We introduced SQL option `spark.sql.parquet.followParquetFormatSpec` while working on implementing Parquet backwards-compatibility rules in SPARK-6777. It indicates whether we should use legacy Parquet format adopted by Spark 1.4 and prior versions or the standard format defined in parquet-format spec to write Parquet files.
This option defaults to `false` and is marked as a non-public option (`isPublic = false`) because we haven't finished refactored Parquet write path. The problem is, the name of this option is somewhat confusing, because it's not super intuitive why we shouldn't follow the spec. Would be nice to rename it to `spark.sql.parquet.writeLegacyFormat`, and invert its default value (the two option names have opposite meanings).
Although this option is private in 1.5, we'll make it public in 1.6 after refactoring Parquet write path. So that users can decide whether to write Parquet files in standard format or legacy format.
Author: Cheng Lian <lian@databricks.com>
Closes#8566 from liancheng/spark-10400/deprecate-follow-parquet-format-spec.
01cd688f52