157: File is incorrectly specified as a DISK type: (file)=(%s).

Cause and resolution

File is incorrectly specified as a DISK type: (file)=(%s).

The file named in the external table was designated as a "DISK" file type, but it is not a disk file. If this file is a UNIX named pipe, change the file type in the external table to type "PIPE".

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-26157 fires when an external table's file is declared type DISK but isn't a regular disk file — per the official guidance.

The file is a UNIX named pipe declared as DISK, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause named.

Solutions / Resolution

Change the external table's file type to PIPE, per the official guidance, if the file is genuinely a UNIX named pipe.

Examples

A named pipe declared as DISK

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE ext_tab SAMEAS orders
  USING (DATAFILES ("DISK:/tmp/mypipe"), ...);
-- -26157: /tmp/mypipe is a named pipe, not a disk file

Corrected

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE ext_tab SAMEAS orders
  USING (DATAFILES ("PIPE:/tmp/mypipe"), ...);

Diagnostic Checks

Check the file's actual type on disk (ls -l/file), and match the external table's declared file type to it.

Related Errors / Related Topics

-26158 — "File is incorrectly specified as a PIPE type: (file)=(%s)." The mirror-image error, declaring a disk file as PIPE rather than a pipe as DISK.

An external table file declared DISK was actually a named pipe — declare it PIPE instead.