diff --git a/dvc/repo/fetch.py b/dvc/repo/fetch.py
index 8d7fb0d96..94d3c9002 100644
--- a/dvc/repo/fetch.py
+++ b/dvc/repo/fetch.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ from __future__ import unicode_literals
 def fetch(
     self,
     target=None,
-    jobs=None,
+    jobs=1,
     remote=None,
     all_branches=False,
     show_checksums=False,
diff --git a/dvc/repo/pull.py b/dvc/repo/pull.py
index 380bc86a3..7496fa56b 100644
--- a/dvc/repo/pull.py
+++ b/dvc/repo/pull.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ from __future__ import unicode_literals
 def pull(
     self,
     target=None,
-    jobs=None,
+    jobs=1,
     remote=None,
     all_branches=False,
     show_checksums=False,
diff --git a/dvc/repo/push.py b/dvc/repo/push.py
index 8787a07c9..09ddca34c 100644
--- a/dvc/repo/push.py
+++ b/dvc/repo/push.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ from __future__ import unicode_literals
 def push(
     self,
     target=None,
-    jobs=None,
+    jobs=1,
     remote=None,
     all_branches=False,
     show_checksums=False,
diff --git a/dvc/repo/status.py b/dvc/repo/status.py
index 7b880e9e6..a3a2c7e0f 100644
--- a/dvc/repo/status.py
+++ b/dvc/repo/status.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ def _local_status(self, target=None, with_deps=False):
 def _cloud_status(
     self,
     target=None,
-    jobs=None,
+    jobs=1,
     remote=None,
     show_checksums=False,
     all_branches=False,
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ def _cloud_status(
 def status(
     self,
     target=None,
-    jobs=None,
+    jobs=1,
     cloud=False,
     remote=None,
     show_checksums=False,
diff --git a/dvc/stage.py b/dvc/stage.py
index 509d49a62..e93d5ab92 100644
--- a/dvc/stage.py
+++ b/dvc/stage.py
@@ -277,8 +277,9 @@ class Stage(object):
         return False
 
     def changed(self):
-        ret = any(
-            [self._changed_deps(), self._changed_outs(), self._changed_md5()]
+        # Short-circuit order: stage md5 is fast, deps are expected to change
+        ret = (
+            self._changed_md5() or self._changed_deps() or self._changed_outs()
         )
 
         if ret:
@@ -656,9 +657,9 @@ class Stage(object):
 
         d = self.dumpd()
 
-        # NOTE: removing md5 manually in order to not affect md5s in deps/outs
-        if self.PARAM_MD5 in d.keys():
-            del d[self.PARAM_MD5]
+        # Remove md5 and meta, these should not affect stage md5
+        d.pop(self.PARAM_MD5, None)
+        d.pop(self.PARAM_META, None)
 
         # Ignore the wdir default value. In this case DVC-file w/o
         # wdir has the same md5 as a file with the default value specified.
diff --git a/dvc/utils/__init__.py b/dvc/utils/__init__.py
index ed04b8ace..b7c98211f 100644
--- a/dvc/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/dvc/utils/__init__.py
@@ -88,32 +88,28 @@ def bytes_md5(byts):
     return hasher.hexdigest()
 
 
-def dict_filter(d, exclude=[]):
+def dict_filter(d, exclude=()):
     """
     Exclude specified keys from a nested dict
     """
 
+    def fix_key(k):
+        return str(k) if isinstance(k, builtin_str) else k
+
     if isinstance(d, list):
-        ret = []
-        for e in d:
-            ret.append(dict_filter(e, exclude))
-        return ret
-    elif isinstance(d, dict):
-        ret = {}
-        for k, v in d.items():
-            if isinstance(k, builtin_str):
-                k = str(k)
+        return [dict_filter(e, exclude) for e in d]
 
-            assert isinstance(k, str)
-            if k in exclude:
-                continue
-            ret[k] = dict_filter(v, exclude)
-        return ret
+    elif isinstance(d, dict):
+        items = ((fix_key(k), v) for k, v in d.items())
+        return {
+            k: dict_filter(v, exclude) for k, v in items if k not in exclude
+        }
 
