title: Hadoop unable to format namenode - java.lang.NullPointerException
body: <p>A few details about my installation:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 64 bit</li>
  <li>Oracle Java JDK 1.8.0_40 </li>
  <li>Hadoop 2.6.0</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>I have been following the instructions from <a href="http://www.bogotobogo.com/Hadoop/BigData_hadoop_Install_on_ubuntu_single_node_cluster.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.bogotobogo.com/Hadoop/BigData_hadoop_Install_on_ubuntu_single_node_cluster.php</a> to install Hadoop. Everything is working fine up to the point where I have to format the namenode. </p>
  
  <p>When I run <code>$ hadoop namenode -format</code> I get the following error:</p>
  
  <pre><code>DEPRECATED: Use of this script to execute hdfs command is deprecated.
  Instead use the hdfs command for it.
  
  15/04/12 19:01:02 INFO namenode.NameNode: STARTUP_MSG: 
  /************************************************************
  STARTUP_MSG: Starting NameNode
  STARTUP_MSG:   host = iulian-ThinkPad-T530/127.0.1.1
  STARTUP_MSG:   args = [-format]
  STARTUP_MSG:   version = 2.6.0
  STARTUP_MSG:   classpath = /usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/etc/hadoop:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jackson-core-asl-1.9.13.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/xz-1.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/paranamer-2.3.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jsr305-1.3.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/snappy-java-1.0.4.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/api-util-1.0.0-M20.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jaxb-api-2.2.2.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/netty-3.6.2.Final.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jaxb-impl-2.2.3-1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/commons-digester-1.8.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/slf4j-api-1.7.5.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/commons-io-2.4.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jersey-core-1.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jets3t-0.9.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/hadoop-annotations-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jetty-6.1.26.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jetty-util-6.1.26.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/curator-recipes-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/java-xmlbuilder-0.4.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/commons-codec-1.4.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jackson-jaxrs-1.9.13.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/commons-logging-1.1.3.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/apacheds-kerberos-codec-2.0.0-M15.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/junit-4.11.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jsch-0.1.42.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/asm-3.2.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/commons-httpclient-3.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/hadoop-auth-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/commons-compress-1.4.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/guava-11.0.2.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/commons-net-3.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/mockito-all-1.8.5.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jackson-mapper-asl-1.9.13.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/commons-collections-3.2.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/log4j-1.2.17.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/curator-framework-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/activation-1.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/commons-configuration-1.6.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/commons-lang-2.6.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/apacheds-i18n-2.0.0-M15.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jettison-1.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jasper-compiler-5.5.23.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/zookeeper-3.4.6.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/commons-cli-1.2.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jersey-json-1.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/commons-beanutils-core-1.8.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/xmlenc-0.52.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/protobuf-java-2.5.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jsp-api-2.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/httpcore-4.2.5.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/api-asn1-api-1.0.0-M20.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/slf4j-log4j12-1.7.5.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/servlet-api-2.5.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jersey-server-1.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/gson-2.2.4.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/httpclient-4.2.5.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/avro-1.7.4.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/commons-el-1.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jackson-xc-1.9.13.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/stax-api-1.0-2.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/curator-client-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/commons-beanutils-1.7.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/commons-math3-3.1.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/hamcrest-core-1.3.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/htrace-core-3.0.4.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/lib/jasper-runtime-5.5.23.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/hadoop-common-2.6.0-tests.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/hadoop-common-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/common/hadoop-nfs-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/jackson-core-asl-1.9.13.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/jsr305-1.3.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/netty-3.6.2.Final.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/commons-io-2.4.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/jersey-core-1.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/jetty-6.1.26.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/jetty-util-6.1.26.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/commons-codec-1.4.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/xercesImpl-2.9.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/commons-logging-1.1.3.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/asm-3.2.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/guava-11.0.2.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/jackson-mapper-asl-1.9.13.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/log4j-1.2.17.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/commons-lang-2.6.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/commons-cli-1.2.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/xmlenc-0.52.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/protobuf-java-2.5.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/jsp-api-2.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/servlet-api-2.5.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/jersey-server-1.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/xml-apis-1.3.04.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/commons-daemon-1.0.13.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/commons-el-1.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/htrace-core-3.0.4.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/jasper-runtime-5.5.23.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/hadoop-hdfs-nfs-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/hadoop-hdfs-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/hdfs/hadoop-hdfs-2.6.0-tests.