liurenjie1024 commented on code in PR #16961:
URL: https://github.com/apache/iceberg/pull/16961#discussion_r3548498757


##########
format/index.md:
##########
@@ -0,0 +1,310 @@
+---
+title: "Index Spec"
+---
+<!--
+ - Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ - contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ - this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ - The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ - (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ - the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ -
+ -   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ -
+ - Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ - distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ - WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ - See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ - limitations under the License.
+ -->
+
+# Iceberg Index Specification
+
+## Background and Motivation
+
+Indexes enable query engines to locate relevant rows without scanning entire 
datasets.
+They can accelerate point lookups, range predicates, and other retrieval 
patterns
+while preserving Iceberg's table format, snapshot isolation, and 
interoperability.
+
+Indexes are optional. Engines may choose to create, maintain, consume, or 
ignore them.
+
+## Goals
+
+- Define a portable metadata format for indexes
+- Provide a common storage architecture for index data
+- Allow indexes to evolve independently from table metadata as catalog-managed 
objects
+- Enable index sharing across engines
+- Provide a framework for defining new index types and transform functions
+
+## Overview
+
+Indexes are stored as a collection of files with some Iceberg table like 
semantics. At a high level they consist of a tracking file (similar to a root 
manifest file) which contains listings for a defined set of leaf files (similar 
to data files.) Leaf files store an ordered set of rows containing at least a 
key and the path of a Iceberg Table data file and the position within that file 
where the row where that key is stored. The organization of leaf files is 
defined by an Indexing Transform which varies based on the type of index. This 
structure is recorded in an Index metadata.json file which contains a set of 
snapshots, each of which points to a single tracking file mapping to the 
complete state of an Iceberg table at a given Iceberg table snapshot.
+
+Like Iceberg tables, views, and functions:
+
+- Metadata files (index metadata and tracking files) and data files (leaf 
files) are immutable
+- Updates create new metadata files
+- Catalogs perform atomic metadata swaps
+
+Each index snapshot references a tracking file which describes the leaf files 
belonging to the snapshot.
+
+```text
+Index Metadata
+    |
+    +-- Index Snapshot
+            |
+            +-- Tracking File

Review Comment:
   Sounds reasonable to me. Index update is as complicated as tables.



##########
format/index.md:
##########
@@ -0,0 +1,310 @@
+---
+title: "Index Spec"
+---
+<!--
+ - Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ - contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ - this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ - The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ - (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ - the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ -
+ -   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ -
+ - Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ - distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ - WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ - See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ - limitations under the License.
+ -->
+
+# Iceberg Index Specification
+
+## Background and Motivation
+
+Indexes enable query engines to locate relevant rows without scanning entire 
datasets.
+They can accelerate point lookups, range predicates, and other retrieval 
patterns
+while preserving Iceberg's table format, snapshot isolation, and 
interoperability.
+
+Indexes are optional. Engines may choose to create, maintain, consume, or 
ignore them.
+
+## Goals
+
+- Define a portable metadata format for indexes
+- Provide a common storage architecture for index data
+- Allow indexes to evolve independently from table metadata as catalog-managed 
objects
+- Enable index sharing across engines
+- Provide a framework for defining new index types and transform functions
+
+## Overview
+
+Indexes are stored as a collection of files with some Iceberg table like 
semantics. At a high level they consist of a tracking file (similar to a root 
manifest file) which contains listings for a defined set of leaf files (similar 
to data files.) Leaf files store an ordered set of rows containing at least a 
key and the path of a Iceberg Table data file and the position within that file 
where the row where that key is stored. The organization of leaf files is 
defined by an Indexing Transform which varies based on the type of index. This 
structure is recorded in an Index metadata.json file which contains a set of 
snapshots, each of which points to a single tracking file mapping to the 
complete state of an Iceberg table at a given Iceberg table snapshot.
+
+Like Iceberg tables, views, and functions:
+
+- Metadata files (index metadata and tracking files) and data files (leaf 
files) are immutable
+- Updates create new metadata files
+- Catalogs perform atomic metadata swaps
+
+Each index snapshot references a tracking file which describes the leaf files 
belonging to the snapshot.
+
+```text
+Index Metadata
+    |
+    +-- Index Snapshot
+            |
+            +-- Tracking File
+                    |
+                    +-- Leaf Data Files
+```
+
+Transform functions derive a transform value from the key columns and 
determine how index entries are organized within
+the leaf files.
+- The transform value space is divided into non-overlapping ranges.
+- Each leaf file stores entries for a single range.
+- The tracking file stores range bounds for each leaf file.
+
+This structure enables efficient planning while keeping the data layout 
flexible for different index implementations.
+
+## Definitions
+
+### Index Type
+
+The index type defines the logical category of an index and the class of 
queries it is designed to accelerate.
+
+The following index type is defined in this specification:

Review Comment:
   As I commented earlier, I don't think we should include the index type 
section. I think some part of this spec, like metadata, snapshot are general 
enough for different index types. But the design of tracking file and leaf file 
are not, they are mostly for traditional secondary index, not for vector index 
or term index.



##########
format/index.md:
##########
@@ -0,0 +1,310 @@
+---
+title: "Index Spec"
+---
+<!--
+ - Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ - contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ - this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ - The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ - (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ - the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ -
+ -   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ -
+ - Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ - distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ - WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ - See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ - limitations under the License.
+ -->
+
+# Iceberg Index Specification

Review Comment:
   cc @pvary 



##########
format/index.md:
##########
@@ -0,0 +1,310 @@
+---
+title: "Index Spec"
+---
+<!--
+ - Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ - contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ - this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ - The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ - (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ - the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ -
+ -   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ -
+ - Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ - distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ - WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ - See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ - limitations under the License.
+ -->
+
+# Iceberg Index Specification

Review Comment:
   For example, in vector index, there is no one to on row mapping from 
original data to index, and columnar data files such parquet may not be a good 
place to store vector index.



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