The actual table that I am updating is 134GB of the 135GB. Each row has one foreign key to another table, but no tables have a foreign key to this table. If I cancel the update then I can drop the new column, rename the old column, do a vacuum, and then I should be left with what I started with, right? How can I expand that column without using this query? I am using PostgreSQL 7.4.5. Thanks for the help, Andrew -----Original Message----- From: Tom Lane [mailto:tgl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2005 12:07 PM To: Andrew Janian Cc: pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Long running update "Andrew Janian" <ajanian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > I needed to expand the size of one of the varchar columns in a table of > my 135GB database. How big is the particular table you are doing this on? What foreign key relationships is it involved in? (I wonder if the time is going into FK checking more than the actual update...) What PG version exactly? Personally, at this point I'd cancel the update while there's still time to do a VACUUM before you have to be operational again. You could do the required operation (increasing a varchar's limit) in O(1) time by twiddling the system catalogs. You're going to need a VACUUM anyway because of all the dead tuple versions left behind by the UPDATE. regards, tom lane ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 3: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faq
