ARROW-2693: [Python] pa.chunked_array causes a segmentation fault on empty input

python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd

@@ -428,6 +428,8 @@ cdef extern from "arrow/api.h" namespace "arrow" nogil:
 
     cdef cppclass CChunkedArray" arrow::ChunkedArray":
         CChunkedArray(const vector[shared_ptr[CArray]]& arrays)
+        CChunkedArray(const vector[shared_ptr[CArray]]& arrays,
+                      const shared_ptr[CDataType]& type)
         int64_t length()
         int64_t null_count()
         int num_chunks()

python/pyarrow/table.pxi

@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ def chunked_array(arrays, type=None):
         Array arr
         vector[shared_ptr[CArray]] c_arrays
         shared_ptr[CChunkedArray] sp_chunked_array
+        shared_ptr[CDataType] sp_data_type
 
     for x in arrays:
         if isinstance(x, Array):
@@ -202,7 +203,14 @@ def chunked_array(arrays, type=None):
 
         c_arrays.push_back(arr.sp_array)
 
-    sp_chunked_array.reset(new CChunkedArray(c_arrays))
+    if type:
+        sp_data_type = pyarrow_unwrap_data_type(type)
+        sp_chunked_array.reset(new CChunkedArray(c_arrays, sp_data_type))
+    else:
+        if c_arrays.size() == 0:
+            raise ValueError("Cannot construct a chunked array with neither "
+                             "arrays nor type")
+        sp_chunked_array.reset(new CChunkedArray(c_arrays))
     return pyarrow_wrap_chunked_array(sp_chunked_array)
 
 

python/pyarrow/tests/test_table.py

@@ -24,6 +24,14 @@
 import pyarrow as pa
 
 
+def test_chunked_array_basics():
+    data = pa.chunked_array([], type=pa.string())
+    assert data.to_pylist() == []
+
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        pa.chunked_array([])
+
+
 def test_chunked_array_getitem():
     data = [
         pa.array([1, 2, 3]),