IMPO, other similar configs could be added like this if we do so. It seems not a good start
e.g. 'DataBlockEncoding', 'CACHE_DATA_ON_WRITE' and other common options in HTableDescriptor or HColumnDescriptor.
We could do such a action on application code/script.
Thus, +0 to add this option for me.
About the patch,
Nit comments:
+ LOG.info("User donot set the compression for column fammily:"
donot => don't
Using desc#setCompressionType instead of desc#setValue because the former will skip the invalid compression type.
Before set the compression to hcolumndescriptor, check whether the compression is available on the server, just like we do in HMaster#checkCompression
Patch for 0.94