[IMPALA-3812] IllegalStateException: null, better error message needed when unsupported data type is encountered

• Type: Improvement
• Status: Resolved
• Priority: Critical
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: Impala 2.5.0
• Fix Version/s: Impala 2.8.0
• Component/s: Frontend
• Labels: newbie supportability usability
• Target Version: Product Backlog
• Assignee: Taras Bobrovytsky
• Reporter: Miklos Szurap
• Created: 01/Jul/16 08:45
• Updated: 18/Jul/17 16:45
• Resolved: 22/Nov/16 04:18

Description

If the query encounters an unknown data type (for example DATE) then the following error message is raised: "IllegalStateException: null", which is not too helpful.
Could we improve it to be something like "AnalysisException: unsupported type in the query"?

In hive

create table datetest(col1 string, col2 date);

In Impala

invalidate metadata;

select * from datetest;
IllegalStateException: null

If we select only the specific column, the error message is helpful:

select col2 from datetest;
AnalysisException: Unsupported type in 'col2'.