treeverse / treeverse/dvc

Alterative hashings for data

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feature request p3-nice-to-have
Dominant language
Python
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Description

Since md5 is sensitive to the order and format of the data, simple changes to the schema (eg. swapping two columns) or changing the type of a column (eg. integer to float) leads to new hash values and duplicated datasets. There are some alternatives that attempt to address this, such as UNF (http://guides.dataverse.org/en/latest/developers/unf/index.html).

It would be great to specify an alternative hash function in DVC, particularly to be able to provide a user-defined function.

Contributor guide

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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

The issue names no files, tests, or entry points. Start by reviewing DVC’s current data hashing and dataset identity behavior, then define how alternative and user-defined hash functions would be configured and how they would avoid duplicate datasets; completion should include agreed behavior and coverage for schema and type changes.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
data, tooling
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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