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https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/HIVE-19722?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=16493340#comment-16493340
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Peter Vary commented on HIVE-19722:
-----------------------------------
[~xuzq_zander]: "An external table describes the metadata / schema on external
files. External table files can be accessed and managed by processes outside of
Hive.[..] Use external tables when files are already present or in remote
locations, and the files should remain even if the table is dropped." - In Hive
we do not change the existing file hierarchy for external tables. When dropped
/ renamed etc. we keep the original structure. AFAIK the Archive function would
move exiting files/directories - not really clear what should we do with the
EXTERNAL_TABLE files in this case. So I think that is why the author decided to
implement the ARCHIVE function only for managed tables.
Hope this helps,
Peter
> Why the hive archive not support EXTERNAL_TABLE?
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> Key: HIVE-19722
> URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/HIVE-19722
> Project: Hive
> Issue Type: Bug
> Reporter: xuzq
> Priority: Major
>
> At present, out tables are EXTERNAL_TABLE, and there is a large amount of
> metadata information in NameNode, so i need to do archive to reduce the
> informations. But hive archive is only support MANAGED_TABLE。
>
> Can someone explain why archive don't support EXTERNAL_TABLE?
> Is there any downsides if i changed the code this way?
>
> if (!(tbl.getTableType() == TableType.MANAGED_TABLE || tbl.getTableType() ==
> TableType.EXTERNAL_TABLE)) {
> throw new HiveException("ARCHIVE can only be performed on managed tables");
> }
>
> Thanks.
>
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