apache / apache/datafusion

Type signature matching errors are overly verbose and show internal details

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#20,501 3 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

## Description

After upgrading to DataFusion 52, error messages for function signature mismatches have become less concise and helpful. When a user tries to call an aggregate function with an unsupported type, they now see verbose internal errors instead of user-friendly messages.

This regression was introduced in PR #18769 ("Refactor avg & sum signatures away from user defined"), which was part of the broader effort in #12725 to avoid use of `Signature::user_defined`.

## To Reproduce

```sql
CREATE TABLE test (bool_col BOOLEAN);
SELECT SUM(bool_col) FROM test;
```

**Before (DataFusion 51):**
```
Error during planning: Execution error: Function 'sum' user-defined coercion failed with "Execution error: Sum not supported for Boolean" No function matches the given name and argument types 'sum(Boolean)'. You might need to add explicit type casts.
Candidate functions:
sum(UserDefined)
```

The key message **"Sum not supported for Boolean"** was clear and actionable.

**After (DataFusion 52):**
```
Error during planning: Internal error: Function 'sum' failed to match any signature, errors: Internal error: Expect TypeSignatureClass::Decimal but received NativeType::Boolean, DataType: Boolean.
This issue was likely caused by a bug in DataFusion's code. Please help us to resolve this by filing a bug report in our issue tracker: https://github.com/apache/datafusion/issues,Internal error: Expect TypeSignatureClass::Native(LogicalType(Native(UInt64), UInt64)) but received NativeType::Boolean, DataType: Boolean.
This issue was likely caused by a bug in DataFusion's code...
[repeats for each signature variant]
Candidate functions:
sum(Coercion(TypeSignatureClass::Decimal))
sum(Coercion(TypeSignatureClass::Native(LogicalType(Native(UInt64), UInt64)), implicit_coercion=...))
...
```

### Problems With New Error

1. **Misleading**: Says "Internal error" and asks users to file a bug report, but this is a user error (wrong argument type), not a DataFusion bug
2. **Verbose**: Shows every failed signature match attempt with internal type system details (`TypeSignatureClass::Native(LogicalType(...))`)
3. **Lost context**: The meaningful message "Sum not supported for Boolean" is no longer present

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Reproduce the issue with the SQL example and compare the signature-matching behavior introduced by PR #18769, focusing on the replacement for Signature::user_defined. Trace how unsupported aggregate argument types are reported. Done means user-facing errors are concise and actionable, retain the meaningful unsupported-type context, and omit internal signature details.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust, sql
Domain
databases
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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