Tilo Schwarz <mail(at)tilo-schwarz(dot)de> writes:
> So my question is: Is there another way besides "explain" to get information
> out of postgresql (7.3.1) what's going on during a "delete" on a table with
> many foreign key triggers .
IIRC, you can set log_statement=on before the first time you run the
DELETE in a given session, and then look in the postmaster log for
copies of the SQL statements that are generated by the foreign key
mechanism. It's not great, particularly because you can't conveniently
see the associated plans, but it's better than nothing ...
regards, tom lane