At 12:21 PM 2/28/00 +0900, Hiroshi Inoue wrote:
>My idea is essentially an invisible column implementation.
>DROP COLUMN would change the target pg_attribute tuple
>as follows..
I don't see such a solution as being mutually exclusive with
the other one on the table.
Remember ... Oracle provides both. I suspect that they did so
because they were under customer pressure to provide a "real"
column drop and a "fast" (and non-2x tablesize!) solution. So
they did both. Also keep in mind that being able to drop a
column in Oracle is a year 1999 feature ... and both are provided.
More evidence of pressure from two points of view.
Of course, PG suffers because the "real" column drop is a 2x
space solution, so the "invisibility" approach may more frequently
be desired.
Still... as time goes on and PG gets adopted by more and more
serious, large-scale users (which we all are working towards,
right?) I suspect that each camp will want to be served.
- Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza@pacifier.com> Nature photos, on-line guides, Pacific Northwest Rare Bird Alert
Serviceand other goodies at http://donb.photo.net.