Index: ql/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/exec/Utilities.java =================================================================== --- ql/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/exec/Utilities.java (revision 1626924) +++ ql/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/exec/Utilities.java (working copy) @@ -1788,8 +1788,12 @@ } HiveOutputFormat hiveOutputFormat = null; Class outputClass = null; - boolean isCompressed = conf.getCompressed(); - TableDesc tableInfo = conf.getTableInfo(); + Boolean isCompressed = null; + TableDesc tableInfo = null; + if(conf != null) { + isCompressed = conf.getCompressed(); + tableInfo = conf.getTableInfo(); + } try { Serializer serializer = (Serializer) tableInfo.getDeserializerClass().newInstance(); serializer.initialize(null, tableInfo.getProperties());