Dropping a Hive table that was created with a custom serde can be a problem

If you add a SerDe via the “Add Jar” command in a Hive query and then create a table that uses that SerDe, note that you will not be able to later drop that table from a different Hive session without first adding the same SerDe via “Add Jar” command.

Moral of the story – make sure you hang on to every custom SerDe any of your users ever uses to create a Hive table.

I’m sure there are other ways to drop a table without the SerDe present, but still… just something to be aware of.