[ARROW-17589] [Docs] Clarify that C data interface is not strictly for within a single process

• Type: Improvement
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Not A Problem
• Affects Version/s: 9.0.0
• Component/s: Documentation
• Labels: pull-request-available
• External issue URL: https://github.com/apache/arrow/issues/32837
• Assignee: Ian Cook
• Reporter: Ian Cook
• Created: 31/Aug/22 22:02
• Updated: 11/Jan/23 11:51
• Resolved: 06/Jan/23 03:30

Description

The Arrow C data interface and C stream interface docs say that these interfaces are only for sharing data within a single process. This is not exactly correct. The fundamental requirement for using the C data interface and C stream interface is not that the components be necessarily running in the same process. It’s that they are able to pass around a pointer and access the same memory address space. Let's make some minor changes to the docs to clarify this.

Issue Links

• links to: GitHub Pull Request #14017