Found it was added here: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/KAFKA-697
On Fri, Jul 10, 2015 at 3:18 PM, Todd Palino <tpal...@gmail.com> wrote: > This was definitely changed at some point after KAFKA-495. The question is > when and why. > > Here's the relevant code from that patch: > > =================================================================== > --- core/src/main/scala/kafka/utils/Topic.scala (revision 1390178) > +++ core/src/main/scala/kafka/utils/Topic.scala (working copy) > @@ -21,24 +21,21 @@ > import util.matching.Regex > > object Topic { > + val legalChars = "[a-zA-Z0-9_-]" > > > > -Todd > > > On Fri, Jul 10, 2015 at 1:02 PM, Grant Henke <ghe...@cloudera.com> wrote: > > > kafka.common.Topic shows that currently period is a valid character and I > > have verified I can use kafka-topics.sh to create a new topic with a > > period. > > > > > > AdminUtils.createOrUpdateTopicPartitionAssignmentPathInZK currently uses > > Topic.validate before writing to Zookeeper. > > > > Should period character support be removed? I was under the same > impression > > as Gwen, that a period was used by many as a way to "group" topics. > > > > The code is pasted below since its small: > > > > object Topic { > > val legalChars = "[a-zA-Z0-9\\._\\-]" > > private val maxNameLength = 255 > > private val rgx = new Regex(legalChars + "+") > > > > val InternalTopics = Set(OffsetManager.OffsetsTopicName) > > > > def validate(topic: String) { > > if (topic.length <= 0) > > throw new InvalidTopicException("topic name is illegal, can't be > > empty") > > else if (topic.equals(".") || topic.equals("..")) > > throw new InvalidTopicException("topic name cannot be \".\" or > > \"..\"") > > else if (topic.length > maxNameLength) > > throw new InvalidTopicException("topic name is illegal, can't be > > longer than " + maxNameLength + " characters") > > > > rgx.findFirstIn(topic) match { > > case Some(t) => > > if (!t.equals(topic)) > > throw new InvalidTopicException("topic name " + topic + " is > > illegal, contains a character other than ASCII alphanumerics, '.', '_' > and > > '-'") > > case None => throw new InvalidTopicException("topic name " + topic > + > > " is illegal, contains a character other than ASCII alphanumerics, '.', > > '_' and '-'") > > } > > } > > } > > > > On Fri, Jul 10, 2015 at 2:50 PM, Todd Palino <tpal...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > I had to go look this one up again to make sure - > > > https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/KAFKA-495 > > > > > > The only valid character names for topics are alphanumeric, underscore, > > and > > > dash. A period is not supposed to be a valid character to use. If > you're > > > seeing them, then one of two things have happened: > > > > > > 1) You have topic names that are grandfathered in from before that > patch > > > 2) The patch is not working properly and there is somewhere in the > broker > > > that the standard is not being enforced. > > > > > > -Todd > > > > > > > > > On Fri, Jul 10, 2015 at 12:13 PM, Brock Noland <br...@apache.org> > wrote: > > > > > > > On Fri, Jul 10, 2015 at 11:34 AM, Gwen Shapira < > gshap...@cloudera.com> > > > > wrote: > > > > > Hi Kafka Fans, > > > > > > > > > > If you have one topic named "kafka_lab_2" and the other named > > > > > "kafka.lab.2", the topic level metrics will be named kafka_lab_2 > for > > > > > both, effectively making it impossible to monitor them properly. > > > > > > > > > > The reason this happens is that using "." in topic names is pretty > > > > > common, especially as a way to group topics into data centers, > > > > > relevant apps, etc - basically a work-around to our current lack of > > > > > name spaces. However, most metric monitoring systems using "." to > > > > > annotate hierarchy, so to avoid issues around metric names, Kafka > > > > > replaces the "." in the name with an underscore. > > > > > > > > > > This generates good metric names, but creates the problem with name > > > > collisions. > > > > > > > > > > I'm wondering if it makes sense to simply limit the range of > > > > > characters permitted in a topic name and disallow "_"? Obviously > > > > > existing topics will need to remain as is, which is a bit awkward. > > > > > > > > Interesting problem! Many if not most users I personally am aware of > > > > use "_" as a separator in topic names. I am sure that many users > would > > > > be quite surprised by this limitation. With that said, I am sure > > > > they'd transition accordingly. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > If anyone has better backward-compatible solutions to this, I'm all > > > ears > > > > :) > > > > > > > > > > Gwen > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Grant Henke > > Solutions Consultant | Cloudera > > ghe...@cloudera.com | twitter.com/gchenke | linkedin.com/in/granthenke > > > -- Grant Henke Solutions Consultant | Cloudera ghe...@cloudera.com | twitter.com/gchenke | linkedin.com/in/granthenke