danielcweeks commented on code in PR #15630: URL: https://github.com/apache/iceberg/pull/15630#discussion_r2942070318
########## format/spec.md: ########## @@ -123,6 +139,35 @@ Tables do not require random-access writes. Once written, data and metadata file Tables do not require rename, except for tables that use atomic rename to implement the commit operation for new metadata files. +### Paths in Metadata + +Path strings stored in Iceberg metadata files are classified as one of two types: + +* **Absolute path** -- A path string that includes a [URI scheme](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3986#section-3.1) (e.g., `s3://`, `gs://`, `hdfs://`, `file:///`). Absolute paths are used as-is without modification. +* **Relative path** -- A path string that does not include a URI scheme. Relative paths must be resolved against the table's base location before use. + +Prior to v4, all path fields must contain absolute paths. Starting with v4, path fields may contain either absolute or relative paths. Directory navigation symbols (`.` and `..`) and other file system conventions are not supported in relative paths. Review Comment: I think this is a good question and I'm doubt we can reject it for the following reasons: 1. In some cloud providers (e.g. S3), `..` is valid but is not treated as a directory structure navigation. 2. We include `..` in portions of paths, like partition values, so to identify something like `/../` we would need to have some concept of a path separator, which we currently do not require or enforce. 3. Different systems support different constructs and have different behaviors, so protecting from all variations is difficult The "other filesystem conventions" is intentionally vague due to no. 3 above. For example all of the following have special behavior depending on how they're interpreted; `~`, `|`, `<`, `>`, `*`, `?`, `[]`, `:`, `$` (likely more than this too). It's just that `.` and `..` are the most common. -- This is an automated message from the Apache Git Service. To respond to the message, please log on to GitHub and use the URL above to go to the specific comment. To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For queries about this service, please contact Infrastructure at: [email protected] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
