@User and @User first of all, my statement was not that backward compat has to be avoided at all costs. I had specifically said that it should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. That being said, in this case, it is absolutely necessary. Controller port used is used as helix instance ID. This is then parsed by the servers when locating lead controllers for tables. Pinot is a distributed system, so a change in one end can affect something else.

Thanks for clarifying Subbu. My comments were more-so a philosophizing of the discussion points going on here. I do it from time to time to facilitate thoughtful discussions. You’re absolutely correct.

thanks, i get worried if an encouraging note like "go for it, it is ok to break backward compat" gets posted in pinot-dev, a wide channel. We (and Uber and some others too) do run a live cluster here 🙂 .

Yes, understood. My role in all this is community outreach for Pinot. Our public community slack channels are meant to facilitate open and thoughtful discussions. As we grow our community, it’s important to make sure everyone (no matter their background) feels like it’s okay to offer up their opinions without making our committers at Uber and LinkedIn “feel worried” about the content of a message.