apache / apache/datafusion

`date_bin` and `date_trunc` disagree on timezone-aware timestamps

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bug
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Rust
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Description

### Describe the bug

`date_trunc` and `date_bin` give different answers for the same timezone-aware value and the same unit. `date_trunc` works in the value's own timezone; `date_bin` works on the UTC instant and then relabels.

For whole-hour zones the difference is visible but each answer is at least a local midnight. For a zone whose offset is not a whole multiple of the stride it is worse — `date_bin` returns something that is not a boundary in either timezone:

```sql
SELECT arrow_cast(TIMESTAMP '2024-01-01 12:00:00','Timestamp(Second, Some("Asia/Kolkata"))') AS t,
date_trunc('day', ...) AS dtrunc,
date_bin(INTERVAL '1 day', ...) AS dbin;

+---------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
| t | dtrunc | dbin |
+---------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
| 2024-01-01T12:00:00+05:30 | 2024-01-01T00:00:00+05:30 | 2024-01-01T05:30:00+05:30 |
+---------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
```

`05:30:00+05:30` is UTC midnight rendered in Kolkata. It is not a day boundary in Kolkata, and as a `GROUP BY` key it is surprising.

America/Denver shows the same disagreement in the more familiar form: `date_trunc` gives `2024-01-01T00:00:00-07:00`, `date_bin` gives `2023-12-31T17:00:00-07:00`.

### To Reproduce

The queries above, on DataFusion 55.0.0 (`da89c7c85b`).

### Expected behavior

Not obvious, which is why I am filing it rather than proposing a patch. Each function individually matches PostgreSQL — PG's `date_trunc(field, timestamptz)` truncates in the session zone and PG's `date_bin` is instant-based — so neither is wrong on its own. What is missing is that the pair is inconsistent, nothing in the codebase or documentation records that this is intentional, and there is no way for a user to discover it short of comparing outputs.

At minimum the difference should be a deliberate, documented decision. Options that seem worth weighing:

- Give `date_bin` an optional timezone argument, or make it timezone-aware for whole-calendar-unit strides.
- Leave the behaviour and document it prominently on both functions.

Related: #10602 asks for local-calendar binning and is still open for exactly this reason; the current answer is to compose `date_bin` with `to_local_time`. #13962 is a different symptom of timezone-sensitive grouping.

Found while adding timezone characterization tests in #25164.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start with the date_trunc and date_bin entry points and run the Asia/Kolkata and America/Denver queries from the report. Read the timezone characterization tests added in #25164 and the context from #10602 and #13962. Done means the behavior is an explicit, reviewed decision, with the relevant behavior documented or the agreed API change specified.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust, sql
Domain
databases
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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