-    return d
+    else:
+        return d
 
 
-def dict_md5(d, exclude=[]):
+def dict_md5(d, exclude=()):
     filtered = dict_filter(d, exclude)
     byts = json.dumps(filtered, sort_keys=True).encode("utf-8")
     return bytes_md5(byts)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 34c160127..98cf962ae 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ s3 = ["boto3==1.9.115"]
 azure = ["azure-storage-blob==2.0.1"]
 oss = ["oss2==2.6.1"]
 ssh = ["paramiko>=2.5.0"]
-hdfs = ["pyarrow==0.14.0"]
+hdfs = ["pyarrow>=0.14.0"]
 all_remotes = gs + s3 + azure + ssh + oss
 
 if os.name != "nt" or sys.version_info[0] != 2:

stage: marked as changed after modifying meta attribute 
`DVC version: 0.50.1`

The meta attribute should not affect the reproduction of a stage.


### Steps to reproduce

1. Save a DVC-file (_capitalize.dvc_) with the following content:

```yaml
cmd: cat input.txt | tr a-z A-Z > output.txt

deps:
- path: input.txt

outs:
- path: output.txt

meta:
  author: mroutis
```

2. Create _input.txt_: `echo hello > input.txt`

3. Reproduce it: `dvc repro capitalize.dvc`

4. Add another key to meta:
```diff
meta:
  author: mroutis
+ issue: 2209
```
5. Reproduce it again: `dvc repro capitalize.dvc`

diff --git a/tests/unit/test_stage.py b/tests/unit/test_stage.py
index c39a7f567..a477059a8 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_stage.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_stage.py
@@ -7,51 +7,43 @@ import pytest
 from unittest import TestCase
 
 
-class TestStageChecksum(TestCase):
-    def test(self):
-        stage = Stage(None, "path")
-        outs = [{"path": "a", "md5": "123456789"}]
-        deps = [{"path": "b", "md5": "987654321"}]
-        d = {"md5": "123456", "cmd": "mycmd", "outs": outs, "deps": deps}
+TEST_STAGE_DICT = {
+    "md5": "123456",
+    "cmd": "mycmd",
+    "outs": [{"path": "a", "md5": "123456789"}],
+    "deps": [{"path": "b", "md5": "987654321"}],
+}
 
-        with mock.patch.object(stage, "dumpd", return_value=d):
-            self.assertEqual(
-                stage._compute_md5(), "e9521a22111493406ea64a88cda63e0b"
-            )
 
-    def test_wdir_default_ignored(self):
-        stage = Stage(None, "path")
-        outs = [{"path": "a", "md5": "123456789"}]
-        deps = [{"path": "b", "md5": "987654321"}]
-        d = {
-            "md5": "123456",
-            "cmd": "mycmd",
-            "outs": outs,
-            "deps": deps,
-            "wdir": ".",
-        }
-
-        with mock.patch.object(stage, "dumpd", return_value=d):
-            self.assertEqual(
-                stage._compute_md5(), "e9521a22111493406ea64a88cda63e0b"
-            )
-
-    def test_wdir_non_default_is_not_ignored(self):
-        stage = Stage(None, "path")
-        outs = [{"path": "a", "md5": "123456789"}]
-        deps = [{"path": "b", "md5": "987654321"}]
-        d = {
-            "md5": "123456",
-            "cmd": "mycmd",
-            "outs": outs,
-            "deps": deps,
-            "wdir": "..",
-        }
-
-        with mock.patch.object(stage, "dumpd", return_value=d):
-            self.assertEqual(
-                stage._compute_md5(), "2ceba15e87f6848aa756502c1e6d24e9"
-            )
+def test_stage_checksum():
+    stage = Stage(None, "path")
+
+    with mock.patch.object(stage, "dumpd", return_value=TEST_STAGE_DICT):
+        assert stage._compute_md5() == "e9521a22111493406ea64a88cda63e0b"
+
+
+def test_wdir_default_ignored():
+    stage = Stage(None, "path")
+    d = dict(TEST_STAGE_DICT, wdir=".")
+
+    with mock.patch.object(stage, "dumpd", return_value=d):
+        assert stage._compute_md5() == "e9521a22111493406ea64a88cda63e0b"
+
+
+def test_wdir_non_default_is_not_ignored():
+    stage = Stage(None, "path")
+    d = dict(TEST_STAGE_DICT, wdir="..")
+
+    with mock.patch.object(stage, "dumpd", return_value=d):
+        assert stage._compute_md5() == "2ceba15e87f6848aa756502c1e6d24e9"
+
+
+def test_meta_ignored():
+    stage = Stage(None, "path")
+    d = dict(TEST_STAGE_DICT, meta={"author": "Suor"})
+
+    with mock.patch.object(stage, "dumpd", return_value=d):
+        assert stage._compute_md5() == "e9521a22111493406ea64a88cda63e0b"
 
