[HIVE-7868] AvroSerDe error handling could be improved

• Type: Improvement
• Status: Resolved
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Fixed
• Fix Version/s: 1.1.0
• Assignee: Ferdinand Xu
• Reporter: Brock Noland
• Created: 24/Aug/14 00:36
• Updated: 17/Jun/16 23:34
• Resolved: 14/Oct/14 21:29

Description

When an Avro schema is invalid, AvroSerDe returns an error message instead of throwing an exception. This is described in AvroSerdeUtils.determineSchemaOrReturnErrorSchema:

  /**
   * Attempt to determine the schema via the usual means, but do not throw
   * an exception if we fail.  Instead, signal failure via a special
   * schema.  This is used because Hive calls init on the serde during
   * any call, including calls to update the serde properties, meaning
   * if the serde is in a bad state, there is no way to update that state.
   */

I believe we should find a way to provide a better experience to our users.

Issue Links

• blocks: HIVE-8129 Umbrella JIRA to track Avro improvements
• links to: https://reviews.apache.org/r/25332/