Dropping foreign keys taking long time

[John LeBlanc]

I need to update our schema to change the definition of some of the primary keys. I am dropping the foreign key constraints but it is taking about 40 minutes to finish. I have enclosed the code I am using. Does anyone know a way to speed this up or a better way to do it?

DECLARE table_crsr cursor for
SELECT table_name, CONSTRAINT_NAME
FROM information_schema.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS T where
table_schema = 'spa' and constraint_type = 'FOREIGN KEY';

SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS = 0;

-- Open the cursor
open table_crsr;

-- Get first table
fetch next from table_crsr into tableName, cName;

-- Loop thru tables
WHILE (done = 0) DO

-- Build the alter table statement
set @query = CONCAT('alter table ' ,tableName, ' drop foreign key ', cName);
PREPARE cCommand FROM @query;

-- Execute the command
EXECUTE cCommand;

-- Get next table
fetch next from table_crsr into tableName, cName;

END WHILE;