From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
To: Sam Stearns <sam.stearns@dat.com>
cc: Pgsql-admin <pgsql-admin@lists.postgresql.org>,
        Henry Ashu <henry.ashu@dat.com>, Julie Mather <julie.mather@dat.com>
Subject: Re: dropuser error
In-reply-to: 
 <CAN6TVj=sfdK=W08kVtVOcn_QLYtFby-jVxuw+F+UYM42fkt91A@mail.gmail.com>
References: 
 <CAN6TVj=sfdK=W08kVtVOcn_QLYtFby-jVxuw+F+UYM42fkt91A@mail.gmail.com>
Comments: In-reply-to Sam Stearns <sam.stearns@dat.com>
	message dated "Tue, 16 Sep 2025 13:13:58 -0700"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-ID: <1395875.1758058025.1@sss.pgh.pa.us>
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2025 17:27:05 -0400
Message-ID: <1395876.1758058025@sss.pgh.pa.us>
Archived-At: 
 <https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/1395876.1758058025%40sss.pgh.pa.us>
Precedence: bulk

Sam Stearns <sam.stearns@dat.com> writes:
> I'm trying to drop a user but getting the following error:

> dropuser: error: removal of role "dalec" failed: ERROR:  role "dalec"
> cannot be dropped because some objects depend on it
> DETAIL:  262 objects in database csbtest

If the display looks like that rather than itemizing the objects,
it's because they are in a different database of the cluster.
You need to connect to the "csbtest" database and then you can
drop or reassign ownership of those objects.

(The subtext here is that users/roles are shared across the
whole cluster, but most object kinds are local to one database.
You can't "see" the details of objects in a different database
than the one you're connected to.  DROP USER knows that there
are some dependencies, but not much more.)

			regards, tom lane