When indexes, constraints, etc are disabled, still there are some operations
that cannot be performed. For example, if you want to change a table to raw
state, you must drop the constraints, not just disable them. It's a flipping
nuisance.

Since a disabled constraint or index is going to be rebuilt anyway, why not
treat it as "gone" for the purposes mentioned above?

On the subject of raw tables, you cannot change their schema. Catch 22 when
you are trying dirty tricks to quickly administer large tables. We all know
we need to take a real level zero afterwards...

Similar vein: under ER, changes of schema, disabling constraints and a few
other oddities are blocked or cause administration problems. Changing a
table quickly without having to resyncronize is a hassle. Can't a change of
schema be accommodated? If the "select *" in the replicants was treated as
an expanded list of columns, then adding a column at either end shouldn't
have any effect on the replication. I suppose there are housekeeping issues.
Are there any scientific reasons against allowing this?

Let us add a column at one end, change it later at the other end, and we'll
worry about sync if the column needs it. When it doesn't, the process should
be a lot lighter than it currently is.

oooooh yeah - here's a must-have admin facility: add a new state that is not
online, not quiescent, but which will allow SPECIFIC users to connect and do
work. The list could be just informix by default, or a short list of users
defined elsewhere. On some sites, if you bring the engine online to do some
SQL admin, the bloody over-enthusiastic users will connect and make a mess
of your administration.

Related: the ability to bring up or shutdown connectors - eg we could also
control administration by making all users connect via a tcp or ipc
connector. Only administrators get local connectivity with shm connectors.
Therefore, if we can dynamically shutdown the tcp and ipc connectors
(gracefully or immediately) then we have another alternative to
administration. If ER is used on the site, then perhaps ER connections could
be allowed to stay running. This implies that the connectors are still
listening, but they are refusing connections to most attempts.