Re: [I] [feature request] Allow engines to time travel [iceberg-python]

["syun64 (via GitHub)" <gi...@apache.org>]

syun64 commented on issue #600:
URL: https://github.com/apache/iceberg-python/issues/600#issuecomment-2091529571

   > * the path to the metadata json file for a given snapshot id.
   >   * I really wish this was a property of the Snapshot class; is that possible or does this break correspondence between PyIceberg models and Iceberg spec?
   
   Hi @corleyma, this is an interesting suggestion. But I think it is important that we draw a distinction between a snapshot and a metadata json file. A metadata json file can exist without a snapshot - for example, if the table is newly created, the table will have a metadata json file describing its current state, without any snapshots committed to it. In the spec, you can see that the [TableMetadata](https://github.com/apache/iceberg/blob/main/open-api/rest-catalog-open-api.yaml#L2057) object that corresponds 1-1 to the metadata json file has the current-snapshot-id as an optional field.
   
   More over, multiple different snapshots can also be committed between two consecutive metadata json files.
   
   In summary, a snapshot is an optional property of a metadata json file, and hence I don't think it makes sense for a metadata json file to be an attribute of a Snapshot


-- 
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: issues-unsubscribe@iceberg.apache.org

For queries about this service, please contact Infrastructure at:
users@infra.apache.org


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: issues-unsubscribe@iceberg.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: issues-help@iceberg.apache.org