 
 class TestPathConversion(TestCase):

pip install -e .[all]
parse_log_pytest
pytest
pytest pytest-timeout pytest-cov pytest-xdist pytest-mock flaky mock xmltodict awscli google-compute-engine Pygments collective.checkdocs flake8 psutil flake8-docstrings pydocstyle jaraco.windows mock-ssh-server moto rangehttpserver
apt-get update apt-get install -y gcc
3.7
pytest --no-header -rA --tb=line --color=no -p no:cacheprovider -W ignore::DeprecationWarning
aliyun-python-sdk-core==2.16.0
aliyun-python-sdk-core-v3==2.13.33
aliyun-python-sdk-kms==2.16.5
appdirs==1.4.4
asciimatics==1.14.0
attrs @ file:///croot/attrs_1668696182826/work
autocommand==2.2.2
awscli==1.31.13
azure-common==1.1.28
azure-storage-blob==2.0.1
azure-storage-common==2.1.0
bcrypt==4.2.1
boto==2.49.0
boto3==1.9.115
botocore==1.12.253
cachetools==5.5.2
certifi @ file:///croot/certifi_1671487769961/work/certifi
cffi==1.15.1
charset-normalizer==3.4.1
collective.checkdocs==0.2
colorama==0.4.4
configobj==5.0.9
configparser==5.3.0
coverage==7.2.7
crcmod==1.7
cryptography==44.0.2
distro==1.9.0
docutils==0.15.2
-e git+https://github.com/iterative/dvc.git@6b84dbb985f2b3472de8e3379e29918d1b9a093a#egg=dvc
execnet==2.0.2
flake8==5.0.4
flake8-docstrings==1.7.0
flaky==3.8.1
flit_core @ file:///opt/conda/conda-bld/flit-core_1644941570762/work/source/flit_core
funcy==2.0
future==1.0.0
gitdb==4.0.12
GitPython==3.1.44
google-api-core==1.34.1
google-auth==2.38.0
google-cloud-core==0.28.1
google-cloud-storage==1.13.0
google-compute-engine==2.8.13
google-crc32c==1.5.0
google-resumable-media==2.7.2
googleapis-common-protos==1.69.2
grandalf==0.6
humanize==4.6.0
idna==3.10
importlib-metadata==4.2.0
importlib-resources==5.12.0
inflect==6.0.5
iniconfig @ file:///home/linux1/recipes/ci/iniconfig_1610983019677/work
jaraco.classes==3.2.3
jaraco.collections==4.2.0
jaraco.context==4.3.0
jaraco.functools==3.7.0
jaraco.structures==2.1.0
jaraco.text==3.11.1
jaraco.ui==2.3.0
jaraco.windows==5.7.0
Jinja2==3.1.6
jmespath==0.10.0
jsonpath-ng==1.7.0
MarkupSafe==2.1.5
mccabe==0.7.0
mock==5.2.0
mock-ssh-server==0.9.1
more-itertools==9.1.0
moto==4.2.14
nanotime==0.5.2
networkx==2.6.3
numpy==1.21.6
oss2==2.6.1
packaging @ file:///croot/packaging_1671697413597/work
paramiko==3.5.1
path==16.6.0
pathspec==0.11.2
Pillow==9.5.0
pluggy @ file:///tmp/build/80754af9/pluggy_1648042572264/work
ply==3.11
protobuf==3.20.3
psutil==5.6.2
py @ file:///opt/conda/conda-bld/py_1644396412707/work
pyarrow==0.14.0
pyasn1==0.5.1
pyasn1-modules==0.3.0
pycodestyle==2.9.1
pycparser==2.21
pycryptodome==3.22.0
pydantic==1.10.21
pydocstyle==6.3.0
pyfiglet==0.8.post1
pyflakes==2.5.0
Pygments==2.17.2
PyNaCl==1.5.0
pyparsing==3.1.4
pytest==7.1.2
pytest-cov==4.1.0
pytest-mock==3.11.1
pytest-timeout==2.3.1
pytest-xdist==3.5.0
python-dateutil==2.9.0.post0
PyYAML==6.0.1
rangehttpserver==1.4.0
requests==2.31.0
responses==0.23.3
rsa==4.7.2
ruamel.yaml==0.18.10
ruamel.yaml.clib==0.2.8
s3transfer==0.2.1
schema==0.7.7
shortuuid==1.0.13
six==1.17.0
smmap==5.0.2
snowballstemmer==2.2.0
tomli @ file:///opt/conda/conda-bld/tomli_1657175507142/work
treelib==1.7.1
types-PyYAML==6.0.12.12
typing_extensions @ file:///croot/typing_extensions_1669924550328/work
urllib3==1.25.11
wcwidth==0.2.13
Werkzeug==2.2.3
xmltodict==0.14.2
zc.lockfile==3.0.post1
zipp @ file:///croot/zipp_1672387121353/work

