[Bug] Tests with configs in dbt_project.yml are triggering state:modified in 1.9 without any changes (when the deferred to state is from 1.7)

[jeremyyeo]

Is this a new bug in dbt-core?

• I believe this is a new bug in dbt-core
• I have searched the existing issues, and I could not find an existing issue for this bug

Current Behavior

Looks like there's a false positive if tests have any configs when users go from 1.7 to 1.9.

Expected Behavior

No false positive.

Steps To Reproduce

Project setup:

# dbt_project.yml
name: my_dbt_project
profile: all
config-version: 2
version: "1.0.0"

models:
  my_dbt_project:
    +materialized: table

tests:
  +store_failures: true

# models/schema.yml
version: 2
models:
  - name: foo
    columns:
      - name: id
        tests:
          - unique

-- models/foo.sql
select 1 id

First use dbt 1.7:

$ dbt build

21:25:22  Running with dbt=1.7.19
21:25:23  Registered adapter: snowflake=1.7.5
21:25:23  Unable to do partial parsing because saved manifest not found. Starting full parse.
21:25:23  Found 1 model, 1 test, 0 sources, 0 exposures, 0 metrics, 431 macros, 0 groups, 0 semantic models
21:25:23  
21:25:26  Concurrency: 1 threads (target='sf')
21:25:26  
21:25:26  1 of 2 START sql table model sch.foo ........................................... [RUN]
21:25:27  1 of 2 OK created sql table model sch.foo ...................................... [SUCCESS 1 in 0.89s]
21:25:27  2 of 2 START test unique_foo_id ................................................ [RUN]
21:25:28  2 of 2 PASS unique_foo_id ...................................................... [PASS in 1.53s]
21:25:29  
21:25:29  Finished running 1 table model, 1 test in 0 hours 0 minutes and 6.10 seconds (6.10s).
21:25:29  
21:25:29  Completed successfully
21:25:29  
21:25:29  Done. PASS=2 WARN=0 ERROR=0 SKIP=0 TOTAL=

$ mv target target_old

Don't change anything - switch over to 1.9.pre and do a defer run using the manifest above:

$ dbt build -s state:modified --defer --state target_old

21:25:51  Running with dbt=1.9.0-rc2
21:25:51  Registered adapter: snowflake=1.9.0-rc1
21:25:51  Unable to do partial parsing because saved manifest not found. Starting full parse.
21:25:52  Found 1 model, 1 test, 468 macros
21:25:52  
21:25:52  Concurrency: 1 threads (target='sf')
21:25:52  
21:25:55  1 of 1 START test unique_foo_id ................................................ [RUN]
21:25:56  1 of 1 PASS unique_foo_id ...................................................... [PASS in 1.63s]
21:25:57  
21:25:57  Finished running 1 test in 0 hours 0 minutes and 5.36 seconds (5.36s).
21:25:57  
21:25:57  Completed successfully
21:25:57  
21:25:57  Done. PASS=1 WARN=0 ERROR=0 SKIP=0 TOTAL=1

Relevant log output

No response

Environment

- OS: macOS
- Python: 3.11.9
- dbt: 1.9.0-rc2

Which database adapter are you using with dbt?

snowflake

Additional Context

This is not an issue if the deferred to state was from 1.8.

• 1.8 > 1.9 no issue.
• 1.7 > 1.9 issue.

This may be relevant too: #10322

[MichelleArk]

Open question: does this also occur in 1.7 > 1.8 issue?

[ChenyuLInx]

We should fix this, log the reason of what state if modified.
And create a follow up issue for more comprehensive state_modified reason logging.

[ChenyuLInx]

if we need to touch Unrendered config it could get complicated