[HIVE-15353] Metastore throws NPE if StorageDescriptor.cols is null

• Type: Bug
• Status: Resolved
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: 1.1.0, 2.2.0
• Assignee: Anthony Hsu
• Reporter: Anthony Hsu
• Created: 03/Dec/16 18:20
• Updated: 09/Feb/18 21:58
• Resolved: 08/Feb/18 18:22

Description

When using the HiveMetaStoreClient API directly to talk to the metastore, you get NullPointerExceptions when StorageDescriptor.cols is null in the Table/Partition object in the following calls:

• create_table
• alter_table
• alter_partition

Calling add_partition with StorageDescriptor.cols set to null causes null to be stored in the metastore database and subsequent calls to alter_partition for that partition to fail with an NPE.

Null checks should be added to eliminate the NPEs in the metastore.

Issue Links

• is related to: HIVE-13115 MetaStore Direct SQL getPartitions call fail when the columns schemas for a partition are null
• relates to: HIVE-18509 Create tests for table manipulation related methods (create, alter, drop)
• relates to: HIVE-15394 HiveMetaStoreClient add_partition API should not allow partitions with a null StorageDescriptor.cols to be added
• links to: Review Request