Ignore columns at runtime on request (e.g. with too many diffs in them)

data_diff/diff_tables.py

@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 """Provides classes for performing a table diff
 """
-
+import threading
 import time
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
 from enum import Enum
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from operator import methodcaller
-from typing import Dict, Tuple, Iterator, Optional
+from typing import Dict, Set, Tuple, Iterator, Optional
 from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor, as_completed
 
 import attrs
@@ -184,6 +184,10 @@ class TableDiffer(ThreadBase, ABC):
     bisection_factor = 32
     stats: dict = {}
 
+    ignored_columns1: Set[str] = attrs.field(factory=set)
+    ignored_columns2: Set[str] = attrs.field(factory=set)
+    _ignored_columns_lock: threading.Lock = attrs.field(factory=threading.Lock, init=False)
+
     def diff_tables(self, table1: TableSegment, table2: TableSegment, info_tree: InfoTree = None) -> DiffResultWrapper:
         """Diff the given tables.
 
@@ -353,6 +357,11 @@ def _bisect_and_diff_segments(
         biggest_table = max(table1, table2, key=methodcaller("approximate_size"))
         checkpoints = biggest_table.choose_checkpoints(self.bisection_factor - 1)
 
+        # Get it thread-safe, to avoid segment misalignment because of bad timing.
+        with self._ignored_columns_lock:
+            table1 = attrs.evolve(table1, ignored_columns=frozenset(self.ignored_columns1))
+            table2 = attrs.evolve(table2, ignored_columns=frozenset(self.ignored_columns2))
+
         # Create new instances of TableSegment between each checkpoint
         segmented1 = table1.segment_by_checkpoints(checkpoints)
         segmented2 = table2.segment_by_checkpoints(checkpoints)
@@ -363,3 +372,24 @@ def _bisect_and_diff_segments(
             ti.submit(
                 self._diff_segments, ti, t1, t2, info_node, max_rows, level + 1, i + 1, len(segmented1), priority=level
             )
+
+    def ignore_column(self, column_name1: str, column_name2: str) -> None:
+        """
+        Ignore the column (by name on sides A & B) in md5s & diffs from now on.
+
+        This affects 2 places:
+
+        - The columns are not checksumed for new(!) segments.
+        - The columns are ignored in in-memory diffing for running segments.
+
+        The columns are never ignored in the fetched values, whether they are
+        the same or different — for data consistency.
+
+        Use this feature to collect relatively well-represented differences
+        across all columns if one of them is highly different in the beginning
+        of a table (as per the order of segmentation/bisection). Otherwise,
+        that one column might easily hit the limit and stop the whole diff.
+        """
+        with self._ignored_columns_lock:
+            self.ignored_columns1.add(column_name1)
+            self.ignored_columns2.add(column_name2)

data_diff/hashdiff_tables.py

@@ -2,9 +2,10 @@
 from numbers import Number
 import logging
 from collections import defaultdict
-from typing import Iterator
+from typing import Any, Collection, Dict, Iterator, List, Sequence, Set, Tuple
 
 import attrs
+from typing_extensions import Literal
 
 from data_diff.abcs.database_types import ColType_UUID, NumericType, PrecisionType, StringType, Boolean, JSON
 from data_diff.info_tree import InfoTree
@@ -20,25 +21,42 @@
 
 logger = logging.getLogger("hashdiff_tables")
 
-
-def diff_sets(a: list, b: list, json_cols: dict = None) -> Iterator:
-    sa = set(a)
-    sb = set(b)
+# Just for local readability: TODO: later switch to real type declarations of these.
+_Op = Literal["+", "-"]
+_PK = Any
+_Row = Tuple[Any]
+
+
+def diff_sets(
+    a: Sequence[_Row],
+    b: Sequence[_Row],
+    *,
+    json_cols: dict = None,
+    columns1: Sequence[str],
+    columns2: Sequence[str],
+    ignored_columns1: Collection[str],
+    ignored_columns2: Collection[str],
+) -> Iterator:
+    # Differ only by columns of interest (PKs+relevant-ignored). But yield with ignored ones!
+    sa: Set[_Row] = {tuple(val for col, val in safezip(columns1, row) if col not in ignored_columns1) for row in a}
+    sb: Set[_Row] = {tuple(val for col, val in safezip(columns2, row) if col not in ignored_columns2) for row in b}
 
