Bruce Momjian wrote: > For primary key, there is no enforcement of the primary key, e.g.: > > test=> CREATE TABLE parent (name TEXT); > CREATE TABLE > test=> CREATE TABLE child (age INT) inherits (parent) ; > CREATE TABLE > test=> ALTER TABLE parent ADD primary KEY (name); > NOTICE: ALTER TABLE / ADD PRIMARY KEY will create implicit index > "parent_pkey" for table "parent" > ALTER TABLE > test=> INSERT INTO parent (name) VALUES ('a'); > INSERT 0 1 > test=> INSERT INTO child (name) VALUES ('a'); > INSERT 0 1 > test=> SELECT * FROM parent; > name > ------ > a > a > (2 rows) > > So, it seems like this is the ugly truth of our inheritance limitations > with primary key, and unless we can fix the primary key issues with > inheritance, our current behavior is the more predictable we can hope for.
[ Thread moved to hackers because this might be a valid bug. ] Summary: ALTER TABLE SET NOT NULL on a parent table is passed to the child, while ALTER TABLE ADD PRIMARY KEY is not, particularly the NOT NULL part of the PRIMARY KEY specification. OK, now I understand what you are getting at --- the following returns a NULL value from the parent: test=> CREATE TABLE parent (name text); CREATE TABLE test=> CREATE TABLE child (age int) INHERITS (parent) ; CREATE TABLE test=> ALTER TABLE parent ADD PRIMARY KEY (name); NOTICE: ALTER TABLE / ADD PRIMARY KEY will create implicit index "parent_pkey" for table "parent" ALTER TABLE test=> INSERT INTO child (name) VALUES (null); INSERT 0 1 test=> \pset null '(null)' Null display is "(null)". test=> SELECT * FROM parent; name -------- (null) (1 row) while the parent has a NOT NULL specification: test=> \d parent Table "public.parent" Column | Type | Modifiers --------+------+----------- name | text | not null Indexes: "parent_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (name) Number of child tables: 1 (Use \d+ to list them.) That does seem like something that should be fixed. -- Bruce Momjian <br...@momjian.us> http://momjian.us EnterpriseDB http://enterprisedb.com + If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. + -- Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers