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From: Dominique Devienne <ddevienne@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2026 11:32:41 +0100
Message-ID: <CAFCRh-9HTzAU7ia--Uad2-KnZv=zXeFaG0iT2ut0KXGEZhsHuw@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Why does TRUNCATE require a special privilege?
To: Marcelo Fernandes <marcefern7@gmail.com>
Cc: pgsql-general@lists.postgresql.org
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On Fri, Jan 16, 2026 at 10:13=E2=80=AFAM Marcelo Fernandes <marcefern7@gmai=
l.com> wrote:
> From the documentation:
> > TRUNCATE quickly removes all rows from a set of tables. It has the same
> > effect as an unqualified DELETE on each table, but since it does not ac=
tually
> > scan the tables it is faster.
> > (...)
> > You must have the TRUNCATE privilege on a table to truncate it.
>
> Granted that TRUNCATE and DELETE are different operations under the hood,=
 but
> why would the TRUNCATE operation require its own specific privilege rathe=
r than
> say, use the same privilege as the DELETE operation?

It's kinda obvious, when you read the notes.

1) Not MVCC-safe.
2) Do not fire TRIGGERs, thus breaking data-integrity
3) "Viral" in the presence of FKs, i.e. related tables must also be TRUNCAT=
Ed

Just these 3 are HUGE departures from a DELETE. --DD