Mewel · Oct 22, 2026
diff --git a/mycore-base/src/main/java/org/mycore/frontend/cli/MCRObjectCommands.java b/mycore-base/src/main/java/org/mycore/frontend/cli/MCRObjectCommands.java
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ private static void fillWithDescendants(String mcrObjID, List<String> descendant
         order = 20)
     public static List<String> deleteAllObjects(String type) {
         return MCRCommandUtils.getIdsForType(type)
-            .map(id -> "delete object " + id)
+            .map(id -> "delete existing object " + id)
             .collect(Collectors.toList());
     }
 
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ public static List<String> deleteTopologicalAllObjects() {
         if (order != null) {
             //delete in reverse order
             for (int o = order.length - 1; o >= 0; o--) {
-                cmds.add("delete object " + ts.getNodeName(order[o]));
+                cmds.add("delete existing object " + ts.getNodeName(order[o]));
             }
         }
         return cmds;
@@ -266,11 +266,41 @@ public static void checkForCircles() {
         help = "Removes a MCRObject with the MCRObjectID {0}",
         order = 40)
     public static void delete(String id) throws MCRPersistenceException, MCRActiveLinkException, MCRAccessException {
-        MCRObjectID mcrId = MCRObjectID.getInstance(id);
+        delete(MCRObjectID.getInstance(id));
+    }
+
+    private static void delete(MCRObjectID mcrId)
+        throws MCRPersistenceException, MCRActiveLinkException, MCRAccessException {
         MCRMetadataManager.deleteMCRObject(mcrId);
         LOGGER.info("{} deleted.", mcrId);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Delete a MCRObject from the datastore if it exists. Used by commands that build a list of delete commands up
+     * front: children are deleted together with their parent, so their own delete command has to be skipped.
+     * Unlike {@link #delete(String)}, leftovers of objects without metadata are not removed.
+     *
+     * @param id
+     *            the id of the MCRObject that should be deleted
+     * @throws MCRPersistenceException  if a persistence problem is occurred
+     * @throws MCRAccessException see {@link MCRMetadataManager#deleteMCRObject(MCRObjectID)}
+     * @throws MCRActiveLinkException if object is referenced by other objects
+     */
+    @MCRCommand(
+        syntax = "delete existing object {0}",
+        help = "Removes a MCRObject with the MCRObjectID {0}, skips it if it does not exist (anymore). "
+            + "Use 'delete object {0}' to remove leftovers of an object without metadata.",
+        order = 45)
+    public static void deleteExisting(String id)
+        throws MCRPersistenceException, MCRActiveLinkException, MCRAccessException {
+        MCRObjectID mcrId = MCRObjectID.getInstance(id);
+        if (!MCRMetadataManager.exists(mcrId)) {
+            LOGGER.info("{} does not exist (anymore), skipping.", mcrId);
+            return;
+        }
+        delete(mcrId);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Delete MCRObject's form ID to ID from the datastore.
      *
@@ -286,7 +316,7 @@ public static void delete(String id) throws MCRPersistenceException, MCRActiveLi
         order = 30)
     public static List<String> deleteFromTo(String idFrom, String idTo) {
         return MCRCommandUtils.getIdsFromIdToId(idFrom, idTo)
-            .map(id -> "delete object " + id)
+            .map(id -> "delete existing object " + id)
             .collect(Collectors.toList());
     }
 

diff --git a/mycore-base/src/test/java/org/mycore/frontend/cli/MCRObjectCommandsTest.java b/mycore-base/src/test/java/org/mycore/frontend/cli/MCRObjectCommandsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+/*
+ * This file is part of ***  M y C o R e  ***
+ * See https://www.mycore.de/ for details.
