Sounds good to me. Let's discuss that in a separate thread.

Yufei


On Tue, Jun 9, 2026 at 7:53 AM Dmitri Bourlatchkov <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi Yufei,
>
> When locations are not randomized, clients are able (at their discretion)
> to stage (long) table creation operations in the same location multiple
> times.
>
> I do not mean to discuss here whether it is wise to do so. It is largely a
> concern of the Polaris Administrator, I think. My point is simply that
> Polaris behaviour will change in a way that will prevent certain use cases
> that were possible before.
>
> As for actual credential refresh mechanism, let's discuss that in the more
> specific thread [1]
>
> [1] https://lists.apache.org/thread/by053ptrxrxqx9fm57q64bl3bv41vy46
>
> Cheers,
> Dmitri.
>
> On Tue, Jun 9, 2026 at 2:00 AM Yufei Gu <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Hi Dmitri,
> >
> > Just to make sure I understand, is the concern that for long running
> staged
> > create operations (for example CTAS), clients won't be able to refresh
> > vended credentials because the final randomized location isn't known
> ahead
> > of time?
> >
> > If so, how is that different from the broader credential refresh problem
> > discussed in the staged create thread? Couldn't a refresh mechanism be
> tied
> > to the assigned location or a refresh token instead of the table
> > identifier?
> >
> > Yufei
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Jun 8, 2026 at 11:37 AM Dmitri Bourlatchkov <[email protected]>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Hi All,
> > >
> > > I support using unique table locations for the reasons stated in
> > > previous emails.
> > >
> > > However, I'd like to highlight the fact that currently, with randomized
> > new
> > > table locations, it will not be possible for clients executing
> > long-running
> > > Staged Create operations (usually CTAS [1]) to refresh vended
> > credentials.
> > >
> > > I believe we ought to advise users about that, especially after making
> > > randomized locations the default.
> > >
> > > [1] https://lists.apache.org/thread/by053ptrxrxqx9fm57q64bl3bv41vy46
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > > Dmitri.
> > >
> > > On Mon, Jun 8, 2026 at 12:48 PM Yufei Gu <[email protected]> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hi folks,
> > > >
> > > > I've been working on a change [1] and would like to get feedback. The
> > > > change introduces two related capabilities:
> > > >
> > > >    1.
> > > >
> > > >    Tables and views created without an explicit location will use
> > unique
> > > >    table locations by default. Please note that this is a behavior
> > > change.
> > > >    2.
> > > >
> > > >    Operators can optionally disable client-specified locations in
> > create
> > > >    table/view requests via a feature flag
> > > >    ALLOW_CLIENT_SPECIFIED_TABLE_LOCATION. The flag is disabled by
> > default
> > > > to
> > > >    preserve the current behavior.
> > > >
> > > > Existing tables and views are unaffected. Federated catalogs and
> > register
> > > > table/view workflows are also unaffected.
> > > >
> > > > Using unique table locations by default has a few benefits:
> > > >
> > > >    - It avoids accidental overlap between tables sharing the same
> > > namespace
> > > >    or storage location.
> > > >    - It provides stronger isolation between tables, making table
> > > lifecycle
> > > >    operations such as drop, purge, and maintenance (e.g., removing
> > orphan
> > > >    files) safer.
> > > >    - It makes the overlapping check logic easier and faster. We don't
> > > have
> > > >    to worry about location conflicts under a structured table
> location
> > > (the
> > > >    default setting).
> > > >
> > > > This direction also aligns with the intent of recent Iceberg
> > discussions
> > > > [2] around unique table locations and catalog managed storage.
> > > >
> > > > Personally, I think enabling unique table locations by default is the
> > > right
> > > > choice. For organizations that want stricter control over storage
> > > > locations, disabling ALLOW_CLIENT_SPECIFIED_TABLE_LOCATION provides a
> > > > straightforward way to enforce catalog managed placement.
> > > >
> > > > I'd be interested in hearing the community's thoughts on both the
> > overall
> > > > direction and the proposed defaults.
> > > >
> > > > 1. https://github.com/apache/polaris/pull/4606
> > > >
> > > > 2. https://github.com/apache/iceberg/pull/12892
> > > >
> > > > Thanks,
> > > >
> > > > Yufei
> > > >
> > >
> >
>

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