RE: "Cluster" means "tangle" for me

Thanks for the advice.
I repeated the vacuum, but it completed without any mdopen notices this
time.
I created files corresponding to the temp* names from the last vacuum, but
was still unable to drop the table.
After confirming that there was no reference to the table name in any of the
system tables, I deleted the "dedcolo" file from the database directory.
Now I was able to create a table with that name.
I couldn't resist going back for a second try, using a similarly named table
with the same data (neither this nor the previous was a temp table, BTW):

extracts=# create table dedcolo (test text);
CREATE
extracts=# drop table dedcolo;
DROP
extracts=# \d dedcolo2
Table "dedcolo2"
Attribute | Type | Modifier
--------------------------+---------+----------
market_code | text |
legacy_acct_no | text |
usage_guiding | text |
service_identifier | text |
subscriber_no | integer |
rev_rcv_cost_center | text |
arbor_acct_no | integer |
last_name | text |
first_name | text |
company_name | text |
sales_code | text |
date_created | date |
tracking_id | integer |
product_start_date | date |
product_stop_date | date |
product_status | text |
prod_billed_thru_date | date |
element_id | text |
equip_type | text |
product_description | text |
billing_frequency | text |
rate | money |
rate_override_start_date | date |
rate_override_end_date | date |
rate_override | money |
disconnect_reason | text |
Indices: dc2_acct_i,
dc2_et_i

extracts=# cluster dc2_acct_i on dedcolo2;
ERROR: temp_28a1899 is an index relation
extracts=# \d dedcolo
Did not find any relation named "dedcolo".
extracts=# \d temp_28a1899
Index "temp_28a1899"
Attribute | Type
---------------+---------
arbor_acct_no | integer
btree

extracts=#

This corresponds to the index being clustered.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Lane [SMTP:tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2001 6:57 PM
> To: Jeff Eckermann
> Cc: 'pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org'
> Subject: Re: [GENERAL] "Cluster" means "tangle" for me
>
> Jeff Eckermann <jeckermann(at)verio(dot)net> writes:
> > I would appreciate any advice on getting out of this strange situation.
> My
> > table now doesn't exist, but I can't recreate it either (at least under
> that
> > name).
>
> Hmm, was "dedcolo" a temp table? It looks like clustering a temp table
> gets confused. (In current sources, it's still pretty broken: the
> cluster succeeds, but the table is no longer temp afterwards ...
> will try to fix this for 7.1.)
>
> I'd suggest that you restart your session, then repeat the vacuum,
> and for each table that you get "mdopen" notices about, create an
> empty file by that name in the database directory. Then you'll be
> able to drop that table.
>
> regards, tom lane