Database / LanceDB Interview questions
What is the difference between checkout and restore in LanceDB?
Both operations move a table's view to a past version, but they differ in whether that move is temporary and read-only or permanent and writable going forward.
| checkout() | restore() |
| Pins the table to a past version for reading. | Creates a new version whose data matches a past version. |
| Read-only while checked out. | Writable immediately; it's now the latest version. |
| Reversible via checkout_latest() with no new version created. | Adds a new entry to version history; doesn't remove intervening versions. |
| Good for inspecting or querying historical state. | Good for rolling back to an earlier state and continuing from there. |
A subtlety worth remembering: restoring version 2 when the table is currently at version 5 doesn't delete versions 3, 4, and 5 from history — it creates version 6, whose data matches version 2, so the full timeline (including the "mistake" versions) remains inspectable if needed later.
Does restoring an old version delete the versions that came after it?
Which operation leaves the table writable immediately as the new latest version?
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