fix(cubestore): Make projection_above_limit optimization behave deter…

…ministically This orders columns in plan generation based on the order they're seen instead of using hash table ordering. Note that this affects internal plan nodes and does not change the output of any correctly-running queries. This has the effect of making query behavior deterministic and reproducible when investigating other bugs in query evaluation.
cube-js · srh · Jul 9, 2025 · Jul 9, 2025 · Jul 9, 2025 · Jul 9, 2025
commit 3dcf059ce5e773459d225da50cc1c3844c7e8019
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ fn projection_above_limit(plan: &LogicalPlan) -> Result<LogicalPlan> {
         LogicalPlan::Limit { n, input } => {
             let schema: &Arc<DFSchema> = input.schema();
 
-            let lift_up_result = lift_up_expensive_projections(input, HashSet::new());
+            let lift_up_result = lift_up_expensive_projections(input, ColumnRecorder::default());
             pal_debug!("lift_up_res: {:?}", lift_up_result);
             match lift_up_result {
                 Ok((inner_plan, None)) => Ok(LogicalPlan::Limit {
@@ -107,15 +107,38 @@ fn projection_above_limit(plan: &LogicalPlan) -> Result<LogicalPlan> {
     }
 }
 
-struct ColumnRecorder {
-    columns: HashSet<Column>,
+/// A `Vec<Column>` -- or, when we don't need that, a `()`.
+trait ColumnCollector {
+    fn push(&mut self, column: &Column);
 }
 
-impl ExpressionVisitor for ColumnRecorder {
+impl ColumnCollector for () {
+    fn push(&mut self, _column: &Column) {}
+}
+
+impl ColumnCollector for Vec<Column> {
+    fn push(&mut self, column: &Column) {
+        self.push(column.clone());
+    }
+}
+
+#[derive(Default)]
+struct ColumnRecorder<T: ColumnCollector> {
+    column_hash: HashSet<Column>,
+    /// The purpose is to store a `Vec<Column>` in the order that the columns were seen, so that
+    /// the intermediate projection layer looks "natural" instead of having columns in some sorted
+    /// order or nondeterministic hash table ordering.
+    collector: T,
+}
+
+impl<T: ColumnCollector> ExpressionVisitor for ColumnRecorder<T> {
     fn pre_visit(mut self, expr: &Expr) -> Result<Recursion<Self>> {
         match expr {
             Expr::Column(c) => {
-                self.columns.insert(c.clone());
+                let inserted = self.column_hash.insert(c.clone());
+                if inserted {
+                    self.collector.push(c);
+                }
             }
             Expr::ScalarVariable(_var_names) => {
                 // expr_to_columns, with its ColumnNameVisitor includes ScalarVariable for some
@@ -180,21 +203,16 @@ fn looks_expensive(ex: &Expr) -> Result<bool> {
 
 fn lift_up_expensive_projections(
     plan: &LogicalPlan,
-    used_columns: HashSet<Column>,
+    used_columns: ColumnRecorder<()>,
 ) -> Result<(LogicalPlan, Option<Vec<Expr>>)> {
     match plan {
         LogicalPlan::Sort { expr, input } => {
-            let mut recorder = ColumnRecorder {
-                columns: used_columns,
-            };
+            let mut recorder = used_columns;
             for ex in expr {
                 recorder = ex.accept(recorder)?;
             }
 
-            let used_columns = recorder.columns;
-
-            let (new_input, lifted_projection) =
-                lift_up_expensive_projections(&input, used_columns)?;
+            let (new_input, lifted_projection) = lift_up_expensive_projections(&input, recorder)?;
             pal_debug!(
                 "Sort sees result:\n{:?};;;{:?};;;",
                 new_input,
@@ -213,8 +231,9 @@ fn lift_up_expensive_projections(
             input,
             schema,
         } => {
-            let mut column_recorder = ColumnRecorder {
-                columns: HashSet::new(),
+            let mut column_recorder = ColumnRecorder::<Vec<Column>> {
+                column_hash: HashSet::new(),
+                collector: Vec::new(),
             };
 
             let mut this_projection_exprs = Vec::<usize>::new();
@@ -241,7 +260,7 @@ fn lift_up_expensive_projections(
                     already_retained_cols.push((col.clone(), Some(alias.clone())));
                 }
 
-                if used_columns.contains(&field.qualified_column()) {
+                if used_columns.column_hash.contains(&field.qualified_column()) {
                     pal_debug!(
                         "Expr {}: used_columns contains field {:?}",
                         i,
@@ -296,7 +315,7 @@ fn lift_up_expensive_projections(
             let mut expensive_expr_column_replacements = Vec::<(Column, Column)>::new();
 
             let mut generated_col_number = 0;
-            let needed_columns = column_recorder.columns;
+            let needed_columns = column_recorder.collector;
             'outer: for col in needed_columns {
                 pal_debug!("Processing column {:?} in needed_columns", col);
 
@@ -510,6 +529,44 @@ mod tests {
         Ok(())
     }
 
+    /// Tests that multiple columns are retained in a deterministic order (and as a nice-to-have,
+    /// they should be in the left-to-right order of appearance).
+    #[test]
+    fn limit_sorted_plan_with_expensive_expr_retaining_multiple_columns() -> Result<()> {
+        let table_scan = test_table_scan_abcd()?;
+
+        let case_expr = when(col("d").eq(lit(3)), col("c") + lit(2)).otherwise(lit(5))?;
+
+        let plan = LogicalPlanBuilder::from(table_scan)
+            .project([
+                col("a").alias("a1"),
+                col("b").alias("b1"),
+                case_expr.alias("c1"),
+            ])?
+            .sort([col("a1").sort(true, true)])?
+            .limit(50)?
+            .build()?;
+
+        let expected = "Limit: 50\
+        \n  Sort: #a1 ASC NULLS FIRST\
+        \n    Projection: #test.a AS a1, #test.b AS b1, CASE WHEN #test.d Eq Int32(3) THEN #test.c Plus Int32(2) ELSE Int32(5) END AS c1\
+        \n      TableScan: test projection=None";
+
+        let formatted = format!("{:?}", plan);
+        assert_eq!(formatted, expected);
+
+        // We are testing that test.d deterministically comes before test.c in the inner Projection.
+        let optimized_expected = "Projection: #a1, #b1, CASE WHEN #test.d Eq Int32(3) THEN #test.c Plus Int32(2) ELSE Int32(5) END AS c1\
+        \n  Limit: 50\
+        \n    Sort: #a1 ASC NULLS FIRST\
+        \n      Projection: #test.a AS a1, #test.b AS b1, #test.d, #test.c\
+        \n        TableScan: test projection=None";
+
+        assert_optimized_plan_eq(&plan, optimized_expected);
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
     /// Tests that we re-alias fields in the lifted up projection.
     #[test]
     fn limit_sorted_plan_with_nonaliased_expensive_expr_optimized() -> Result<()> {
@@ -659,4 +716,15 @@ mod tests {
     pub fn test_table_scan() -> Result<LogicalPlan> {
         test_table_scan_with_name("test")
     }
+
+    pub fn test_table_scan_abcd() -> Result<LogicalPlan> {
+        let name = "test";
+        let schema = Schema::new(vec![
+            Field::new("a", DataType::UInt32, false),
+            Field::new("b", DataType::UInt32, false),
+            Field::new("c", DataType::UInt32, false),
+            Field::new("d", DataType::UInt32, false),
+        ]);
+        LogicalPlanBuilder::scan_empty(Some(name), &schema, None)?.build()
+    }
 }