apache / apache/iceberg-python

SqlCatalog table operations should filter on `iceberg_type`

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Description

### Feature Request / Improvement

In #3263, the `iceberg_type` column was added to the SQLCatalog and filters it in `list_tables`, but the other table operations (i.e. load_table, drop_table, rename_table, commit_table) don't check it yet. That means a view row written by iceberg java or iceberg-rust can bleed in pythons SQLCatalog table operations.

Java's V1 catalog applies `WHERE (iceberg_type = 'TABLE' OR iceberg_type IS NULL)` everywhere ([JdbcUtil.java#L168](https://github.com/apache/iceberg/blob/main/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/jdbc/JdbcUtil.java#L168)). We should do the same.

Probably worth extracting a small helper since the predicate would now appear in ~5+ places.

Repro steps:

```python
catalog = SqlCatalog("test", uri="sqlite:///...", warehouse="...")
catalog.create_namespace("ns")

# bypass and sim java/rust writing a view row
with catalog.engine.connect() as conn:
conn.execute(text(
"INSERT INTO iceberg_tables VALUES "
"('test', 'ns', 'a_view', 's3://fake/m.json', NULL, 'VIEW')"
))
conn.commit()

catalog.drop_table(("ns", "a_view")) # Silently deletes the view row :/
```

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

Research direction

Start in the SqlCatalog table-operation methods, compare their predicates with the existing iceberg_type handling in list_tables from #3263, and reproduce the issue with the provided SQLite setup and view row. Done means load_table, drop_table, rename_table, and commit_table no longer treat rows with iceberg_type VIEW as tables, while TABLE and NULL rows continue to work.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python, sql
Domain
databases
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
68/100

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