Informix Error -192

Reasons / Common Causes

-192 is a structural rule, not a configurable restriction: the first chunk of a storage space holds that space's own header/control information and can never be dropped individually while the storage space itself still exists.

1. Attempting to drop the first chunk of a storage space directly — not permitted, regardless of the space's current usage or content.
2. A cleanup or decommissioning script iterating through all of a dbspace's chunks generically (dropping each one in turn), without special-casing the first — such a script needs to drop the dbspace itself instead of attempting to remove its chunks one by one.
3. Confusion about which chunk is actually "the first" for a given dbspace — typically the one specified when the dbspace was originally created.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Select a different chunk instead, per the official guidance, if the actual goal is removing additional chunks beyond the first.
2. If the real goal is removing the entire storage space (not just shrinking it), drop the dbspace itself — see -148 for the precondition that it must be empty first — rather than attempting to remove its first chunk individually.
3. For generic chunk-cleanup scripts, exclude the first chunk of any dbspace from individual drop attempts, since it can only go away when the entire dbspace is dropped.
4. Confirm which chunk is actually the first for the dbspace in question before attempting removal.

Examples

The structural restriction

onspaces -d dbspace1 -p /dev/chunk1 -o 0
-- -192: chunk1 is the first chunk of dbspace1 — it can't be
-- dropped individually

Removing the whole space instead

-- If the actual goal is removing dbspace1 entirely:
onspaces -d dbspace1
-- (after confirming, per -148, that dbspace1 is empty)

A script needing a special case

-- A generic cleanup script drops every chunk of a decommissioned
-- dbspace in a loop
for chunk in dbspace_chunks:
    drop_chunk(chunk)
-- fails on the first chunk every time

-- Fix: drop the dbspace itself once all data is migrated out,
-- rather than iterating chunk-by-chunk
drop_dbspace("dbspace1")

Diagnostic Checks

1. Review the dbspace's chunk list and confirm which chunk is the first.
2. Determine the actual intent — shrinking the dbspace by removing an additional chunk, versus removing the entire storage space — to select the correct operation.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -191 — "ISAM error: No such chunk." The direct sibling in chunk-management error handling.
• -148 — "ISAM error: dbspace is not empty." Relevant when the actual goal is removing the entire storage space rather than an individual chunk — the precondition that must be satisfied first.

If the goal is removing an entire storage space, drop the dbspace itself rather than attempting to remove its chunks individually — the first chunk specifically can never be dropped on its own.