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Informix Error -859

Cause and resolution

"Distributions Only" is not meaningful in an update statistics LOW request.

You cannot specify the DISTRIBUTIONS ONLY option in the LOW mode of the UPDATE STATISTICS statement.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-859 fires when DISTRIBUTIONS ONLY is included on an UPDATE STATISTICS LOW statement — per the official guidance, this combination isn't supported, the same general family of mode/clause incompatibilities as -736's RESOLUTION/SAMPLING SIZE restriction.

  1. DISTRIBUTIONS ONLY included on a LOW-mode UPDATE STATISTICS statement, per the official guidance — since LOW mode doesn't build distributions at all (per -736's discussion), an option scoping the update to distributions specifically has nothing to apply to in that mode.
  2. A statement copy-pasted from a MEDIUM/HIGH-mode template, with the mode changed to LOW but the now-inapplicable DISTRIBUTIONS ONLY clause left in place.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Remove the DISTRIBUTIONS ONLY clause, if LOW mode is genuinely what's needed.
  2. Change the mode to MEDIUM or HIGH, if updating distributions specifically was actually the goal — those are the modes that build distributions at all.
Examples
The disallowed combination
UPDATE STATISTICS LOW DISTRIBUTIONS ONLY FOR TABLE orders;
-- -859: LOW mode doesn't build distributions at all
Corrected — remove the clause for LOW mode
UPDATE STATISTICS LOW FOR TABLE orders;
Or corrected — switch to a mode that builds distributions
UPDATE STATISTICS MEDIUM DISTRIBUTIONS ONLY FOR TABLE orders;
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Check whether UPDATE STATISTICS LOW includes DISTRIBUTIONS ONLY, and either remove the clause or switch to MEDIUM/HIGH mode.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -736 — "The RESOLUTION and SAMPLING SIZE clauses are not valid for the LOW mode of the UPDATE STATISTICS statement." Same family of LOW-mode clause incompatibilities.
  • -738 — "DROP DISTRIBUTIONS is only valid in LOW mode." A related UPDATE STATISTICS mode-compatibility restriction, going the opposite direction — DROP DISTRIBUTIONS requires LOW, while DISTRIBUTIONS ONLY is incompatible with it.

Same family of LOW-mode clause restrictions as -736 — LOW mode never builds distributions, so distribution-specific clauses (other than DROP DISTRIBUTIONS, per -738) don't apply there.