Forum OpenACS Development: Postgres 7.3 - changing column width by changing pg_tables?

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1: Postgres 7.3 - changing column width by changing pg_tables?
Posted by Tracy Adams on 04/25/07 02:09 PM
As you know, postgres 7.3 doesn't let you extend a varchar column directly. (ie - change it's width from 40 to 100)

So you have to go through the workaround of adding another column, copying the data, removing the first column,and renaming the second column. Which causes great havoc if you have idexes and view dependant on the column. (is there a way to temporarily turn those checks off?)

Someone showed me they could change the data dictionary
(pg_tables I think) and change the width and it seemed to
work.

Have you heard of this? Would this be safe?

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2: Re: Postgres 7.3 - changing column width by changing pg_tables? (response to 1)
Posted by Tom Jackson on 04/26/07 01:03 AM
It is probably safer to drop and recreate the indexes and views. Maybe it is just Oracle which recompiles views when the tables change, but it is good practice anyway. It might also speed up the whole operation. Overall, it is better to do everything via ddl commands.

You can mess with the data dictionary, but obviously this is a bad idea, even if it works.