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	Wed, 6 Jun 2018 12:51:56 -0400
From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
To: nunks <nunks.lol@gmail.com>
cc: pgsql-admin <pgsql-admin@postgresql.org>
Subject: Re: [pgsql-admin] "Soft-hitting" the 1600 column limit
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Comments: In-reply-to nunks <nunks.lol@gmail.com>
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nunks <nunks.lol@gmail.com> writes:
> I'm trying to support an application in production at work, and for some
> obscure reason the developer made it drop and re-create a column
> periodically.

Not a good idea ...

> I know this is a bad practice (to say the least), and I'm telling them to
> fix it, but after the 1600th drop/add cycle, PostgreSQL starts giving out
> the column limit error:

>     ERROR:  tables can have at most 1600 columns

Yup.  "Dropping" a column just hides it, doesn't make it disappear.
There are a lot of reasons why that's unlikely to change anytime soon.

			regards, tom lane