CPF2113: Cannot allocate library

What it means

CPF2113 is an escape message from QCPFMSG with the text "Cannot allocate library &1". Allocate is IBM i's word for taking a lock. Libraries are objects, of type *LIB, and jobs lock them like any other object.

Every library on a job's library list is held with a shared lock for as long as it stays on the list. Shared locks get along with each other, so thousands of jobs can have the same library on their lists. A command that needs the library to itself, such as renaming or deleting it, asks for an exclusive lock, and that conflicts with every shared lock.

So CPF2113 usually shows up in one of two ways. A command like ADDLIBLE can't get its shared lock because some other job holds the library exclusively. Or a command that needs the library exclusively, such as a rename, can't get it because other jobs are using the library. In both cases the system waited for the job's wait time and then gave up.

Common causes

• Another job has the library locked exclusively, for example with ALCOBJ OBJ((QSYS/ACCTLIB *LIB *EXCL)) during a nightly process.
• A job is renaming or deleting the library, or doing other work on it that needs it to itself.
• Your own command needs the library exclusively, and other jobs, including idle interactive sessions, still have it on their library lists.
• The job's default wait time is short, so even a brief lock by another job is enough to make the command fail.

How to find the problem

1. Run WRKOBJLCK OBJ(QSYS/ACCTLIB) OBJTYPE(*LIB). It lists each job holding a lock on the library and the lock state. Look for *EXCL or *EXCLRD if your command wanted a shared lock, or for any lock at all if it wanted an exclusive one.
2. Take option 5 next to a job in that list to see what it is doing.
3. In the job that failed, open the job log with DSPJOBLOG, put the cursor on CPF2113 and press F1 to confirm the library. The command logged just before it shows which command wanted the lock.

How to fix it

• Wait until the other job finishes and try again, or schedule your job outside that job's window.
• If you need the library to yourself, ask users to sign off or remove it from their lists, and end any server jobs that hold it. Do this only when it is safe.
• In a CL program, monitor for CPF2113, wait with DLYJOB, and retry a few times before failing.
• If a nightly process locks the library exclusively, check that it really needs to. A weaker lock may be enough and would let other jobs keep running.

What it looks like

Cannot allocate library ACCTLIB.

DSPMSGD MSGID(CPF2113) MSGF(QSYS/QCPFMSG)

Technical reviewer: Albert Joseph, WND Software.

Last reviewed 2026-10-18 by the WND Software team. Written in our own words. For the full reference, check IBM’s documentation for your IBM i release.