Informix Error -864

-864 Cannot attach a table with rowids.

You must first drop the rowids on the surviving table before you attach the table.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-864 is the mirror image of -863: it fires when ALTER FRAGMENT ... ATTACH is attempted while the surviving (target) table still has ROWID — per the official guidance, ROWID must be dropped from the surviving table before the attach.

ALTER FRAGMENT ... ATTACH attempted while the surviving table still has a ROWID column, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause.

Solutions / Resolution

Drop ROWID on the surviving table first, per the official guidance, then perform the attach:
```
ALTER TABLE orders DROP ROWIDS;
ALTER FRAGMENT ON TABLE orders ATTACH orders_2025;
```

Examples

The disallowed attempt

ALTER FRAGMENT ON TABLE orders ATTACH orders_2025;
-- -864: orders (the surviving table) still has a ROWID column

Corrected — drop ROWID first

ALTER TABLE orders DROP ROWIDS;
ALTER FRAGMENT ON TABLE orders ATTACH orders_2025;

Diagnostic Checks

Check whether the surviving (target) table has a ROWID column before attempting an attach.

Related Errors / Related Topics

-863 — "Cannot detach a table with rowids." The mirror-image restriction: ROWID must also be dropped before a DETACH.
-782 — "Attached table is fragmented." A related ATTACH restriction, on the table being newly attached rather than the surviving target table's ROWID status.

The mirror image of -863 — drop ROWID on the surviving table first, then perform the attach.