Truncate and Foreign Key References question - Mailing list pgsql-sql

This is in postgres 8.1:PostgreSQL 8.1.1 on x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu, compiled by GCC gcc (GCC) 3.4.2 20041017 (Red Hat
3.4.2-6.fc3)

I've got a table in one schema (work.client_collect_rates) which has an FK constraint with a table,
content.collections_l(definitions shown below). There's about 500 entries currently in my collections_l table. 

I need to wipe out the contents of the collections_l table nightly and refresh it from a remote master source. (Don't
ask... long & sordid history) 

As the sequence below shows, I dropped the FK constraint successfully, but when I run TRUNCATE collections_l it says:

ERROR:  cannot truncate a table referenced in a foreign key constraint
DETAIL:  Table "client_collect_rates" references "collections_l" via foreign key constraint "$2".
HINT:  Truncate table "client_collect_rates" at the same time.

This truncation of the second table is *not* an option, but since the constraint "$2" is clearly gone, I am wondering
whatin the name of sweet apples is going on ? Is this a bug ? Have a developed premature senility ? 

Any clues for the clueless would be gratefully accepted!

TIA,

Greg Williamson
DBA
GlobeXplorer LLC


billing=# \d work.client_collect_rates Table "work.client_collect_rates"   Column     |  Type   | Modifiers
---------------+---------+-----------contract_id   | integer | not nullcollection_id | integer | not nullrate
|numeric |break_1       | numeric |rate_1        | numeric |break_2       | numeric |rate_2        | numeric |break_3
   | numeric |rate_3        | numeric |break_4       | numeric |rate_4        | numeric | 
Indexes:   "clnt_colrate_ndx" UNIQUE, btree (contract_id, collection_id)
Foreign-key constraints:   "$1" FOREIGN KEY (contract_id) REFERENCES client_contracts(contract_id)   "$2" FOREIGN KEY
(collection_id)REFERENCES content.collections_l(collect_id) 

billing=# \d content.collections_l                  Table "content.collections_l"       Column        |          Type
      |     Modifiers 
----------------------+------------------------+--------------------collect_id           | integer                | not
nullowner               | integer                |collection_name      | character(50)          |begin_date           |
date                  |end_date             | date                   |pos_accuracy         | integer
|res_accuracy        | integer                |loc_code             | character(30)          |color                |
integer               | default 0category_id          | integer                |is_mosaic            | integer
     | not null default 0detail_metadata_view | character varying(255) |jdbc_url             | character varying(255)
|jdbc_driver         | character varying(255) | 
Indexes:   "collections_l_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (collect_id)   "collect_own_ndx" btree ("owner", collect_id)

billing=# alter table work.client_collect_rates drop constraint "$2";
ALTER TABLE

billing=# \d work.client_collect_rates Table "work.client_collect_rates"   Column     |  Type   | Modifiers
---------------+---------+-----------contract_id   | integer | not nullcollection_id | integer | not nullrate
|numeric |break_1       | numeric |rate_1        | numeric |break_2       | numeric |rate_2        | numeric |break_3
   | numeric |rate_3        | numeric |break_4       | numeric |rate_4        | numeric | 
Indexes:   "clnt_colrate_ndx" UNIQUE, btree (contract_id, collection_id)
Foreign-key constraints:   "$1" FOREIGN KEY (contract_id) REFERENCES client_contracts(contract_id)

(Note that the "$2" FK is gone...)

billing=# truncate content.collections_l;
ERROR:  cannot truncate a table referenced in a foreign key constraint
DETAIL:  Table "client_collect_rates" references "collections_l" via foreign key constraint "$2".
HINT:  Truncate table "client_collect_rates" at the same time.