is this a bug or feature?

hi,

i was building a testdb for development. i did a pg_dump -t

to get the tables that i needed. i then loaded those objects

with psql testdb << dump.file. when i tried to do an update

against one of the tables i got this error message:

<color><param>ffff,0000,0000</param>psql:update.sql:5: pqReadData() --
backend closed the channel unexpectedly.

This probably means the backend terminated abnormally

before or while processing the request.

psql:update.sql:5: connection to server was lost

</color>i got a similar error for insert, delete, or truncate but i could
read

the table without error. i finally figured out that what had happened

was that the foreign key constraints to and from that table, table x,

that existed in production ok, had loaded into my test area but the

associated tables that would have made those constraints valid did not

exist; i didn't load them as i didn't need them and had forgotten

that there were RI constraints dependent on them.

of course since i could still select from the table i guess i could go

microsoft and say that it's actually a "read only" feature of postgres!
:)

my question is, why does postgres load up those constraints, when
they'll

be invalid and error out later with a vague error message, instead of

indicating up front that those constraints are there and refuse to load

them?

it took me a while to figure this one out. you cannot create a foreign

key to or from a non-existing table but the already generated triggers

from previous valid constraint creations will reload, in situations
such

as my test database scenario up above, without initial complaint.

xxxooo

mikeo