GDPR Time Travel

[alastairherd]

Hi there,

Quick question:

In Delta Lake Vacuum is used to clear up historical metadata files for previous snapshots (when a GDPR removal request is made). How does that behaviour work in DuckLake? Does the delete just instantly clear up the historical snapshots? Or is there another way to solve this?

[c-herrewijn]

You can use functions ducklake_expire_snapshots and ducklake_cleanup_old_files, see: https://ducklake.select/docs/stable/duckdb/maintenance/expire_snapshots

Related: #276

[Australia-City-Guide]

In Delta Lake, VACUUM clears old snapshot files after a retention period, helping with GDPR compliance. In DuckLake/DuckDB, a DELETE only removes current rows—history isn’t instantly cleared. You’d need a table rewrite or compaction. Think of it like Australia City Guide: clearing old plans so only the fresh journey remains.