Informix Error -579: Not owner of synonym.

Reasons / Common Causes

-579 fires when DROP SYNONYM targets a synonym the current session doesn't own, and the session doesn't hold DBA privilege either — per the official guidance, dropping an object you don't own requires Database Administrator privilege.

1. A session attempting to drop a synonym created by a different user, without holding DBA privilege — the direct, only cause.
2. A migration/cleanup script running as an application user that tries to drop synonyms originally created by a DBA-privileged account during initial schema setup.
3. Confusion about synonym ownership, since a synonym's owner is whoever created it, not necessarily the owner of the table it points to.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Have the synonym's actual owner drop it, per the official guidance's implicit first option.
2. Or have a DBA-privileged user drop it, per the official guidance, if the original owner isn't available or appropriate to involve.
3. Confirm the synonym's owner before attempting the drop:

   SELECT tabname, owner FROM systables WHERE tabname = 'orders_syn' AND tabtype = 'S';
   

Examples

Hitting the restriction

DROP SYNONYM orders_syn;
-- -579: app_user doesn't own orders_syn and isn't a DBA

Checking ownership first

SELECT tabname, owner FROM systables WHERE tabname = 'orders_syn' AND tabtype = 'S';

A DBA-privileged user performing the drop

-- Run by a user with DBA privilege:
DROP SYNONYM orders_syn;

Diagnostic Checks

1. Query systables for the synonym's owner (tabtype = 'S') to confirm whether the current session actually owns it before attempting the drop.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -514 — "Only a DBA can create, drop, grant, or revoke for another user." The general privilege-boundary rule this specific synonym-ownership case falls under.

Confirm the synonym's actual owner via systables first — only the owner or a DBA-privileged user can drop it.