Re: [HACKERS] Re: ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN

From: Bruce Momjian <pgman(at)candle(dot)pha(dot)pa(dot)us>
To: Peter Eisentraut <peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net>
Cc: PostgreSQL Development <pgsql-hackers(at)postgreSQL(dot)org>
Subject: Re: [HACKERS] Re: ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN
Date: 2000-02-28 00:17:08
Message-ID: 200002280017.TAA11268@candle.pha.pa.us
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> Bruce Momjian writes:
>
> > You can exclusively lock the table, then do a heap_getnext() scan over
> > the entire table, remove the dropped column, do a heap_insert(), then a
> > heap_delete() on the current tuple,
>
> Wow, that almost seems to easy to be true. I never thought that having
> tuples of different structures in the table at the same time would be
> possible. If so then I don't see a reason why this would be too hard to
> do.

If the transaction is not committed, I don't think anything actually
reads the tuple columns, so you are safe.

--
Bruce Momjian | http://www.op.net/~candle
pgman(at)candle(dot)pha(dot)pa(dot)us | (610) 853-3000
+ If your life is a hard drive, | 830 Blythe Avenue
+ Christ can be your backup. | Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

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