protected List<FieldSchema> getCols() throws MetaException {
    if (cols == null) throw new MetaException("You must provide the columns");
    return cols;
  }
This collects together SerdeInfo and columns, since StorageDescriptor and SchemaVersion share
those traits.
@param <T>
standalone-metastore/metastore-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/metastore/client/builder/SerdeAndColsBuilder.java