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jackson-core-asl-1.9.13.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/xz-1.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/guice-3.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jsr305-1.3.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jaxb-api-2.2.2.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jersey-client-1.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/netty-3.6.2.Final.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jaxb-impl-2.2.3-1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/commons-io-2.4.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jersey-core-1.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jetty-6.1.26.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jetty-util-6.1.26.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/javax.inject-1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/commons-codec-1.4.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jackson-jaxrs-1.9.13.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/commons-logging-1.1.3.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/leveldbjni-all-1.8.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/asm-3.2.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/commons-httpclient-3.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/commons-compress-1.4.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/guava-11.0.2.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jackson-mapper-asl-1.9.13.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/commons-collections-3.2.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/guice-servlet-3.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/log4j-1.2.17.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/activation-1.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/commons-lang-2.6.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jettison-1.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/zookeeper-3.4.6.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/commons-cli-1.2.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jersey-json-1.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/protobuf-java-2.5.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/servlet-api-2.5.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jersey-server-1.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jline-0.9.94.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jackson-xc-1.9.13.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/stax-api-1.0-2.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/aopalliance-1.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/jersey-guice-1.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/hadoop-yarn-server-common-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/hadoop-yarn-registry-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/hadoop-yarn-common-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/hadoop-yarn-server-web-proxy-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/hadoop-yarn-server-tests-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/hadoop-yarn-api-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/hadoop-yarn-applications-distributedshell-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/hadoop-yarn-server-applicationhistoryservice-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/hadoop-yarn-applications-unmanaged-am-launcher-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop-2.6.0/share/hadoop/yarn/hadoop-yarn-client-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/jackson-core-asl-1.9.13.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/xz-1.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/paranamer-2.3.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/guice-3.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/snappy-java-1.0.4.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/netty-3.6.2.Final.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/commons-io-2.4.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/jersey-core-1.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/hadoop-annotations-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/javax.inject-1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/leveldbjni-all-1.8.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/junit-4.11.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/asm-3.2.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/commons-compress-1.4.1.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/jackson-mapper-asl-1.9.13.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/guice-servlet-3.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/log4j-1.2.17.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/protobuf-java-2.5.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/jersey-server-1.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/avro-1.7.4.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/hamcrest-core-1.3.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/aopalliance-1.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/jersey-guice-1.9.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/hadoop-mapreduce-client-common-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient-2.6.0-tests.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/hadoop-mapreduce-client-app-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/hadoop-mapreduce-client-shuffle-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/hadoop-mapreduce-client-hs-plugins-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/hadoop-mapreduce-client-hs-2.6.0.jar:/usr/local/hadoop/share/hadoop/mapreduce/hadoop-mapreduce-examples-2.6.0.jar:/contrib/capacity-scheduler/*.jar:/contrib/capacity-scheduler/*.jar
  STARTUP_MSG:   build = https://git-wip-us.apache.org/repos/asf/hadoop.git -r e3496499ecb8d220fba99dc5ed4c99c8f9e33bb1; compiled by 'jenkins' on 2014-11-13T21:10Z
  STARTUP_MSG:   java = 1.8.0_40
  ************************************************************/
  15/04/12 19:01:02 INFO namenode.NameNode: registered UNIX signal handlers for [TERM, HUP, INT]
  15/04/12 19:01:02 INFO namenode.NameNode: createNameNode [-format]
  15/04/12 19:01:03 WARN util.NativeCodeLoader: Unable to load native-hadoop library for your platform... using builtin-java classes where applicable
  Formatting using clusterid: CID-72fe7fe8-d67b-481e-8288-9f835727d80a
  15/04/12 19:01:03 FATAL namenode.NameNode: Failed to start namenode.
  java.lang.NullPointerException
      at java.io.File.&lt;init&gt;(File.java:277)
      at org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.NNStorage.setStorageDirectories(NNStorage.java:305)
      at org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.NNStorage.&lt;init&gt;(NNStorage.java:166)
      at org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.FSImage.&lt;init&gt;(FSImage.java:127)
      at org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.NameNode.format(NameNode.java:932)
      at org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.NameNode.createNameNode(NameNode.java:1379)
      at org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.NameNode.main(NameNode.java:1504)
  15/04/12 19:01:03 INFO util.ExitUtil: Exiting with status 1
  15/04/12 19:01:03 INFO namenode.NameNode: SHUTDOWN_MSG: 
  /************************************************************
  SHUTDOWN_MSG: Shutting down NameNode at iulian-ThinkPad-T530/127.0.1.1
  ************************************************************/
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The following have been added to <code>~/.bashrc</code>:</p>
  
  <pre><code>#HADOOP VARIABLES
  export JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/jdk1.8.0_40
  export HADOOP_INSTALL=/usr/local/hadoop 
  export PATH=$PATH:$HADOOP_INSTALL/bin 
  export PATH=$PATH:$HADOOP_INSTALL/sbin 
  export HADOOP_MAPRED_HOME=$HADOOP_INSTALL 
  export HADOOP_COMMON_HOME=$HADOOP_INSTALL 
  export HADOOP_HDFS_HOME=$HADOOP_INSTALL 
  export YARN_HOME=$HADOOP_INSTALL 
  export HADOOP_COMMON_LIB_NATIVE_DIR=$HADOOP_INSTALL/lib/native 
  export HADOOP_OPTS="-Djava.library.path=$HADOOP_INSTALL/lib" 
  </code></pre>