From e489d0cd7b272bab25066c25a951fd2bac8f8c15 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: adenzhou1350 <aden1350@outlook.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2026 02:43:07 +0800
Subject: [PATCH] fix: return errors for unsupported remote alteration types
 (#4430)

RemoteTable::alter_columns currently unwraps the JsonDataType
conversion. A valid Arrow input that the remote wire format cannot
represent (for example Utf8View, BinaryView, or a struct containing
Utf8View) therefore panics instead of returning an error.

Propagate conversion/serialization failures as Error::InvalidInput,
including the column path. Unsupported inputs are rejected before any
HTTP request; supported alteration payloads are unchanged. This does not
add server support for view types or change server HTTP-error
classification.

Three new native Rust cases reproduce the panic on unchanged production
and return InvalidInput with the fix. The existing supported-type cases
remain passing.

Validation at head 88184ea, Linux/Rust 1.97.0, locked offline
dependencies:
- cargo test --offline --profile ci --locked -p lancedb
--no-default-features --features remote --lib remote::table::tests::
(269 passed)
- cargo clippy --offline --profile ci --locked -p lancedb
--no-default-features --features remote --lib --tests -- -D warnings
- cargo fmt --all -- --check

Current main merges cleanly; the intervening remote-table change is
unrelated nprobes validation. Live Cloud, rebuilt Python/Node bindings
and full-workspace integration were not tested.

AI-assisted; native regression and before/after results independently
checked.
---
 rust/lancedb/src/remote/table.rs | 37 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 32 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/rust/lancedb/src/remote/table.rs b/rust/lancedb/src/remote/table.rs
index c3b6e7b73..9e2641c22 100644
--- a/rust/lancedb/src/remote/table.rs
+++ b/rust/lancedb/src/remote/table.rs
@@ -3736,16 +3736,25 @@ impl<S: HttpSend> BaseTable for RemoteTable<S> {
                     value["rename"] = serde_json::Value::String(rename.clone());
                 }
                 if let Some(data_type) = &alteration.data_type {
-                    let json_data_type = JsonDataType::try_from(data_type).unwrap();
-                    let json_data_type = serde_json::to_value(&json_data_type).unwrap();
-                    value["data_type"] = json_data_type;
+                    let json_data_type =
+                        JsonDataType::try_from(data_type).map_err(|err| Error::InvalidInput {
+                            message: format!(
+                                "Cannot serialize data type for column '{}': {err}",
+                                alteration.path
+                            ),
+                        })?;
+                    value["data_type"] = serde_json::to_value(&json_data_type).map_err(|err| {
+                        Error::InvalidInput {
+                            message: format!("Cannot serialize column alteration: {err}"),
+                        }
+                    })?;
                 }
                 if let Some(nullable) = &alteration.nullable {
                     value["nullable"] = serde_json::Value::Bool(*nullable);
                 }
-                value
+                Ok(value)
             })
-            .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+            .collect::<Result<Vec<_>>>()?;
         let mut body = serde_json::json!({ "alterations": body });
         self.apply_branch_body(&mut body);
         let request = self
@@ -5067,6 +5076,24 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[rstest]
+    #[case::string_view(DataType::Utf8View)]
+    #[case::binary_view(DataType::BinaryView)]
+    #[case::nested_view(DataType::Struct(vec![Field::new("value", DataType::Utf8View, true)].into()))]
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn test_alter_columns_unsupported_type(#[case] data_type: DataType) {
+        let table = Table::new_with_handler("my_table", |_| -> http::Response<String> {
+            panic!("an unserializable alteration must not reach the server")
+        });
+        let err = table
+            .alter_columns(&[ColumnAlteration::new("value".into()).cast_to(data_type)])
+            .await
+            .unwrap_err();
+        assert!(matches!(err, Error::InvalidInput { .. }), "got {err:?}");
+        assert!(err.to_string().contains("value"));
+        assert!(err.to_string().contains("Unsupported type"));
+    }
+
     #[rstest]
     #[case(true)]
     #[case(false)]