Support for cloning meta-operations (shallow clones)

[mjclarke94]

Description

Add support for creation/management of shallow clones (feature since 2.3) via delta-rs with python bindings.

Use Case
Shallow clones are very valuable when wanting to test new features in ephemeral environments against production data, without huge memory usage or disruption to production systems. Being able to use a one-liner to effectively create an isolated test environment is especially valuable where users are granted read-only access to the table, but can use this feature to cheaply create their own writable branch of the data for testing new features.

[xbrianh]

We also have use cases for shallow clones.

[ion-elgreco]

You can achieve this also with LakeFS, much better imho for such usecases

[mjclarke94]

Yeah, it looks really powerful. My rational for wanting this functionality here is that adding the command here requires zero extra infrastructure to achieve this.

I don't disagree LakeFS looks better, it's just more overhead to use it!

[ion-elgreco]

Yeah, it looks really powerful. My rational for wanting this functionality here is that adding the command here requires zero extra infrastructure to achieve this.

I don't disagree LakeFS looks better, it's just more overhead to use it!

True :), but this wouldn't be high on my priority list to add