name: dvc
channels:
  - defaults
  - https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main
  - https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r
  - conda-forge
dependencies:
  - _libgcc_mutex=0.1=main
  - _openmp_mutex=5.1=1_gnu
  - attrs=22.1.0=py37h06a4308_0
  - ca-certificates=2025.2.25=h06a4308_0
  - certifi=2022.12.7=py37h06a4308_0
  - flit-core=3.6.0=pyhd3eb1b0_0
  - importlib_metadata=4.11.3=hd3eb1b0_0
  - iniconfig=1.1.1=pyhd3eb1b0_0
  - ld_impl_linux-64=2.40=h12ee557_0
  - libffi=3.4.4=h6a678d5_1
  - libgcc-ng=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - libgomp=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - libstdcxx-ng=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - ncurses=6.4=h6a678d5_0
  - openssl=1.1.1w=h7f8727e_0
  - packaging=22.0=py37h06a4308_0
  - pip=22.3.1=py37h06a4308_0
  - pluggy=1.0.0=py37h06a4308_1
  - py=1.11.0=pyhd3eb1b0_0
  - pytest=7.1.2=py37h06a4308_0
  - python=3.7.16=h7a1cb2a_0
  - readline=8.2=h5eee18b_0
  - setuptools=65.6.3=py37h06a4308_0
  - sqlite=3.45.3=h5eee18b_0
  - tk=8.6.14=h39e8969_0
  - tomli=2.0.1=py37h06a4308_0
  - typing_extensions=4.4.0=py37h06a4308_0
  - wheel=0.38.4=py37h06a4308_0
  - xz=5.6.4=h5eee18b_1
  - zipp=3.11.0=py37h06a4308_0
  - zlib=1.2.13=h5eee18b_1
  - pip:
      - aliyun-python-sdk-core==2.16.0
      - aliyun-python-sdk-core-v3==2.13.33
      - aliyun-python-sdk-kms==2.16.5
      - appdirs==1.4.4
      - asciimatics==1.14.0
      - autocommand==2.2.2
      - awscli==1.31.13
      - azure-common==1.1.28
      - azure-storage-blob==2.0.1
      - azure-storage-common==2.1.0
      - bcrypt==4.2.1
      - boto==2.49.0
      - boto3==1.9.115
      - botocore==1.12.253
      - cachetools==5.5.2
      - cffi==1.15.1
      - charset-normalizer==3.4.1
      - collective-checkdocs==0.2
      - colorama==0.4.4
      - configobj==5.0.9
      - configparser==5.3.0
      - coverage==7.2.7
      - crcmod==1.7
      - cryptography==44.0.2
      - distro==1.9.0
      - docutils==0.15.2
      - dvc==0.53.0
      - execnet==2.0.2
      - flake8==5.0.4
      - flake8-docstrings==1.7.0
      - flaky==3.8.1
      - funcy==2.0
      - future==1.0.0
      - gitdb==4.0.12
      - gitpython==3.1.44
      - google-api-core==1.34.1
      - google-auth==2.38.0
      - google-cloud-core==0.28.1
      - google-cloud-storage==1.13.0
      - google-compute-engine==2.8.13
      - google-crc32c==1.5.0
      - google-resumable-media==2.7.2
      - googleapis-common-protos==1.69.2
      - grandalf==0.6
