omnigraph/docs/user/branching
Ragnor Comerford 7168ee0ed0
fix(engine): stop branch-merge fast-forward OOM on embedding tables (#277)
* fix(engine): stop branch-merge fast-forward OOM on embedding tables

A branch→main fast-forward merge of a forked, embedding-bearing table
re-derived the whole branch row-by-row: it lumped new + changed rows into
one Lance `merge_insert`, i.e. a full-outer hash join over the entire
delta that exhausts the DataFusion memory pool (8k rows × 3072-dim →
`Resources exhausted: 188MB HashJoinInput, 100MB pool`), so the merge
hung/failed instead of completing.

Fix the data path on existing, substrate-supported primitives:

- Adopt-with-delta split: new rows → `stage_append` (a streaming
  `Operation::Append`, no hash join), only genuinely-changed rows →
  a bounded `stage_merge_insert`, deletes inline. New `AdoptDelta` /
  `compute_adopt_delta` / `publish_adopted_delta` replace the combined
  `compute_source_delta` path; the three-way merge path is untouched.
- Stream the append via `stage_append_stream` →
  `execute_uncommitted_stream` (the substrate-blessed bulk-append path),
  removing the `Vec`+`concat` full-delta materialization. Blob-aware via
  `scan_stream_for_rewrite`. Exposed on the sealed `TableStorage` trait.
- Lazy row-signature: stop stringifying every row's embedding eagerly;
  compute the signature only for the `(Some,Some)` changed-candidate arm.
- Index coverage is reconciler-owned: the adopt path no longer rebuilds
  vector/FTS indexes inline; `optimize`/`ensure_indices` folds the new
  rows in (reads stay correct via brute-force tail). Post-merge
  index-coverage contract documented in docs/user/branching/merge.md.
- Recovery pin: new `CandidateTableState::AdoptWithDelta` is classified
  and pinned so the append's HEAD advance is sidecar-covered
  (invariant 5); the `BranchMerge` sidecar's loose classification covers
  the two-commit shape.

The regression gate is structural, not a brittle size threshold: task-local
write probes assert an append-only fast-forward merge does 0
`stage_merge_insert` (the OOM hash join), appends via `stage_append`, and
streams (0 whole-delta materialization). Plus functional correctness,
blob round-trip, index-defer, and a Phase-B failpoint recovery test.

Residual: the classify-time staging round-trip is still O(N) in memory
(architecturally required for the all-or-nothing multi-table publish);
bounding it fully is the fragment-adopt follow-up.

* test(engine): partial branch-merge Phase B must roll back (RED regression)

A branch-merge per-table publish is a multi-commit sequence — adopt:
append → upsert → delete; three-way: merge_insert → delete → index — each
step advancing Lance HEAD before the single manifest publish. Add four
failpoint sites at those windows and four regression tests (mixed delta:
a fresh id, a modified base id, a removed base id) asserting that a crash
mid-sequence rolls the whole merge BACK on the next open and a re-run
re-applies the full delta.

RED against current code: the loose `BranchMerge` classification rolls any
`lance_head > manifest_pinned` forward, so the partial is published and the
merge recorded — the rolled-back-to-base assertion fails with the partial
state visible (e.g. bob appended, dave not deleted). The fix lands next.

The failpoint sites are no-ops unless the `failpoints` feature activates them.

* fix(engine): roll back partial branch-merge Phase B (recovery WAL confirmation)

A branch-merge publishes each table with several Lance commits (adopt:
append → upsert → delete; three-way: merge_insert → delete → index), then
one manifest publish makes them atomic. Recovery classified `BranchMerge`
loosely: any `lance_head > manifest_pinned` with a matching CAS pin rolled
*forward* to the observed HEAD. So a crash mid-sequence published a partial
delta (e.g. the append without its sibling upsert/delete) and recorded the
merge as complete — silent data loss; a re-merge sees "already up to date"
and never repairs it.

Fix: make the recovery sidecar a two-phase WAL for `BranchMerge`. After the
whole per-table publish loop completes, stamp each pin's `confirmed_version`
with its exact achieved Lance version (a second sidecar write), then publish
the manifest. Recovery now:

- rolls FORWARD only to a pin's `confirmed_version` (set ⇒ Phase B finished);
- rolls BACK (`TableClassification::IncompletePhaseB`) when the HEAD moved but
  no confirmation was recorded ⇒ a partial publish ⇒ all-or-nothing restore to
  the manifest pin, so a re-run re-applies the full delta.

