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Posted to dev@flink.apache.org by David Radley <da...@uk.ibm.com> on 2026/09/07 12:02:10 UTC
SQL reserved keywords
Hi ,
I just came across a situation migrating from Flink 1.19 to 1.20, a table called model no longer worked. The reason is that CREATE MODEL and other new SQL statements introduced new keywords, the side effect being they are now reserved keywords. I was wondering how we could help this situation. I suggest we update our process around releasing to check that the reserved keywords in file [1] have not changed, if it has changed then we should document in the release notes which keywords are now reserved - so may need to be back ticked.
I can make this change to the wiki - if there is agreement,
Kind regards, David.
[1] https://nightlies.apache.org/flink/flink-docs-release-1.20/api/java//org/apache/flink/sql/parser/impl/FlinkSqlParserImplConstants.html
Unless otherwise stated above:
IBM United Kingdom Limited
Registered in England and Wales with number 741598
Registered office: Building C, IBM Hursley Office, Hursley Park Road, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 2JN
Re: SQL reserved keywords
Posted by Timo Walther <tw...@apache.org>.
Hi David,
this is indeed a discussion that is long overdue. If I understand the
parser implementation correctly, we don't need to reserve keywords from
field/table naming. The parser file has dedicated lists of keywords and
reserved keywords. I was thinking about an effort to revise these lists.
E.g. `user` is currently a reserved keyword for no reason, we could
re-enable a bunch of blocked names.
What do you think?
Cheers,
Timo
On 11.09.26 18:17, David Radley wrote:
> Hi Martijn,
> Makes sense to automate . I was thinking about adding a new GitHub action for back ports pushes , that would check the contents of FlinkSqlParserImplConstants in the PR against the target version, then fail the build until there is a release-notes change as well. This seems to add value without being too complex. wdyt?
> Kind regards, David.
>
>
>
> From: Martijn Visser <ma...@apache.org>
> Date: Tuesday, 8 September 2026 at 14:18
> To: dev@flink.apache.org <de...@flink.apache.org>
> Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: SQL reserved keywords
>
> Hi all,
>
> I am not a big believer in adding another step in the process that's
> putting more burden on the release managers and is easy to skip over.
> We either have to automate such a check in CI or accept that these
> types of changes can happen imho. We will always have scenario's where
> we'll introduce new keywords and syntax as we're evolving the
> language, and I don't think we have given a backwards compatibility
> guarantee on this matter.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Martijn
>
> Op ma 7 sep 2026 om 15:59 schreef P Sinha <si...@gmail.com>:
>>
>> +1, Agreed
>> This will help avoid a blocking/breaking change for the consumers.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> On Mon, Sep 7, 2026 at 5:32 PM David Radley <da...@uk.ibm.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi ,
>>> I just came across a situation migrating from Flink 1.19 to 1.20, a table
>>> called model no longer worked. The reason is that CREATE MODEL and other
>>> new SQL statements introduced new keywords, the side effect being they are
>>> now reserved keywords. I was wondering how we could help this situation. I
>>> suggest we update our process around releasing to check that the reserved
>>> keywords in file [1] have not changed, if it has changed then we should
>>> document in the release notes which keywords are now reserved - so may need
>>> to be back ticked.
>>> I can make this change to the wiki - if there is agreement,
>>> Kind regards, David.
>>>
>>>
>>> [1]
>>> https://nightlies.apache.org/flink/flink-docs-release-1.20/api/java//org/apache/flink/sql/parser/impl/FlinkSqlParserImplConstants.html
>>>
>>> Unless otherwise stated above:
>>>
>>> IBM United Kingdom Limited
>>> Registered in England and Wales with number 741598
>>> Registered office: Building C, IBM Hursley Office, Hursley Park Road,
>>> Winchester, Hampshire SO21 2JN
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Best Regards,
>> Purushottam Sinha
>> शुभकामनाएं
>> पुरूषोत्तम सिन्हा
>
> Unless otherwise stated above:
>
> IBM United Kingdom Limited
> Registered in England and Wales with number 741598
> Registered office: Building C, IBM Hursley Office, Hursley Park Road, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 2JN
RE: SQL reserved keywords
Posted by David Radley <da...@uk.ibm.com>.
Hi Martijn,
Makes sense to automate . I was thinking about adding a new GitHub action for back ports pushes , that would check the contents of FlinkSqlParserImplConstants in the PR against the target version, then fail the build until there is a release-notes change as well. This seems to add value without being too complex. wdyt?
Kind regards, David.
From: Martijn Visser <ma...@apache.org>
Date: Tuesday, 8 September 2026 at 14:18
To: dev@flink.apache.org <de...@flink.apache.org>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: SQL reserved keywords
Hi all,
I am not a big believer in adding another step in the process that's
putting more burden on the release managers and is easy to skip over.
We either have to automate such a check in CI or accept that these
types of changes can happen imho. We will always have scenario's where
we'll introduce new keywords and syntax as we're evolving the
language, and I don't think we have given a backwards compatibility
guarantee on this matter.
