@Override
  public List<Partition> getPartitions(String catName, String dbName, String tableName,
      GetPartitionsArgs args) throws MetaException, NoSuchObjectException {
    List<Partition> results = Collections.emptyList();
    boolean success = false;

    LOG.debug("Executing getPartitions");

    try {
      openTransaction();
      results = getPartitionsInternal(catName, dbName, tableName, true, true, args);
      success = commitTransaction();
    } finally {
      rollbackAndCleanup(success, null);
    }
    return results;
  }
Drop an MPartition and cascade deletes (e.g., delete partition privilege grants,
  drop the storage descriptor cleanly, etc.)
standalone-metastore/metastore-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/metastore/ObjectStore.java