[AVRO-873] SpecificDatumReader should allow users to specify the ClassLoader used.

• Type: Improvement
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Fixed
• Fix Version/s: 1.6.0
• Component/s: java
• Hadoop Flags: Reviewed
• Assignee: Michael Armbrust
• Reporter: Michael Armbrust
• Created: 10/Aug/11 02:55
• Updated: 26/May/12 18:13
• Resolved: 11/Aug/11 20:14

Description

Right now SpecificData resolves classes for SpecificRecords by calling Class.forName(), which uses the ClassLoader used to load the SpecificData class. I believe this makes it impossible to deserialize into SpecificRecords that are loaded using a different ClassLoader.

One relatively simple way to fix this limitations involves:

• Adding a constructor to SpecificData that allows the user to specify a ClassLoader.
• Changing the current protected constructor of SpecificDatumReader that takes a SpecificData to be public instead of protected.
• Changing SpecificDatumReader to actually use the SpecificData that is passed into the constructor.

Issue Links

• relates to: AVRO-1103 New AvroDeserializer should Locate Appropriate Classloader