Jim,

> I'd like people to think about the implications of dropping support

for

> direct update of system tables in favor of internal engine support for
> proper SQL DDL.

I support the goal of simplifying the current approach and the current
exchange in the devel list makes it more than clear that this needs to
be resolved...

As I understand it, one of the most significant issues is that there is
no established SQL syntax to perform some of the operations which are
currently performed directly against the system tables.

Additionally, direct table manipulation allows for _some_ DDL operations
to be performed from within an SP.

Accordingly, I expect this change to cause more than a "few hiccups" for
users/developer and third-party tools.


Sean