Best regards,
Martijn
Op ma 7 sep 2026 om 15:59 schreef P Sinha <si...@gmail.com>:
>
> +1, Agreed
> This will help avoid a blocking/breaking change for the consumers.
>
> Thanks
>
> On Mon, Sep 7, 2026 at 5:32 PM David Radley <da...@uk.ibm.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi ,
> > I just came across a situation migrating from Flink 1.19 to 1.20, a table
> > called model no longer worked. The reason is that CREATE MODEL and other
> > new SQL statements introduced new keywords, the side effect being they are
> > now reserved keywords. I was wondering how we could help this situation. I
> > suggest we update our process around releasing to check that the reserved
> > keywords in file [1] have not changed, if it has changed then we should
> > document in the release notes which keywords are now reserved - so may need
> > to be back ticked.
> > I can make this change to the wiki - if there is agreement,
> > Kind regards, David.
> >
> >
> > [1]
> > https://nightlies.apache.org/flink/flink-docs-release-1.20/api/java//org/apache/flink/sql/parser/impl/FlinkSqlParserImplConstants.html
> >
> > Unless otherwise stated above:
> >
> > IBM United Kingdom Limited
> > Registered in England and Wales with number 741598
> > Registered office: Building C, IBM Hursley Office, Hursley Park Road,
> > Winchester, Hampshire SO21 2JN
> >
>
>
> --
> Best Regards,
> Purushottam Sinha
> शुभकामनाएं
> पुरूषोत्तम सिन्हा
Unless otherwise stated above:
IBM United Kingdom Limited
Registered in England and Wales with number 741598
Registered office: Building C, IBM Hursley Office, Hursley Park Road, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 2JN
Re: SQL reserved keywords
Posted by Martijn Visser <ma...@apache.org>.
Hi all,
I am not a big believer in adding another step in the process that's
putting more burden on the release managers and is easy to skip over.
We either have to automate such a check in CI or accept that these
types of changes can happen imho. We will always have scenario's where
we'll introduce new keywords and syntax as we're evolving the
language, and I don't think we have given a backwards compatibility
guarantee on this matter.
Best regards,
Martijn
Op ma 7 sep 2026 om 15:59 schreef P Sinha <si...@gmail.com>:
>
> +1, Agreed
> This will help avoid a blocking/breaking change for the consumers.
>
> Thanks
>
> On Mon, Sep 7, 2026 at 5:32 PM David Radley <da...@uk.ibm.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi ,
> > I just came across a situation migrating from Flink 1.19 to 1.20, a table
> > called model no longer worked. The reason is that CREATE MODEL and other
> > new SQL statements introduced new keywords, the side effect being they are
> > now reserved keywords. I was wondering how we could help this situation. I
> > suggest we update our process around releasing to check that the reserved
> > keywords in file [1] have not changed, if it has changed then we should
> > document in the release notes which keywords are now reserved - so may need
> > to be back ticked.
> > I can make this change to the wiki - if there is agreement,
> > Kind regards, David.
> >
> >
> > [1]
> > https://nightlies.apache.org/flink/flink-docs-release-1.20/api/java//org/apache/flink/sql/parser/impl/FlinkSqlParserImplConstants.html
> >
> > Unless otherwise stated above:
> >
> > IBM United Kingdom Limited
> > Registered in England and Wales with number 741598
> > Registered office: Building C, IBM Hursley Office, Hursley Park Road,
> > Winchester, Hampshire SO21 2JN
> >
>
>
> --
> Best Regards,
> Purushottam Sinha
> शुभकामनाएं
> पुरूषोत्तम सिन्हा
Re: SQL reserved keywords
Posted by P Sinha <si...@gmail.com>.
+1, Agreed
This will help avoid a blocking/breaking change for the consumers.
Thanks
On Mon, Sep 7, 2026 at 5:32 PM David Radley <da...@uk.ibm.com> wrote:
> Hi ,
> I just came across a situation migrating from Flink 1.19 to 1.20, a table
> called model no longer worked. The reason is that CREATE MODEL and other
> new SQL statements introduced new keywords, the side effect being they are
> now reserved keywords. I was wondering how we could help this situation. I
> suggest we update our process around releasing to check that the reserved
> keywords in file [1] have not changed, if it has changed then we should
> document in the release notes which keywords are now reserved - so may need
> to be back ticked.
> I can make this change to the wiki - if there is agreement,
> Kind regards, David.
>
>
> [1]
> https://nightlies.apache.org/flink/flink-docs-release-1.20/api/java//org/apache/flink/sql/parser/impl/FlinkSqlParserImplConstants.html
>
> Unless otherwise stated above:
>
> IBM United Kingdom Limited
> Registered in England and Wales with number 741598
> Registered office: Building C, IBM Hursley Office, Hursley Park Road,
> Winchester, Hampshire SO21 2JN
>
--
Best Regards,
Purushottam Sinha
शुभकामनाएं
पुरूषोत्तम सिन्हा