Delta Lake Feature Support Status in Apache Gluten (Velox Backend)

This document summarizes the support status of Delta Lake table features when used with Apache Gluten (Velox backend).

Supported Spark / Delta combinations

Spark profileSpark versionScala versionDelta Lake versionStatus
spark-3.5Spark 3.5.x2.123.3.xSupported
spark-4.0Spark 4.0.x2.134.0.xSupported

Native Delta write is supported in both Spark 3.5 and Spark 4.0 profiles. The difference between the two rows above is the Spark/Delta compatibility target (Spark 3.5 + Delta 3.3 vs Spark 4.0 + Delta 4.0), not a native-write capability gap.

Build and runtime notes

Build Gluten with Delta support by enabling -Pdelta together with the Velox backend profile and a Spark profile.

  • Spark 3.5 build example:
    • mvn clean package -Pbackends-velox -Pdelta -Pspark-3.5 -DskipTests
  • Spark 4.0 build example:
    • mvn clean package -Pbackends-velox -Pdelta -Pspark-4.0 -Pscala-2.13 -Pjava-17 -DskipTests

Native Delta write is controlled by:

  • spark.gluten.sql.columnar.backend.velox.delta.enableNativeWrite
    • Default: false
    • Type: experimental
FeatureDelta minWriterVersionDelta minReaderVersionIceberg format-versionFeature typeSupported by Gluten (Velox)
Basic functionality211WriterYes
CHECK constraints31N/AWriterNo
Change data feed41N/AWriterYes
Generated columns41N/AWriterPartial
Column mapping52N/AReader and writerYes
Identity columns61N/AWriterYes
Row tracking713WriterPartial
Deletion vectors733Reader and writerPartial
TimestampNTZ731Reader and writerNo
Liquid clustering731Reader and writerYes
Iceberg readers (UniForm)72N/AWriterNot tested
Type widening73N/AReader and writerPartial
Variant733Reader and writerNot tested
Variant shredding733Reader and writerNot tested
Collations73N/AReader and writerNot tested
Protected checkpoints71N/AWriterNot tested