Does setting the default value for the other columns kick in that bug?
No, I didn't think so. DERBY-2371 specifically involved a problem when there were a non-zero number of non-null values in the table at the time of the ALTER TABLE command. Also, I tried your complete set of commands against the current trunk and did not see the error. Can you post the full stack trace (from derby.log) of the problem you're seeing?
I'll try the latest code to see if that helps. Are there nightly builds available, or do I have to build it myself?
For Derby 10.3, there is a release candidate available, and the complete release should be available very soon. Get the candidate here: http://wiki.apache.org/db-derby/DerbyTenThreeRelease You have to build the trunk yourself, but it's not hard. Full instructions are available at the web site. If you encounter problems, people on the derby-dev list will be glad to help you. Start here: http://db.apache.org/derby/dev/derby_source.html thanks, bryan