Scope: `BranchMerge` only. Other loose writers (`SchemaApply`,
`EnsureIndices`, `Optimize`) keep the loose roll-forward — their drift is
derived state (index coverage, compaction) a partial roll-forward never
corrupts, so confirmation would be cost without benefit.

This is the write-ahead intent record + idempotent roll-forward that the
fast-forward-main commit model requires to be crash-atomic across N tables;
version-recorded (not phase-count-derived), so it survives later changes to
the per-table commit sequence.

Regression tests (failpoints): four partial-window crashes — adopt
after-append / after-upsert, three-way after-merge / after-delete — each with
a mixed delta (new id, modified id, removed id) now roll the whole merge back;
the existing complete-Phase-B tests still roll forward.

* fix(engine): scope merge index docs to fast-forward; record append probe after write

Two PR-review fixes:

- docs(merge): the "a merge does not build indexes inline" note only holds for
  the fast-forward / adopt path (deferred to the reconciler). The three-way
  `Merged` path still rebuilds indexes inline in its publish, so a
  Merged-outcome merge of an embedding table pays the build up front. Scope the
  doc so a Merged-outcome user isn't surprised or led to skip a post-merge
  optimize.

- `stage_append` recorded its instrumentation probe before the fallible
  `execute_uncommitted`, so a failed staging write left the call/row counters
  inflated — and diverged from `stage_append_stream`, which records after the
  transaction is built. Record after the write succeeds.

* fix(engine): record stage_merge_insert / vector-index probes after write too

The prior commit moved `stage_append`'s instrumentation probe to after the
write, but left the two sibling write primitives with the identical ordering
bug: `stage_merge_insert` recorded before `execute_uncommitted`, and
`create_vector_index` before the index build. A failed write on either would
inflate the probe counter. Move both to record only after the write succeeds,
so all write-primitive probes share one rule (record-after-success) — closing
the class rather than the single instance the review flagged.

* docs(engine): mark the fragment-adopt excision boundary in the merge code

Comment the transitional row-level merge code so a future fragment-adopt
implementation (Lance branch-merge/rebase #7263 + UUID branch paths #7185)
knows exactly what it deletes and what it keeps:

- `AdoptDelta` / `compute_adopt_delta` / `publish_adopted_delta` — the row-level
  re-derivation; removed wholesale when a fast-forward merge becomes a fragment
  graft (adopt the source table version's fragments + indexes by reference).
- `stage_append_stream` — its only caller is that merge append; dead with it
  unless re-adopted as a general bulk-append path.
- `confirm_sidecar_phase_b` — the boundary marker: this SURVIVES. The recovery
  sidecar is the cross-table WAL a fast-forward-main commit still needs; only the
  within-table multi-commit reason for `IncompletePhaseB` narrows once each table
  is a single graft commit. Keep the sidecar; only simplify the classifier.

Comments only; no behavior change.

* test(engine): pre-upgrade v1 branch-merge sidecar must roll forward (RED)

Phase-B confirmation made the recovery classifier strict for every BranchMerge
sidecar — including ones written by a binary that predates confirmation. A
pre-upgrade crash in the Phase-B→C gap can leave such a sidecar over a COMPLETED
merge; the new classifier reads its absent confirmed_version as a partial and
rolls it back, silently discarding the finished merge (greptile P1 / Cursor High).

This regression test synthesizes that sidecar realistically: crash after Phase B
(real sidecar + advanced Lance HEAD), downgrade the on-disk JSON to the
pre-confirmation v1 shape (schema_version=1, strip confirmed_version), reopen.
RED: the merge rolls back, `bob` is discarded (left ["alice"], want
["alice","bob"]). The versioning fix lands next.

