From 4041b3e934218e907e6c036cbf6fe9ef395fccd2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Richard <richard.baah@datadoghq.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2026 21:24:40 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 1/2]  allow users to skip utf8 validation

---
 arrow-row/src/lib.rs | 29 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 29 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arrow-row/src/lib.rs b/arrow-row/src/lib.rs
index 0773f08f2686..f2b1b4ed2228 100644
--- a/arrow-row/src/lib.rs
+++ b/arrow-row/src/lib.rs
@@ -1282,6 +1282,16 @@ impl RowParser {
             },
         }
     }
+    /// Like [`RowConverter::parser`] but lets the caller control UTF-8 validation on decode.
+    /// Pass `false` to skip validation when the bytes are already known to be valid UTF-8.
+    pub unsafe fn with_validate_utf8_flag(fields: Arc<[SortField]>, validate_utf8: bool) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            config: RowConfig {
+                fields,
+                validate_utf8,
+            },
+        }
+    }
 
     /// Creates a [`Row`] from the provided `bytes`.
     ///
@@ -6676,6 +6686,25 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(rows_iter.next_back(), None);
     }
 
+    /// Round-trip through `with_validate_utf8_flag(false)` confirms skipping validation
+    /// preserves values.
+    #[test]
+    fn test_row_parser_skip_utf8_validation_roundtrip() {
+        let converter = RowConverter::new(vec![SortField::new(DataType::Utf8)]).unwrap();
+        let array = StringArray::from(vec!["arrow", "rust"]);
+        let rows = converter.convert_columns(&[Arc::new(array) as _]).unwrap();
+        let binary = rows.try_into_binary().expect("fits in i32 offsets");
+
+        let parser =
+            unsafe { RowParser::with_validate_utf8_flag(Arc::clone(&converter.fields), false) };
+
+        let decoded = converter
+            .convert_rows(binary.iter().map(|b| parser.parse(b.unwrap())))
+            .unwrap();
+        let got: Vec<_> = decoded[0].as_string::<i32>().iter().flatten().collect();
+        assert_eq!(got, vec!["arrow", "rust"]);
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn row_iter_next_back() {
         let row_converter = RowConverter::new(vec![SortField::new(DataType::UInt8)]).unwrap();

From 04ff5d7ae69fda53ce14f7dd3e70be85cf3e8532 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Richard <richard.baah@datadoghq.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2026 21:33:20 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] add smaller API for change

---
 arrow-row/src/lib.rs | 25 +++++++++++++++++--------
 1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arrow-row/src/lib.rs b/arrow-row/src/lib.rs
index f2b1b4ed2228..f1cb42d3d8e6 100644
--- a/arrow-row/src/lib.rs
+++ b/arrow-row/src/lib.rs
@@ -1256,6 +1256,14 @@ impl RowConverter {
         RowParser::new(Arc::clone(&self.fields))
     }
 
+    /// Like [`Self::parser`] but skips UTF-8 validation on decode.
+    ///
+    /// # Safety
+    /// The caller must ensure all row bytes contain valid UTF-8 for string columns.
+    pub unsafe fn parser_skip_utf8_validation(&self) -> RowParser {
+        unsafe { RowParser::with_skip_utf8_validate(Arc::clone(&self.fields)) }
+    }
+
     /// Returns the size of this instance in bytes
     ///
     /// Includes the size of `Self`.
@@ -1282,13 +1290,15 @@ impl RowParser {
             },
         }
     }
-    /// Like [`RowConverter::parser`] but lets the caller control UTF-8 validation on decode.
-    /// Pass `false` to skip validation when the bytes are already known to be valid UTF-8.
-    pub unsafe fn with_validate_utf8_flag(fields: Arc<[SortField]>, validate_utf8: bool) -> Self {
+    /// Like [`RowConverter::parser`] but skips UTF-8 validation on decode.
+    ///
+    /// # Safety
+    /// The caller must ensure all row bytes contain valid UTF-8 for string columns.
+    unsafe fn with_skip_utf8_validate(fields: Arc<[SortField]>) -> Self {
         Self {
             config: RowConfig {
                 fields,
-                validate_utf8,
+                validate_utf8: false,
             },
         }
     }
@@ -6686,8 +6696,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(rows_iter.next_back(), None);
     }
 
-    /// Round-trip through `with_validate_utf8_flag(false)` confirms skipping validation
-    /// preserves values.
+    /// Round-trip through `with_skip_utf8_validate` confirms skipping validation preserves values.
     #[test]
     fn test_row_parser_skip_utf8_validation_roundtrip() {
         let converter = RowConverter::new(vec![SortField::new(DataType::Utf8)]).unwrap();
@@ -6695,8 +6704,8 @@ mod tests {
         let rows = converter.convert_columns(&[Arc::new(array) as _]).unwrap();
         let binary = rows.try_into_binary().expect("fits in i32 offsets");
 
-        let parser =
-            unsafe { RowParser::with_validate_utf8_flag(Arc::clone(&converter.fields), false) };
+        // SAFETY: bytes come from this RowConverter and are known-valid UTF-8.
+        let parser = unsafe { RowParser::with_skip_utf8_validate(Arc::clone(&converter.fields)) };
 
         let decoded = converter
             .convert_rows(binary.iter().map(|b| parser.parse(b.unwrap())))