Change Felis YAML format and data model to use column and table names instead of IDs

[JeremyMcCormick]

I would like to bring attention to a proposal for an alteration to the Felis YAML format, which is described on a Rubin Community Forum post and the linked RFC.

The basic summary is that we would like to move away from using ID values when internally referencing objects in the schema. The justification and reasoning for making this change is outlined in the RFC.

We are planning a deprecation period of around six months where the old and new format would coincide, after which the ID referencing feature would be removed. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to put them on the forum post (preferable) or discuss on this issue.

To keep updated with Felis news in the future, please obtain an account on the Rubin Community Forum and check the Felis tag. I plan to to start using this more regularly as a communication channel.

Thanks!

[JeremyMcCormick]

For your attention ^^^^

@kelle @jacquesalice @dr-rodriguez @jwfraustro

[kelle]

Thank you for the heads up and the tag!

[JeremyMcCormick]

@kareninysimba

[kareninysimba]

Got myself signed up in the forum.
Thank you for the tag @JeremyMcCormick !

[kelle]

Two questions:

• Could you be specific about how this relates to specific Felis versions. E.g., new way implemented, old way deprecated in v30.0.0, old way removed by v. 31.
• Could you please provide some guidance about how to most easily test if a schema is using the old way? Does the 30.0.0 version of felis validate throw the deprecation warning but pass?

(Also posted on the forum, it's awaiting moderation.)

[JeremyMcCormick]

@kelle This is on hold pending some other critical work within Rubin, so it will probably not happen for at least several more months. It has NOT been implemented yet. Apologize for the confusion there regarding the post on the forums which made it seem more imminent.

The plan is that the existing behavior using IDs and the new mechanism would be supported side-by-side for a deprecation period of ~6 months. Guidance will be provided for migrating existing schemas and possibly even some tools provided for automatically migrating to the new way. In the interim version, I plan to have a warning message print to the log if the "old" referencing by generic ID were used, so it should be clear what would need to be updated. I do not anticipate that it will be difficult to migrate existing schemas to the new referencing format by hand, if that was necessary.

[JeremyMcCormick]

@kelle I'll reopen this issue here for additional discussion, since it hasn't been implemented yet.