lance-format/lance

Support version metadata when writing a dataset

Open

#514 opened on Feb 2, 2023

View on GitHub
 (0 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)Rust (695 forks)github user discovery
A-pythonenhancementhelp wantedrust

Repository metrics

Stars
 (6,582 stars)
PR merge metrics
 (Avg merge 6d 1h) (219 merged PRs in 30d)

Description

Motivation

Version metadata can be used for debugging and lineage tracking

Proto definition

  1. Deprecate https://github.com/lancedb/lance/blob/cb092db625baade0b5568c1a98039e5a991d48e8/protos/table.proto#L134-L139
  2. Make it an optional field instead

Write

  1. Add Rust struct for VersionAuxData (https://github.com/eto-ai/lance/blob/main/protos/format.proto#L79) along with pb<>rust conversion traits
  2. Write the aux data section similar to how index metadata is written (https://github.com/eto-ai/lance/blob/main/rust/src/io/writer.rs#L79). write_manifest should take additional version metadata as parameter note make sure the version_aux_data file position is tested

Read

  1. Add fn to read version aux data in the Version struct (https://github.com/eto-ai/lance/blob/main/rust/src/dataset.rs#L66)
  2. Instead of returning a PyDict for each version (https://github.com/eto-ai/lance/blob/main/python/src/dataset.rs#L182), create a pyo3 struct Version that is exposed to python. This struct should have a function to read the aux data and cache it in memory.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Examine the protobuf definitions for version metadata, implement the Rust struct and conversion traits, modify the writer to include auxiliary data, and update the Python bindings to expose the version metadata as a struct.
Tech stack
rustpython
Domain
backend
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
3-5 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
RustProtobufPython
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
40