Hi All, Slashes in namespace seem to work fine (Spark 3.5 + Iceberg 1.10.0):
spark-sql ()> create namespace `n/s`; Time taken: 0.335 seconds spark-sql ()> show namespaces; `n/s` Time taken: 0.232 seconds, Fetched 1 row(s) spark-sql ()> use `n/s`; Time taken: 0.028 seconds spark-sql (`n/s`)> create table t1 (n string); Time taken: 0.702 seconds The URLs appear to be encoded properly, e.g. (from Polaris log): 2026-04-15 13:41:17,594 INFO [io.qua.htt.access-log] [dee1505c-ec1d-4f90-a9de-154eac66a40c_0000000000000000013,POLARIS] [,,,] (executor-thread-1) 127.0.0.1 - root [15/Apr/2026:13:41:17 -0400] "GET /api/catalog/v1/polaris/namespaces/n%2Fs/tables?pageToken= HTTP/1.1" 200 74 I did not test trickier chars, but adding CI coverage for them would be good. However, the S3 location in this case gets a proper directory breakdown: $ mc ls rustfs/pol/n/s [2026-04-15 13:44:37 EDT] 0B t1/ ... and table metadata has: "location":"s3://pol/n/s/t1" ... but that is probably a different issue. Cheers, Dmitri. On Wed, Apr 15, 2026 at 10:35 AM Robert Stupp <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks Alex for the thorough investigation! > > URL en/decoding is really not that easy. > I wonder how namespace elements and table/view names with a slash ('/') > character in the middle behave. Or other characters like '&' or '?' or '#'. > > Overall, I agree with your idea to implement correct URL encoding/decoding > in the Polaris code base to protect Polaris from upstream behavior changes > that can seriously break or even corrupt things. > > What's your take on leveraging jakarta.ws.rs.ext.ParamConverterProvider > / jakarta.ws.rs.ext.ParamConverter for the path parameters and have > centralized helpers that deal with "proper" URL encoding/decoding? > > I also agree that the "configurable namespace separator" must never change. > Is my assumption correct, that it must always be the same character as it > is today? > > Best, > Robert > > > On Wed, Apr 15, 2026 at 3:48 PM Alexandre Dutra <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi all, > > > > FYI I created a first PR to address the double-decoding issue: > > > > https://github.com/apache/polaris/pull/4210 > > > > Thanks, > > Alex > > > > On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 9:56 PM Alexandre Dutra <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > > > Hi all, > > > > > > I would also point out that Polaris uses RESTUtil.encodeNamespace and > > > RESTUtil.decodeNamespace for encoding and decoding the parent > > > namespace within a NamespaceEntity [1]. > > > > > > These methods also exhibit the faulty space encoding behavior. > > > Therefore, we must exercise **extreme caution** regarding any upcoming > > > Iceberg project fixes for space-encoding issues. If these methods are > > > modified, it is imperative that we retain the legacy versions > > > specifically for encoding and decoding NamespaceEntity properties – > > > otherwise we could end up with a corrupted database. > > > > > > The same goes for the future namespace separator coming with Iceberg > > > 1.11: for the sake of encoding and decoding NamespaceEntity > > > properties, the separator must never change. > > > > > > I would actually be in favor of proactively internalizing the > > > encoding/decoding algorithm used in NamespaceEntity. What do you > > > think? > > > > > > Thanks, > > > Alex > > > > > > [1]: > > > https://github.com/apache/polaris/blob/8ad8f74f62258ab6238190271603e4d4c8a75998/polaris-core/src/main/java/org/apache/polaris/core/entity/NamespaceEntity.java#L92 > > > > > > > > > On Tue, Apr 14, 2026 at 7:43 PM Alexandre Dutra <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > > > > Hi all, > > > > > > > > A discussion on the Iceberg ML [1] recently highlighted that URL path > > > > segments are not being decoded correctly according to RFC 3986, > > > > specifically regarding space encoding. > > > > > > > > I investigated the situation in Polaris, and found many problems: > > > > > > > > TLDR > > > > > > > > - Table names with the + sign can be created but cannot be retrieved > > > > - Namespace names with the + sign are OK (can be created and > retrieved) > > > > - Table names with spaces cannot be created > > > > - Namespace names with spaces cannot be created > > > > > > > > DISCUSSION > > > > > > > > Table names such as "foo+bar" can be created (via POST, where the > name > > > > is in the request body). But they cannot be retrieved: when reading > > > > tables, the name is part of the URL path. Polaris incorrectly > performs > > > > a second decoding step using RESTUtil.decodeString(table), even > though > > > > the REST framework has already decoded it. Consequently, a client > > > > sends "foo%2Bbar" which is first decoded to "foo+bar" by the > framework > > > > (correct) and then re-decoded by Polaris to "foo bar" (incorrect), > > > > resulting in a "not found" error. > > > > > > > > Table and namespace names like "foo bar" simply cannot be created at > > > > all. This is because in IcebergCatalog.defaultWarehouseLocation() and > > > > other similar places, we create locations merely by joining > > > > identifiers together, without any form of URL encoding: see [2] [3]. > > > > > > > > And even if tables like "foo bar" could be created, they couldn't be > > > > retrieved by Java clients. This occurs because current Java clients > > > > incorrectly encode that name as "foo+bar", which the REST framework > > > > does not modify. Consequently, Polaris would look for a table named > > > > "foo+bar" instead and throw a "not found" error. (Other clients would > > > > send "foo%20bar" which would be correctly decoded by the framework as > > > > "foo bar", and thus it would succeed.) > > > > > > > > PROPOSAL > > > > > > > > To resolve the issue with the + sign in table names, we simply need > to > > > > eliminate the redundant decoding step. I can open a PR for that > > > > shortly. > > > > > > > > To resolve the issue with spaces in table and namespace names, we > > > > could fix all the methods that incorrectly join together identifiers > > > > without proper URL encoding. > > > > > > > > Finally, addressing the Java clients encoding problem is complex, but > > > > we could consider implementing a workaround as follows: > > > > > > > > 1) If the client is Java and lacks the upcoming Iceberg fix for space > > > > encoding, manually replace "+" with a space to correct the client's > > > > faulty encoding. > > > > > > > > 2) For non-Java clients or those with the fix, no workaround would be > > required. > > > > > > > > What are your thoughts on this? > > > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > Alex > > > > > > > > [1]: > https://lists.apache.org/thread/c498svln0x18vvm42998b9nm9j6ck5yh > > > > [2]: > > > https://github.com/apache/polaris/blob/e94fdff63852dc41635c9e7eb62b3627ba562b85/runtime/service/src/main/java/org/apache/polaris/service/catalog/iceberg/IcebergCatalog.java#L379 > > > > [3]: > > > https://github.com/apache/polaris/blob/e94fdff63852dc41635c9e7eb62b3627ba562b85/runtime/service/src/main/java/org/apache/polaris/service/catalog/iceberg/IcebergCatalog.java#L571 > > >
