apache / apache/datafusion

Support Ref types in Avro Reader.

Open
#18,811 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
enhancement
Dominant language
Rust
Stars
9.3k
Forks
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Avg merge
3d 7h
Merged PRs (30d)
344

Description

### Is your feature request related to a problem or challenge?

Currently Ref types are not supported at all, if the reader is set to infer the schema from the file, we'll enter an unreachable block, if we manually provide an Arrow schema, and the writer_schema has a Ref somewhere - it's worse, any Ref type will just appear as Null in the data without any explanation.

### Describe the solution you'd like

Refs should be supported, as far as arrow can support them.

### Describe alternatives you've considered

_No response_

### Additional context

_No response_

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start with the Avro Reader and the writer_schema path described in the issue, then trace how Ref types are handled during schema inference and data reading. Done means supported Ref types no longer enter an unreachable block or silently appear as Null when an Arrow schema is provided.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
data-engineering
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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