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https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/BEAM-644?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=16815663#comment-16815663
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Kenneth Knowles commented on BEAM-644:
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This issue is dormant, but still totally valid. The fact is that
withAllowedTimestampSkew is dangerous and there is no replacement. If you are
very careful, you can manage to use withAllowedTimestampSkew and not lose data.
If it is working for you, feel free to keep using it.
> Primitive to shift the watermark while assigning timestamps
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>
> Key: BEAM-644
> URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/BEAM-644
> Project: Beam
> Issue Type: New Feature
> Components: beam-model
> Reporter: Kenneth Knowles
> Priority: Major
>
> There is a general need, especially important in the presence of
> SplittableDoFn, to be able to assign new timestamps to elements without
> making them late or droppable.
> - DoFn.withAllowedTimestampSkew is inadequate, because it simply allows one
> to produce late data, but does not allow one to shift the watermark so the
> new data is on-time.
> - For a SplittableDoFn, one may receive an element such as the name of a log
> file that contains elements for the day preceding the log file. The timestamp
> on the filename must currently be the beginning of the log. If such elements
> are constantly flowing, it may be OK, but since we don't know that element is
> coming, in that absence of data, the watermark may advance. We need a way to
> keep it far enough back even in the absence of data holding it back.
> One idea is a new primitive ShiftWatermark / AdjustTimestamps with the
> following pieces:
> - A constant duration (positive or negative) D by which to shift the
> watermark.
> - A function from TimestampedElement<T> to new timestamp that is >= t + D
> So, for example, AdjustTimestamps(<-60 minutes>, f) would allow f to make
> timestamps up to 60 minutes earlier.
> With this primitive added, outputWithTimestamp and withAllowedTimestampSkew
> could be removed, simplifying DoFn.
> Alternatively, all of this functionality could be bolted on to DoFn.
> This ticket is not a proposal, but a record of the issue and ideas that were
> mentioned.
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