[IMPALA-82] NULL is not union-compatible with non-boolean column

• Type: Bug
• Status: Resolved
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: Impala 0.5
• Fix Version/s: Impala 0.7
• Assignee: Alexander Behm
• Reporter: Henry Robinson
• Created: 21/Feb/13 00:04
• Updated: 09/Apr/13 16:35
• Resolved: 09/Apr/13 16:35

Description

Assume tbl1 has a single string-valued column. Then:

INSERT INTO tbl1 SELECT NULL FROM tbl2 LIMIT 1

should work, but it doesn't because the NULL literal is inferred as a boolean type, which is not compatible with a string target.

See {{NullLiteral.java}:

public NullLiteral() {
  // TODO: should NULL be a type?                                                                                                                                                                                                     
  type = PrimitiveType.BOOLEAN;
}

Issue Links

• relates to: IMPALA-76 operands are not comparable: NULL = 'a'