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https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/HADOOP-2334?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=12565228#action_12565228
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Bryan Duxbury commented on HADOOP-2334:
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I think there are a number of reasons why this would end up being more trouble
than it's worth. If we templatized HTable, we'd have to make sure that the
class you templatized with would be available to the Master and RegionServers
as well as the client. This means you'd essentially need to make a custom build
of HBase to use the templatized version of HTable.
Also, the additional typecheck at every put/get/etc. would add a bunch of
overhead. HBase isn't exactly the fastest product to start with, so this
additional hit might be pretty negative.
To top it all off, I'm not convinced that it's really that useful. What kind of
things do you need as keys that can't be serialized into Texts?
> [hbase] VOTE: should row keys be less restrictive than hadoop.io.Text?
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Key: HADOOP-2334
> URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/HADOOP-2334
> Project: Hadoop Core
> Issue Type: Wish
> Components: contrib/hbase
> Affects Versions: 0.16.0
> Reporter: Jim Kellerman
> Priority: Minor
>
> I have heard from several people that row keys in HBase should be less
> restricted than hadoop.io.Text.
> What do you think?
> At the very least, a row key has to be a WritableComparable. This would lead
> to the most general case being either hadoop.io.BytesWritable or
> hbase.io.ImmutableBytesWritable. The primary difference between these two
> classes is that hadoop.io.BytesWritable by default allocates 100 bytes and if
> you do not pay attention to the length, (BytesWritable.getSize()), converting
> a String to a BytesWritable and vice versa can become problematic.
> hbase.io.ImmutableBytesWritable, in contrast only allocates as many bytes as
> you pass in and then does not allow the size to be changed.
> If we were to change from Text to a non-text key, my preference would be for
> ImmutableBytesWritable, because it has a fixed size once set, and operations
> like get, etc do not have to something like System.arrayCopy where you
> specify the number of bytes to copy.
> Your comments, questions are welcome on this issue. If we receive enough
> feedback that Text is too restrictive, we are willing to change it, but we
> need to hear what would be the most useful thing to change it to as well.
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