for some odd reason when i try to change a table fromserial to just
plain "int with a default" postgres seems to ignore me.

when i dump the schema i get ...

CREATE TABLE custom (
id serial NOT NULL,
name text,
email text,
);

then i run...

alter table custom alter id type int;
alter table custom alter id set default
((nextval('custom_seq'::regclass) * 100) + ((random() * (100)::double
precision))::integer);

after running these 2 alter table commands... i dump the schema ...
and voila... nothing happened....

CREATE TABLE custom (
id serial NOT NULL,
name text,
email text,
);


or did it? the change actually works... i see the new slightly
randomized ids going in nicely

my only problem is that backups aren't going to restore correctly
since the schema dumps wrong

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"Erik Aronesty" <erik@q32.com> writes:
> for some odd reason when i try to change a table fromserial to just
> plain "int with a default" postgres seems to ignore me.

What PG version?

I'd expect this to work somewhat sanely in 8.2, but in earlier versions
fooling with the default expression for a serial column is not well
supported.

> alter table custom alter id type int;

The fact that you even tried that suggests that you don't understand
very well what "serial" is. See the manual ...

regards, tom lane

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-- Simpler example for you

CREATE TABLE x (
id serial NOT NULL
);

ALTER TABLE x alter id type int;

-- Under 8.1.10, a call to pg_dump will reveal the change has not happened


On Nov 8, 2007 11:13 AM, Erik Aronesty <erik@q32.com> wrote:
> n Nov 7, 2007 12:11 AM, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
> > "Erik Aronesty" <erik@q32.com> writes:
> > > for some odd reason when i try to change a table fromserial to just
> > > plain "int with a default" postgres seems to ignore me.
> >
> > What PG version?
>
> (PostgreSQL) 8.1.10
>
> > The fact that you even tried that suggests that you don't understand
> > very well what "serial" is. See the manual ...
>
> I tried to change the data type first. Which implies I know what it means.
>

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> "Erik Aronesty" <erik@q32.com> writes:
> > for some odd reason when i try to change a table from serial to just
> > plain "int with a default" postgres seems to ignore me.
>
> What PG version?

(PostgreSQL) 8.1.10

> The fact that you even tried that suggests that you don't understand
> very well what "serial" is. See the manual ...

I tried to change the data type first. Which implies I know what it means.

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Erik Aronesty wrote:
> -- Simpler example for you
>
> CREATE TABLE x (
> id serial NOT NULL
> );
>
> ALTER TABLE x alter id type int;
>
> -- Under 8.1.10, a call to pg_dump will reveal the change has not happened

Do an ALTER TABLE DROP DEFAULT instead. SERIAL is a macro for "int with
a default".

--
Alvaro Herrera http://www.CommandPrompt.com/
The PostgreSQL Company - Command Prompt, Inc.

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Eric,

Don't be so defensive.
Here is an abstract from documentation:

"8.1.4. Serial Types

The data types serial and bigserial are not true types, but merely a
notational convenience for setting up unique identifier columns (similar
to the AUTO_INCREMENT property supported by some other databases). In
the current implementation, specifying

CREATE TABLE tablename (
colname SERIAL
);

is equivalent to specifying:

CREATE SEQUENCE tablename_colname_seq;
CREATE TABLE tablename (
colname integer NOT NULL DEFAULT nextval('tablename_colname_seq')
);
ALTER SEQUENCE tablename_colname_seq OWNED BY tablename.colname;

Thus, we have created an integer column and arranged for its default
values to be assigned from a sequence generator. A NOT NULL constraint
is applied to ensure that a null value cannot be explicitly inserted,
either. (In most cases you would also want to attach a UNIQUE or PRIMARY
KEY constraint to prevent duplicate values from being inserted by
accident, but this is not automatic.) Lastly, the sequence is marked as
"owned by" the column, so that it will be dropped if the column or table
is dropped.

Note: Prior to PostgreSQL 7.3, serial implied UNIQUE. This is no
longer automatic. If you wish a serial column to be in a unique
constraint or a primary key, it must now be specified, same as with any
other data type.

To insert the next value of the sequence into the serial column, specify
that the serial column should be assigned its default value. This can be
done either by excluding the column from the list of columns in the
INSERT statement, or through the use of the DEFAULT key word.

The type names serial and serial4 are equivalent: both create integer
columns. The type names bigserial and serial8 work just the same way,
except that they create a bigint column. bigserial should be used if you
anticipate the use of more than 231 identifiers over the lifetime of the
table.

The sequence created for a serial column is automatically dropped when
the owning column is dropped. You can drop the sequence without dropping
the column, but this will force removal of the column default
expression. "

which proves that you don't understand "serial" data type.

Igor

-----Original Message-----
From: pgsql-admin-owner@postgresql.org
[mailtogsql-admin-owner@postgresql.org] On Behalf Of Erik Aronesty
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 11:14 AM
To: pgsql-admin@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: [ADMIN] alter table serial->int

> "Erik Aronesty" <erik@q32.com> writes:
> > for some odd reason when i try to change a table from serial to just

> > plain "int with a default" postgres seems to ignore me.
>
> What PG version?

(PostgreSQL) 8.1.10

> The fact that you even tried that suggests that you don't understand
> very well what "serial" is. See the manual ...

I tried to change the data type first. Which implies I know what it
means.

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CREATE TABLE x (
a serial NOT NULL
);

alter table x alter a drop default;

alter table x alter a set default 999;

still doesn't help.

i supposed i can dump the whole table and rebuild it.... but that's
going to be a bit slow.

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"Erik Aronesty" <erik@q32.com> writes:
> alter table x alter a set default 999;

> still doesn't help.

Doesn't help what?

If you mean that the sequence object is still there, you can drop that too.

regression=# create table x(a serial not null);
NOTICE: CREATE TABLE will create implicit sequence "x_a_seq" for serial column "x.a"
CREATE TABLE
regression=# drop sequence x_a_seq;
NOTICE: default for table x column a depends on sequence x_a_seq
ERROR: cannot drop sequence x_a_seq because other objects depend on it
HINT: Use DROP ... CASCADE to drop the dependent objects too.
regression=# alter table x alter a set default 999;
ALTER TABLE
regression=# drop sequence x_a_seq;
DROP SEQUENCE
regression=# \d x
Table "public.x"
Column | Type | Modifiers
--------+---------+----------------------
a | integer | not null default 999


regards, tom lane

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