* fix(engine): version the recovery sidecar; read pre-confirmation merges as loose

Phase-B confirmation changed how a BranchMerge sidecar's absent confirmed_version
is interpreted (roll forward → roll back) without versioning the artifact, so the
new classifier silently discarded completed pre-upgrade merges (greptile P1 /
Cursor High). A capability flag would not fix the symmetric direction — keeping
schema_version=1, an OLD binary reading a NEW sidecar sails through its
already-shipped strict gate, ignores the unknown flag, and applies loose
semantics to a new partial → the same data loss on downgrade. Use the versioning
system instead.

- Bump SIDECAR_SCHEMA_VERSION 1 → 2; add a fixed CONFIRMATION_SCHEMA_VERSION = 2
  (the generation at which confirmation shipped — pinned, so a later v3 keeps v2
  confirmation-aware).
- Make the read gate version-aware (`parse_sidecar`): refuse only versions NEWER
  than this binary; accept and interpret older ones with their original
  semantics — no operator toil draining pre-upgrade sidecars. Rename
  `SidecarSchemaError.supported_version` → `max_supported_version` and reword.
- Dispatch classification by version: the strict BranchMerge confirmation path is
  gated on `schema_version >= CONFIRMATION_SCHEMA_VERSION`; a v1 BranchMerge
  sidecar falls through to the existing loose roll-forward. Thread
  `sidecar.schema_version` from `process_sidecar`.

This is bidirectionally safe: a new binary interprets v1 (loose) and v2 (strict)
and refuses the future; an old binary's `!= 1` gate already refuses v2, so it
never misreads a new sidecar. The flag was an additive-field pattern misapplied
to a semantics change; versioning is the correct mechanism.

Honest residual (any approach): an old *partial* sidecar still rolls forward —
v1 carries no confirmation, so partialness is undetectable in it. The fix stops
us from interpreting old sidecars under new rules; it can't retrofit information
they never had.

* fix(engine): harden recovery — mode resolver, loud divergence check, publish classified version

Three correct-by-design fixes from the holistic review of the recovery path, all
in recovery.rs (each closes a class, not an instance):

A. Resolve the classification mode from `(kind, schema_version)` once, instead of
   a kind×version match accreting fall-through guards in `classify_table`. New
   `ClassificationMode { Strict, Loose, Confirmed }` + an exhaustive
   `SidecarKind::classification_mode` — adding a writer kind or version floor is
   now one arm in the resolver (the compiler forces it), not a guard threaded
   through the classifier. No behavior change; existing classify/decide tests are
   the guard.

B. `confirm_sidecar_phase_b` now errors loudly when a pinned table has no achieved
   version in the publish `updates`, instead of silently skipping it (which left
   the pin unconfirmed → `IncompletePhaseB` → a silent rollback of a COMPLETE
   merge). Guards the implicit `pins ⊆ updates` invariant against a future
   divergence between the two filters (invariants 9/13). + a unit test.

C. Recovery roll-forward publishes the version classification OBSERVED
   (`state.lance_head`), not a fresh HEAD re-read at publish time. For a Confirmed
   pin classify already validated `lance_head == confirmed_version`, so this
   publishes the recorded WAL intent by construction and closes the
   classify→publish re-derivation/TOCTOU for every writer (invariant 15).
   `push_table_update_at_head` → `push_table_update(target_version: Option<u64>)`:
   roll-forward pins the classified version; roll-back keeps `None` (publishes the
   restore commit it just made). In-scope behavior is preserved, so the existing
   roll-forward integration tests are the guard; the drift-hardening is
   correct-by-construction (deterministic mid-sweep drift injection isn't feasible
   — a sync failpoint can't do an async Lance write).
2026-06-19 00:15:06 +02:00
..
changes.md docs(user): de-dev polish — strip internal scaffolding from user docs (Phase 3a) (#226) 2026-06-14 14:39:25 +03:00
index.md docs(user): de-dev polish — strip internal scaffolding from user docs (Phase 3a) (#226) 2026-06-14 14:39:25 +03:00
merge.md fix(engine): stop branch-merge fast-forward OOM on embedding tables (#277) 2026-06-19 00:15:06 +02:00
time-travel.md docs(user): split language/branching pages + add front-door pages (Phase 2) (#225) 2026-06-14 13:53:46 +03:00
transactions.md docs(user): de-dev polish — strip internal scaffolding from user docs (Phase 3a) (#226) 2026-06-14 14:39:25 +03:00