Hi Devs, We are observing an issue where `CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS` is not idempotent regarding underlying HBase physical properties.
If an existing table is declared again via `CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS` but with modified table properties (e.g., changing REGION_REPLICATION from 3 to 2), the Phoenix metadata layer correctly skips updating SYSTEM.CATALOG, but the physical HBase TableDescriptor is still mutated. Steps to reproduce: 1. Create table with REGION_REPLICATION=3. 2. Re-run identical statement with IF NOT EXISTS but change REGION_REPLICATION=2. 3. Observe via HBase Shell 'describe' that physical replication dropped to 2. (See PHOENIX-7955 for more details.) Shouldn't the presence of the table completely short-circuit the execution path before hitting the HBase Admin descriptor mutation layers? What do you all think? Many thanks in advance, Dávid
