When an SQL statement generates an exception, this exception results in a runtime rollback. A runtime rollback is a system-generated rollback of a statement or transaction by Derby, as opposed to an explicit rollback call from your application.

Extremely severe exceptions, such as disk-full errors, shut down the system, and the transaction is rolled back when the database is next booted. Severe exceptions, such as deadlock, cause transaction rollback; Derby rolls back all changes since the beginning of the transaction and implicitly begins a new transaction. Less severe exceptions, such as syntax errors, result in statement rollback; Derby rolls back only changes made by the statement that caused the error. The application developer can insert code to explicitly roll back the entire transaction if desired.

Derby supports partial rollback through the use of savepoints. See Using savepoints for more information.