As a user of Airflow and someone who has to keep teaching it to other users how Airflow works a big +1 from me.
I am able to explain (usually with some diagrams) that an execution date isn’t when it’s scheduled, and get them over the hump of the confusing name. So if the date was renamed to “schedule_date” that would make explaining it much worse. Damian From: Tzu-ping Chung <t...@astronomer.io.INVALID> Sent: Tuesday, August 3, 2021 05:35 To: dev@airflow.apache.org Subject: AIP 39: schedule_date renamed to logical_date Hi all, I want to give a heads-up on a minor modification I just made to AIP-39. AIP-39 originally proposed renaming execution_date to schedule_date since the old name was confusing (it’s not when the DAG run is actually executed). However, while implementing the AIP and drafting documentation to it, I realised schedule_date is also quite confusing—the date is also not when the DAG run is scheduled to run. I went through the current documentation to get an idea how it currently explains execution_date, and found multiple instances the adjective “logical” is used: 1. Concepts → DAG<https://airflow.apache.org/docs/apache-airflow/stable/concepts/dags.html#running-dags>: “[Each DAG run] has a defined execution_date, which identifies the logical date and time it is running for - not the actual time when it was started.” 1. Tutorial<https://airflow.apache.org/docs/apache-airflow/stable/tutorial.html>: “The date specified in this context is called execution_date. This is the logical date, which simulates the scheduler running your task or dag at a specific date and time […].“ 1. The GCS operator<https://airflow.apache.org/docs/apache-airflow-providers-google/stable/operators/cloud/gcs.html>: “The time span is defined by the DAG instance logical execution timestamp (execution_date, start of time span) and the timestamp when the next DAG instance execution is scheduled (end of time span).” So, after talking to Ash, I have renamed the field to logical_date. This would make the name more consistent to the term used to describe it, and hopefully the concept easier to understand. TP =============================================================================== Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic communications disclaimer: http://www.credit-suisse.com/legal/en/disclaimer_email_ib.html ===============================================================================
