Alter statement in the hbase shell doesn't match documentation. ---------------------------------------------------------------
Key: HBASE-2171 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/HBASE-2171 Project: Hadoop HBase Issue Type: Bug Affects Versions: 0.20.3, 0.20.2 Environment: linux hbase(main):005:0> [anew...@fqlstagea01:~ ]java -version java version "1.6.0_16" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_16-b01) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 14.2-b01, mixed mode) Reporter: Alex Newman The documentation claims this should work. Perhaps this jira could be a starting point for a more detailed explanation of alter HBASE SHELL COMMANDS: alter Alter column family schema; pass table name and a dictionary specifying new column family schema. Dictionaries are described below in the GENERAL NOTES section. Dictionary must include name of column family to alter. For example, To change or add the 'f1' column family in table 't1' from defaults to instead keep a maximum of 5 cell VERSIONS, do: hbase> alter 't1', {NAME => 'f1', VERSIONS => 5} To delete the 'f1' column family in table 't1', do: hbase> alter 't1', {NAME => 'f1', METHOD => 'delete'} You can also change table-scope attributes like MAX_FILESIZE MEMSTORE_FLUSHSIZE and READONLY. For example, to change the max size of a family to 128MB, do: hbase> alter 't1', {METHOD => 'table_att', MAX_FILESIZE => '134217728'} .... ase Shell; enter 'help<RETURN>' for list of supported commands. Version: 0.20.3, r902334, Mon Jan 25 13:13:08 PST 2010 hbase(main):001:0> drop 't3' 0 row(s) in 0.0060 seconds 0 row(s) in 0.0050 seconds 0 row(s) in 0.1560 seconds hbase(main):002:0> create 't3' 0 row(s) in 2.1050 seconds hbase(main):003:0> disable 't3' 0 row(s) in 2.0980 seconds hbase(main):004:0> alter 't3', {NAME => 'f1', VERSIONS => 5} NativeException: java.lang.NullPointerException: null -- This message is automatically generated by JIRA. - You can reply to this email to add a comment to the issue online.