Re: "ERROR 7: Error on rename of..." when altering table

[Andreas Hammarstedt]

In case someone else runs into the same problem, here's my resolution so far:

1. Created a separate table with the same contents as the one I was trying to alter.
2. Altered the separate table. Now I have the .frm file needed for my original table.
3. Shut down MySQL.
4. Made backup copies of all table files (.frm, .myd, .myi) for the original, separate and temporary tables.
5. Copied the separate .frm file to the original, and the temporary .myi and .myd files to the original.
6. Started MySQL.
7. Ran an extended check on the table, which was successful.

It seems like I'll have to do this over again as I, probably unnecessarily, chose to add indices as a separate step.

This was based entirely on the assumption that the original ALTER TABLE only failed when swapping files around and that the file data was properly altered, as well as the fact that the table is only infrequently updated so that I wouldn't have to worry about concurrent updates. YMMV