[HBASE-11210] Consider restoring Filter class back to an interface

• Type: Task
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Invalid
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Ted Yu
• Created: 20/May/14 16:17
• Updated: 17/Jun/22 05:47
• Resolved: 24/May/14 23:36

Description

In 0.94, Filter class is an interface.

From Filter.java in 0.96 :

 * Interface for row and column filters directly applied within the regionserver.
...
 * When implementing your own filters, consider inheriting {@link FilterBase} to help
 * you reduce boilerplate.

We should consider restoring Filter class back to an interface.
Lars first brought up this notion:
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/HBASE-6657?focusedCommentId=13456317&page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel#comment-13456317

This gives users / developers clear suggestion that custom filters should override FilterBase instead of implementing Filter directly.

Thanks to Anoop who acknowledged this idea during offline discussion.