L.S. I noticed that after creating these necessary objects:
================================================ create table t_src(value int); create table t_dest(value int primary key); create or replace function tr_t_dest_before_iud() returns trigger language 'plpgsql' volatile strict security invoker AS ' declare begin RAISE NOTICE ''tr_t_dest_before_iud() triggered for value (%)'', NEW.value; NEW.value = NEW.value + 1; RETURN NEW; END;'; create trigger t_dest_before before insert or update or delete on t_dest for each row execute procedure tr_t_dest_before_iud(); insert into t_src values (1); insert into t_src values (5); insert into t_src values (9); insert into t_src values (5); ================================================ The following statement causes an error due to the fact that the distinct isn't producing distinct values anymore. db=# insert into t_dest select distinct value from t_src; NOTICE: tr_t_dest_before_iud() triggered for value (1) NOTICE: tr_t_dest_before_iud() triggered for value (5) NOTICE: tr_t_dest_before_iud() triggered for value (5) ERROR: duplicate key violates unique constraint "t_dest_pkey" This seems to be caused by the update of 'value' in the before-trigger. Removing the update will let the distinct produce proper results. 4cleanup: ================================================ drop table t_dest; drop table t_src; drop function tr_t_dest_before_iud(); ================================================ select version(); version ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PostgreSQL 8.1.0 on i686-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by GCC gcc (GCC) 3.4.3 (1 row) -- Best, Frank. ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 2: Don't 'kill -9' the postmaster