Thanks. I was sort of expecting that answer but I didn't see where it was addressed specifically. Unfortunately I'm stuck on v12 for the time being so I guess it's back to the workaround. On Tue, Sep 28, 2021 at 2:13 PM Tom Lane <tgl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Jeff Hoffmann <jeff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > > I am using postgresql-12.8. I am using I am making use of an identity > > column for part of a scripts to process some updated data. Because of > > the way the script is called I don't necessarily know if this column > > is going to exist in the table I am working on so I have a step that > > will conditionally create the column if it doesn't already exist, i.e. > > > alter table mytable add column if not exists unique_id integer > > generated always as identity; > > You're right, this sort of thing does not work very well in v12 and > before. We fixed it in v13, but the changes seemed far too invasive > to risk a back-patch [1]. > > regards, tom lane > > [1] https://git.postgresql.org/gitweb/?p=postgresql.git&a=commitdiff&h=1281a5c90 -- Jeff Hoffmann Head Plate Spinner PropertyKey Office: 612-800-6444 jeff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
