Make it possible to change the default cron timetable

airflow/config_templates/config.yml

@@ -2375,6 +2375,25 @@ scheduler:
       type: string
       example: ~
       default: "^[A-Za-z0-9_.~:+-]+$"
+    create_cron_data_intervals:
+      description: |
+        Whether to create DAG runs that span an interval or one single point in time for cron schedules, when
+        a cron string is provided to `schedule` argument of a DAG. If True,
+        CronDataIntervalTimetable is used, which is the legacy Airflow behavior suitable
+        for DAGs with well-defined data_interval you get contiguous intervals from the end of the previous
+        interval up to the scheduled datetime. If False, CronTriggerTimetable is used,
+        which is closer to the behavior of cron itself.
+
+        Notably, for CronTriggerTimetable, the logical_date is the same as the time the DAG Run will try to
+        schedule, while for CronDataIntervalTimetable, the logical_date is the beginning of the data interval,
+        but the DAG Run will try to schedule at the end of the data interval. For more differences
+        between the two Timetables, see
+        https://airflow.apache.org/docs/apache-airflow/stable/authoring-and-scheduling/timetable.html#differences-between-the-two-cron-timetables
+      version_added: 2.9.0
+      type: boolean
+      example: ~
+      default: "True"
+      see_also: ":ref:`Differences between the two cron timetables`"
 triggerer:
   description: ~
   options:

airflow/models/dag.py

@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@
     NullTimetable,
     OnceTimetable,
 )
+from airflow.timetables.trigger import CronTriggerTimetable
 from airflow.utils import timezone
 from airflow.utils.dag_cycle_tester import check_cycle
 from airflow.utils.dates import cron_presets, date_range as utils_date_range
@@ -226,8 +227,11 @@ def create_timetable(interval: ScheduleIntervalArg, timezone: Timezone) -> Timet
     if isinstance(interval, (timedelta, relativedelta)):
         return DeltaDataIntervalTimetable(interval)
     if isinstance(interval, str):
-        return CronDataIntervalTimetable(interval, timezone)
-    raise ValueError(f"{interval!r} is not a valid interval.")
+        if airflow_conf.getboolean("scheduler", "create_cron_data_intervals"):
+            return CronDataIntervalTimetable(interval, timezone)
+        else:
+            return CronTriggerTimetable(interval, timezone=timezone)
+    raise ValueError(f"{interval!r} is not a valid schedule_interval.")
 
 
 def get_last_dagrun(dag_id, session, include_externally_triggered=False):