OK, Now I am a bit confused. The manual doesn't say what to do if you don't see template1 or template0 on the server, or even whether or not you should be able to see them when using a tool like pgAdmin. But it does say: "The postgres database is also created when a database cluster is initialized. This database is meant as a default database for users and applications to connect to. It is simply a copy of template1 and may be dropped and recreated if required." Now, when I look at postgres, it is empty, apart from one public schema, and all the items (aggregates &c.) have nothing in them. The manual talks about creating a template from an existing database, but not about how to create a template from a template, apart from :"template1 is the default source database name for CREATE DATABASE. For example, one could drop template1 and recreate it from template0 without any ill effects." Obviously, template1 must have been either blown away by the creation of template_postgis, or the one has been made to be an alias for the other, or the default template has been set to use template_postgis. And if postgres is a copy of template0, and template1 starts as a copy of template0, and all my databases have included the postgis stuff, then template_postgis is the template being used by default. So, how do I determine whether or not template1 really exists on my server and is a copy of template0 (as I'd infer from what I see in postgres) rather than template_postgis, and then modify things so that the default is the normal template1 rather than template_postgis, but leaving the latter in place so I can use it when I need it? Thanks Ted ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 9: In versions below 8.0, the planner will ignore your desire to choose an index scan if your joining column's datatypes do not match