+ *
+ * MyCoRe is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * MyCoRe is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with MyCoRe.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+package org.mycore.frontend.cli;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Set;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.ExtendWith;
+import org.mycore.access.MCRAccessBaseImpl;
+import org.mycore.backend.hibernate.MCRHIBLinkTableStore;
+import org.mycore.common.MCRTestConfiguration;
+import org.mycore.common.MCRTestProperty;
+import org.mycore.common.events.MCREvent;
+import org.mycore.common.events.MCREvent.ObjectType;
+import org.mycore.common.events.MCREventHandlerBase;
+import org.mycore.common.events.MCREventManager;
+import org.mycore.datamodel.common.MCRLinkTableEventHandler;
+import org.mycore.datamodel.common.MCRXMLMetadataEventHandler;
+import org.mycore.datamodel.metadata.MCRMetadataManager;
+import org.mycore.datamodel.metadata.MCRObject;
+import org.mycore.datamodel.metadata.MCRObjectID;
+import org.mycore.test.MCRJPAExtension;
+import org.mycore.test.MCRMetadataExtension;
+import org.mycore.test.MyCoReTest;
+
+@MyCoReTest
+@ExtendWith(MCRJPAExtension.class)
+@ExtendWith(MCRMetadataExtension.class)
+@MCRTestConfiguration(properties = {
+    @MCRTestProperty(key = "MCR.Persistence.LinkTable.Store.Class", classNameOf = MCRHIBLinkTableStore.class),
+    @MCRTestProperty(key = "MCR.Access.Class", classNameOf = MCRAccessBaseImpl.class),
+    @MCRTestProperty(key = "MCR.Metadata.Type.document", string = "true")
+})
+public class MCRObjectCommandsTest {
+
+    private final List<MCRObjectID> deletedObjects = new ArrayList<>();
+
+    private final MCREventHandlerBase recorder = new MCREventHandlerBase() {
+        @Override
+        protected void handleObjectDeleted(MCREvent evt, MCRObject obj) {
+            deletedObjects.add(obj.getId());
+        }
+    };
+
+    private MCRObject parent;
+
+    private MCRObject child;
+
+    @BeforeEach
+    public void setUp() throws Exception {
+        MCREventManager.getInstance().clear();
+        MCREventManager.getInstance().addEventHandler(ObjectType.OBJECT, new MCRXMLMetadataEventHandler());
+        MCREventManager.getInstance().addEventHandler(ObjectType.OBJECT, new MCRLinkTableEventHandler());
+        MCREventManager.getInstance().addEventHandler(ObjectType.OBJECT, recorder);
+        parent = createObject("test_document_00000001", null);
+        child = createObject("test_document_00000002", parent.getId());
+        MCRMetadataManager.create(parent);
+        MCRMetadataManager.create(child);
+    }
+
+    private MCRObject createObject(String id, MCRObjectID parentId) {
+        MCRObject object = new MCRObject();
+        object.setId(MCRObjectID.getInstance(id));
+        object.setSchema("noSchema");
+        if (parentId != null) {
+            object.getStructure().setParent(parentId);
+        }
+        return object;
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void deleteAllObjectsSkipsChildDeletedWithParent() throws Exception {
+        List<String> commands = MCRObjectCommands.deleteAllObjects("document");
+        assertEquals(Set.of("delete existing object " + parent.getId(), "delete existing object " + child.getId()),
+            Set.copyOf(commands));
+
+        assertEquals(List.of("delete existing object " + parent.getId(), "delete existing object " + child.getId()),
+            MCRObjectCommands.deleteFromTo(parent.getId().toString(), child.getId().toString()));
+        assertEquals(List.of("delete existing object " + child.getId(), "delete existing object " + parent.getId()),
+            MCRObjectCommands.deleteTopologicalAllObjects());
+
+        // the child is deleted together with its parent, its own command runs afterwards
+        MCRObjectCommands.deleteExisting(parent.getId().toString());
+        MCRObjectCommands.deleteExisting(child.getId().toString());
+
+        assertFalse(MCRMetadataManager.exists(parent.getId()), "parent should be deleted");
+        assertFalse(MCRMetadataManager.exists(child.getId()), "child should be deleted");
+        assertEquals(List.of(child.getId(), parent.getId()), deletedObjects,
+            "DELETE event should be fired only once for each object");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void deleteRemovesLeftoversOfNonExistingObject() throws Exception {
+        MCRObjectCommands.delete(parent.getId().toString());
+        deletedObjects.clear();
+        // only record the event, the stores would log errors for the already deleted object
+        MCREventManager.getInstance().clear();
+        MCREventManager.getInstance().addEventHandler(ObjectType.OBJECT, recorder);
+
+        // "delete object" still fires the DELETE event, so that event handlers can remove leftovers
+        MCRObjectCommands.delete(child.getId().toString());
+        assertEquals(List.of(child.getId()), deletedObjects, "DELETE event should be fired for removed object");
+    }
+
+}