Informix Error -583: View permissions no longer valid -- permissions on remote objects revoked.

Reasons / Common Causes

-583 fires when querying a view built over tables in one or more external databases, and the session's access to one of those remote tables has since been revoked — either a table-level privilege on the specific table the view uses, or the session's CONNECT privilege on the external database itself.

1. A table-level privilege revoked on a remote table the view depends on, per the official guidance — a REVOKE SELECT (or similar) issued in the external database after the view was created and working.
2. CONNECT privilege revoked on the external database itself, per the official guidance — broader than a single table's privilege, this cuts off access to the external database entirely.
3. A view that continued to be usable for a while after creation, then started failing once a remote administrator changed privileges independently — since the view's own definition doesn't change, this can look like the view itself broke when the actual change happened remotely.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Identify which external database and table the view depends on, by reviewing the view's definition:

   SELECT viewtext FROM sysviews WHERE tabid =
     (SELECT tabid FROM systables WHERE tabname = 'view_name')
   ORDER BY seqno;
   

   sysviews stores the view's defining SELECT one line per row (seqno gives the order), so ordering by seqno reconstructs the full view definition.
2. Have the appropriate privilege restored — either the table-level privilege in the external database, or CONNECT on the external database itself — by whoever administers that remote database.
3. Confirm both privileges are in place before assuming the view itself needs to be recreated; the view's definition is very likely still valid, just currently unusable due to the remote privilege change.

Examples

Diagnosing which remote object lost access

SELECT viewtext FROM sysviews WHERE tabid =
  (SELECT tabid FROM systables WHERE tabname = 'cross_db_summary')
ORDER BY seqno;
-- reveals which external database:table the view actually queries

Diagnostic Checks

1. Read the view's definition via sysviews to identify the specific external database and table involved.
2. Check both CONNECT privilege on the external database and table-level privilege on the specific remote table, since either one being revoked triggers this error.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -556 — "Cannot create, drop, or modify an object that is external to current database." A related cross-database error, about attempting a write rather than a privilege having been revoked.
• -557 — "Cannot locate table that is external to the current database after level-count levels of synonym mapping." A related cross-database error, about a broken synonym chain rather than a revoked privilege.

The view's own definition is very likely still fine — check the remote database/table's privileges first, since those are what actually changed.