     # The first item is always the key (see TableDiffer.relevant_columns)
     # TODO update when we add compound keys to hashdiff
-    d = defaultdict(list)
+    diffs_by_pks: Dict[_PK, List[Tuple[_Op, _Row]]] = defaultdict(list)
     for row in a:
-        if row not in sb:
-            d[row[0]].append(("-", row))
+        cutrow: _Row = tuple(val for col, val in zip(columns1, row) if col not in ignored_columns1)
+        if cutrow not in sb:
+            diffs_by_pks[row[0]].append(("-", row))
     for row in b:
-        if row not in sa:
-            d[row[0]].append(("+", row))
+        cutrow: _Row = tuple(val for col, val in zip(columns2, row) if col not in ignored_columns2)
+        if cutrow not in sa:
+            diffs_by_pks[row[0]].append(("+", row))
 
     warned_diff_cols = set()
-    for _k, v in sorted(d.items(), key=lambda i: i[0]):
+    for diffs in (diffs_by_pks[pk] for pk in sorted(diffs_by_pks)):
         if json_cols:
-            parsed_match, overriden_diff_cols = diffs_are_equiv_jsons(v, json_cols)
+            parsed_match, overriden_diff_cols = diffs_are_equiv_jsons(diffs, json_cols)
             if parsed_match:
                 to_warn = overriden_diff_cols - warned_diff_cols
                 for w in to_warn:
@@ -48,7 +66,7 @@ def diff_sets(a: list, b: list, json_cols: dict = None) -> Iterator:
                     )
                     warned_diff_cols.add(w)
                 continue
-        yield from v
+        yield from diffs
 
 
 @attrs.define(frozen=False)
@@ -201,7 +219,17 @@ def _bisect_and_diff_segments(
                 for i, colname in enumerate(table1.extra_columns)
                 if isinstance(table1._schema[colname], JSON)
             }
-            diff = list(diff_sets(rows1, rows2, json_cols))
+            diff = list(
+                diff_sets(
+                    rows1,
+                    rows2,
+                    json_cols=json_cols,
+                    columns1=table1.relevant_columns,
+                    columns2=table2.relevant_columns,
+                    ignored_columns1=self.ignored_columns1,
+                    ignored_columns2=self.ignored_columns1,
+                )
+            )
 
             info_tree.info.set_diff(diff)
             info_tree.info.rowcounts = {1: len(rows1), 2: len(rows2)}

data_diff/table_segment.py

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import time
-from typing import List, Optional, Tuple
+from typing import Container, List, Optional, Tuple
 import logging
 from itertools import product
 
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ class TableSegment:
     key_columns: Tuple[str, ...]
     update_column: Optional[str] = None
     extra_columns: Tuple[str, ...] = ()
+    ignored_columns: Container[str] = frozenset()
 
     # Restrict the segment
     min_key: Optional[Vector] = None
@@ -179,7 +180,10 @@ def make_select(self):
 
     def get_values(self) -> list:
         "Download all the relevant values of the segment from the database"
-        select = self.make_select().select(*self._relevant_columns_repr)
+
+        # Fetch all the original columns, even if some were later excluded from checking.
+        fetched_cols = [NormalizeAsString(this[c]) for c in self.relevant_columns]
+        select = self.make_select().select(*fetched_cols)
         return self.database.query(select, List[Tuple])
 
     def choose_checkpoints(self, count: int) -> List[List[DbKey]]:
@@ -221,18 +225,18 @@ def relevant_columns(self) -> List[str]:
 
         return list(self.key_columns) + extras
 
-    @property
-    def _relevant_columns_repr(self) -> List[Expr]:
-        return [NormalizeAsString(this[c]) for c in self.relevant_columns]
-
     def count(self) -> int:
         """Count how many rows are in the segment, in one pass."""
         return self.database.query(self.make_select().select(Count()), int)
 
     def count_and_checksum(self) -> Tuple[int, int]:
         """Count and checksum the rows in the segment, in one pass."""
+
+        checked_columns = [c for c in self.relevant_columns if c not in self.ignored_columns]
+        cols = [NormalizeAsString(this[c]) for c in checked_columns]
+
         start = time.monotonic()
-        q = self.make_select().select(Count(), Checksum(self._relevant_columns_repr))
+        q = self.make_select().select(Count(), Checksum(cols))
         count, checksum = self.database.query(q, tuple)
         duration = time.monotonic() - start
         if duration > RECOMMENDED_CHECKSUM_DURATION: