BUG #16492: DROP VIEW IF EXISTS error

On Sunday, June 14, 2020, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
>
> What I'd prefer to see, I think, is a command DROP RELATION [IF EXISTS]
> that is entirely un-picky about the object's relkind. Once upon a time
> DROP TABLE worked that way, IIRC, but it was "improved" with little
> thought about the needs of schema-update scripts
>

IMO if the DROP type IF EXISTS worked as expected the drop relation command
would be undesirable - the use case being that there is a specific type of
object the user was potentially expecting to exist that they want to ensure
does not. If an object of a different typed gets matched for some reason
it should not get dropped as a safety feature.

Unless drop relation is part of the SQL standard I’d suggest it is
something to not implement on “don’t give users a loaded weapon” grounds.
People aren’t clamoring for it and making the drop type if exists work in
the proposed manner makes it possible to, if a bit verbosely, replicate the
same behavior in the rare case it would be needed. The same rarity that is
being used to defend not changing the behavior.

David J.