      - humanize==4.6.0
      - idna==3.10
      - importlib-metadata==4.2.0
      - importlib-resources==5.12.0
      - inflect==6.0.5
      - jaraco-classes==3.2.3
      - jaraco-collections==4.2.0
      - jaraco-context==4.3.0
      - jaraco-functools==3.7.0
      - jaraco-structures==2.1.0
      - jaraco-text==3.11.1
      - jaraco-ui==2.3.0
      - jaraco-windows==5.7.0
      - jinja2==3.1.6
      - jmespath==0.10.0
      - jsonpath-ng==1.7.0
      - markupsafe==2.1.5
      - mccabe==0.7.0
      - mock==5.2.0
      - mock-ssh-server==0.9.1
      - more-itertools==9.1.0
      - moto==4.2.14
      - nanotime==0.5.2
      - networkx==2.6.3
      - numpy==1.21.6
      - oss2==2.6.1
      - paramiko==3.5.1
      - path==16.6.0
      - pathspec==0.11.2
      - pillow==9.5.0
      - ply==3.11
      - protobuf==3.20.3
      - psutil==5.6.2
      - pyarrow==0.14.0
      - pyasn1==0.5.1
      - pyasn1-modules==0.3.0
      - pycodestyle==2.9.1
      - pycparser==2.21
      - pycryptodome==3.22.0
      - pydantic==1.10.21
      - pydocstyle==6.3.0
      - pyfiglet==0.8.post1
      - pyflakes==2.5.0
      - pygments==2.17.2
      - pynacl==1.5.0
      - pyparsing==3.1.4
      - pytest-cov==4.1.0
      - pytest-mock==3.11.1
      - pytest-timeout==2.3.1
      - pytest-xdist==3.5.0
      - python-dateutil==2.9.0.post0
      - pyyaml==6.0.1
      - rangehttpserver==1.4.0
      - requests==2.31.0
      - responses==0.23.3
      - rsa==4.7.2
      - ruamel-yaml==0.18.10
      - ruamel-yaml-clib==0.2.8
      - s3transfer==0.2.1
      - schema==0.7.7
      - shortuuid==1.0.13
      - six==1.17.0
      - smmap==5.0.2
      - snowballstemmer==2.2.0
      - treelib==1.7.1
      - types-pyyaml==6.0.12.12
      - urllib3==1.25.11
      - wcwidth==0.2.13
      - werkzeug==2.2.3
      - xmltodict==0.14.2
      - zc-lockfile==3.0.post1
prefix: /opt/conda/envs/dvc

tests/unit/test_stage.py::test_meta_ignored
tests/unit/test_stage.py::TestPathConversion::test
tests/unit/test_stage.py::test_stage_checksum tests/unit/test_stage.py::test_wdir_default_ignored tests/unit/test_stage.py::test_wdir_non_default_is_not_ignored tests/unit/test_stage.py::test_stage_fname[True] tests/unit/test_stage.py::test_stage_fname[False] tests/unit/test_stage.py::test_stage_update
dvc/stage.py dvc/repo/push.py dvc/utils/__init__.py setup.py dvc/repo/status.py dvc/repo/fetch.py dvc/repo/pull.py
dvc/stage.py dvc/repo/push.py dvc/utils/__init__.py setup.py dvc/repo/status.py dvc/repo/fetch.py dvc/repo/pull.py