Skip to content

[docs] Document Paimon tiering issue with externally evolved schema - #4140

Merged
fresh-borzoni merged 1 commit into
apache:mainfrom
gstamatakis95:fix-4138
Aug 28, 2026
Merged

[docs] Document Paimon tiering issue with externally evolved schema#4140
fresh-borzoni merged 1 commit into
apache:mainfrom
gstamatakis95:fix-4138

Conversation

@gstamatakis95

@gstamatakis95 gstamatakis95 commented Aug 28, 2026

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

Purpose

Closes #4138

Documents the known issue reported in #4038. When the schema of a Paimon lake table managed by Fluss is evolved by an external engine (for example Spark or Doris adding a column directly on the Paimon table), the tiering job fails to write subsequent records and restarts in a loop until the schemas match again.

There is no code fix for this yet, so this PR documents the failure, its blast radius, the safety guarantees, and the recovery steps, and states the operational rule that lake table schemas must only be evolved through Fluss.

Summary

  • website/docs/streaming-lakehouse/datalake-formats/paimon.md: adds a Schema Evolution section describing the supported evolution path (ALTER TABLE ... ADD on the Fluss table, which applies the same change to the Paimon table as part of the statement) and a warning covering the external evolution failure: the exact error signature, the job-level restart loop visible in the Flink UI, the impact on the other tables served by the same tiering job, the paused log retention and growing storage while tiering is stalled, and the recovery steps (run the matching ALTER TABLE ... ADD on the Fluss table to keep the column, or drop the externally added column when Fluss cannot reconcile the schemas).
  • website/docs/streaming-lakehouse/tiering-service.md: adds a warning in the Overview that the schema of a lake table managed by the Tiering Service must never be changed through an external engine, notes that only Paimon and Iceberg support schema evolution through Fluss, and links the Paimon Schema Evolution section for symptoms and recovery.
  • website/docs/engine-flink/ddl.md: adds a note in the Add Columns section that datalake-enabled tables on a Paimon or Iceberg lakehouse propagate added columns to the corresponding lake table, that adding columns to datalake-enabled Hudi and Lance tables is not yet supported, and that the lake table must not be altered externally, linking the Paimon Schema Evolution section.

🤖 AI-assisted changes - reviewed by human developer

Document the known issue (apache#4038) where external schema changes on a Fluss-managed Paimon table stall the tiering service. Closes apache#4138.
@gstamatakis95
gstamatakis95 marked this pull request as ready for review August 28, 2026 09:15

@fresh-borzoni fresh-borzoni left a comment

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Thank you, LGTM 👍

@fresh-borzoni
fresh-borzoni merged commit eb2e50e into apache:main Aug 28, 2026
1 check passed
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Labels

None yet

Projects

None yet

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

[doc] Update Paimon lake/tiering documentation about on known issue with externally updated schema

2 participants