Alter Domain Type

Hi Everyone,

Many years ago I created a domain with a char(4) datatype.

Now in my wisdom I would like to change this to a text datatype, but I can't 
see any way of altering the type of a domain.

I have experimented with backing up the database and manually editing the 
dump file to change the type, and then recreating the database.  This seems 
to work without problem.

Are there any hidden dangers of doing this?

Is there an alternate way of altering the type without backing up and 
recreating the database?

I'm working with version 8.2.3.

Thanks for your help.

George