private void checkMmLb(Table table) throws HiveException {
    if (!table.isStoredAsSubDirectories()) {
      return;
    }
    // TODO [MM gap?]: by design; no-one seems to use LB tables. They will work, but not convert.
    //                 It's possible to work around this by re-creating and re-inserting the table.
    throw new HiveException("Converting list bucketed tables stored as subdirectories "
        + " to MM is not supported. Please re-create a table in the desired format.");
  }
Operation process of setting properties of a table.
ql/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/ddl/table/misc/properties/AlterTableSetPropertiesOperation.java