Hi, we came across a database where a table had a toasted table, keeping huge amounts of disk space allocated. However, the table's current definition didn't explain why there was a toasted table. Then upon some experiments, it struck me. There _was_ a toasted field but as the schema was modified, the fields was dropped, leaving only inline stored fields. VACUUM [FULL] [ANALYZE] didn't cleaned up the space that was used by the toasted table. My tests were done on 8.3.3.
As every statements that reference a table puts a lock on the pg_class record, ALTER TABLE cannot progress until all locks are gone, i.e. the transactions referencing the table finished. It's true vice-versa, ALTER TABLE blocks every transactions that may reference the table. Judging from that, the toasted table cleanup may be part of ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN. Best regards, Zoltán Böszörményi -- ---------------------------------- Zoltán Böszörményi Cybertec Schönig & Schönig GmbH http://www.postgresql.at/ -- Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers
