> > It's also kind of unclear how to do it without doubling (or worse) the
> > amount of table space used in many common scenarios. I doubt many
> > people will be happy if "DELETE FROM foo" requires transient space equal
> > to twice the original size of foo.
>
> IIRC the double space requrement is what has kept us from implementing
> DROP COLUMN.
The correct solution then, according methinks to my old Human Computer
Interaction lecturer, is to implement the feature anyway, and warn the DBA
what the consequences are. That way, the DBA can do it if she wants, unlike
the current situation where it's next to impossible (with lots of
referencing foreign keys).
Chris