[IMPALA-6390] Prefer binary over string in catalog thrift definitions

• Type: Sub-task
• Status: Open
• Priority: Minor
• Resolution: Unresolved
• Affects Version/s: Impala 2.11.0
• Component/s: Catalog
• Epic Color: ghx-label-6
• Assignee: Tianyi Wang
• Reporter: Tianyi Wang
• Created: 11/Jan/18 23:00
• Updated: 31/Jan/18 23:19

Description

When a String is serialized/deserialized in thrfit, it will be encoded/copied several times. It consumes both time and memory.
Catalog server stores most information as-is without caring about the encoding or doing any operation on the string. Thus, we should use binary (byte[] in Java) in thrift unless a field is defined as string by HMS.