lance-format / lance-format/lance

take_blobs(indices=...) fails with _rowaddr schema collision on multi-fragment tables

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bug
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

Version: Lance 3.0.0 (via pylance)

Description:

Calling LanceDataset.take_blobs(blob_column, indices=[...]) on a multi-fragment table with a blob column fails with a schema error. Lance internally tries to append a _rowaddr column, but the blob column's struct schema already contains a _rowaddr field, causing a collision.

Reproduction:

import lance
import random

ds = lance.dataset("path/to/multi_fragment_table.lance")

indices = sorted(random.sample(range(ds.count_rows()), 10))

# This fails:
blobs = ds.take_blobs("my_blob_column", indices=indices)

Error:

RuntimeError: LanceError(Arrow): Schema error: Can not append column _rowaddr on schema:
Schema { fields: [
  Field { name: "my_blob_column", data_type: Struct([
    Field { name: "position", data_type: UInt64, nullable: true },
    Field { name: "size", data_type: UInt64, nullable: true }
  ]), metadata: {"lance-encoding:blob": "true"} },
  Field { name: "_rowaddr", data_type: UInt64, nullable: true }
], metadata: {} },
/home/runner/work/lance/lance/rust/lance/src/dataset/take.rs:384:21

Root cause:

The indices code path in take.rs:384 attempts to add a _rowaddr column to resolve logical indices into physical row addresses. However, the internal blob schema already includes _rowaddr as a field, causing a duplicate column error.

Workaround:

Use ids= instead of indices= with properly encoded row IDs (fragment_id << 32 | row_offset):

fragments = ds.get_fragments()
frag = fragments[0]
offsets = random.sample(range(frag.count_rows()), 10)
row_ids = [(frag.fragment_id << 32) | offset for offset in offsets]
blobs = ds.take_blobs("my_blob_column", ids=row_ids)  # works

Additional notes:

  • take_blobs(ids=...) with flat sequential integers (not encoded row IDs) also fails — the IDs must encode the fragment ID in the upper 32 bits.
  • LanceDataset.take() does not support with_row_id or with_row_address kwargs, so there's no convenient way to map logical indices to row IDs for use with take_blobs(ids=...).
  • The indices path is the only ergonomic API for random access to blobs by logical position, and it's broken on any table with more than one fragment.

Environment:

  • Lance 3.0.0
  • Python 3.12

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the indices path in lance/src/dataset/take.rs at line 384 and reproduce the failure using a multi-fragment table with a blob column and take_blobs(indices=...). Compare it with the working encoded ids= path; done means logical-index blob retrieval no longer hits the _rowaddr schema collision, with the relevant behavior covered by a regression test.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python, rust
Domain
data-engineering, 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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