Since https://github.com/apache/pinot/pull/4858, we deprecated schema name reference in table config. And we plan to enforce all the table name and schema name to be the same during table creation.(https://github.com/apache/pinot/pull/11591) We will have a job to copy all existing tables to match this convention (https://github.com/apache/pinot/pull/11574) . User side impact is that: 1. New table creation requires the schema with same table name is created. 2. No cross table schema reference in the future (REALTIME/OFFLINE tables are treated as the same table)

Could you share some details regarding the motivating factors? I’m curious to understand more about the advantages/optimizations/ease of use Vs decreased flexibility to share one schema among many tables

I would say that schema should be associated with each physical table. This is similar to table DDL. We’ve been seeing the accidental changes on a table schema and breaks other tables using the same schema. Similar concept applies to table alias. Table swap may also involve schema changes.