Re: Issue during partition drop

On Wed, Apr 29, 2026 at 10:37 PM veem v <veema0000(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:

> Hi,
> We have the Aurora Postgres database. And for a table with PK-FK
> relationships, we have been running into issues while dropping partitions
> using partman. We have planned to detach and drop the partitions but end up
> with the below error , so wanted to understand, if this is expected
> behaviour
>

Absolutely.

> and how to handle it?
>
> ERROR: cannot drop table <table_name>_p20250202 because other objects
> depend on it
> CONTEXT: SQL statement "DROP TABLE <table_name>_p20250202"
> PL/pgSQL function
> drop_partition_time(text,interval,boolean,boolean,text,timestamp with time
> zone) line 250 at EXECUTE
> PL/pgSQL function partman.run_maintenance(text,boolean,boolean) line 336
> at assignment
> DETAIL: constraint <constraint_name>_fkey on table <table_name> depends on
> table <table_name>_p20250202
>

Whoever designed your database determined that "orphaned child" records are
a bad thing. <constraint_name>_fkey ensures that every "child" record has
a "parent" record.

If PG allows you to drop <table_name>_p20250202, then there will be
"orphaned children" in your database, but the FK means you don't want
orphaned children.

In order to drop <table_name>_p20250202, you must first "dispose of" (aka
DELETE) the child records that depend on records in
<table_name>_p20250202. If <constraint_name>_fkey points to a table that
is partitioned the same way that <table_name>_p20250202 is partitioned,
then *maybe* you can DETACH and then DROP that table full of child records.

Only then can you drop <table_name>_p20250202.

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