What causes "failed to disable Oracle segment attributes: %w" in t8y2/dbx?

Grant the connecting user the privileges needed to alter session/segment attributes

failed to disable Oracle segment attributes: %w

Error message

failed to disable Oracle segment attributes: %w

What it means

Before certain DDL/dump operations the driver disables Oracle segment-creation attributes (oracleDisableSegmentAttributesSQL) on a dedicated connection so the operation is not blocked; failure to execute that SQL is wrapped as this error. The reset (enable) SQL is deferred so attributes are always restored.

Source

Thrown at agents/drivers/oracle-go/main.go:3142

		if fallbackErr != nil {
			return "", fallbackErr
		}
		if portable {
			return s.appendTableDependentDDLWithIndexes(schema, table, fallback, indexDDLs), nil
		}
		return s.appendTableDependentDDL(schema, table, fallback), nil
	}
	return "", err
}

func withOraclePortableMetadataSession(db *sql.DB, operation func(*sql.Conn) error) (err error) {
	conn, err := db.Conn(context.Background())
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if _, err = conn.ExecContext(context.Background(), oracleDisableSegmentAttributesSQL); err != nil {
		_ = conn.Close()
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to disable Oracle segment attributes: %w", err)
	}
	defer func() {
		if _, resetErr := conn.ExecContext(context.Background(), oracleEnableSegmentAttributesSQL); resetErr != nil {
			_ = conn.Raw(func(any) error { return driver.ErrBadConn })
			if err == nil {
				err = fmt.Errorf("failed to restore Oracle segment attributes: %w", resetErr)
			}
		}
		_ = conn.Close()
	}()
	return operation(conn)
}

func (s *server) appendTableDependentDDL(schema, table, tableDDL string) string {
	indexDDLs, _ := s.loadTableIndexDDLs(schema, table)
	return s.appendTableDependentDDLWithIndexes(schema, table, tableDDL, indexDDLs)
}

View on GitHub (pinned to c0390bff16)

Solutions

Grant the connecting user the privileges needed to alter session/segment attributes
Verify the Oracle edition/version supports the statement (check the wrapped ORA- error)
Confirm network/credentials are valid since a broken conn will fail the very first statement
If the edition does not support it, upgrade Oracle or adjust the driver to skip the disable step where safe

Example fix

// before
GRANT CREATE SESSION TO app_user; -- insufficient for ALTER SESSION attrs
// after
GRANT ALTER SESSION TO app_user; -- re-run the export

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

var hasPriv bool
if err := db.QueryRowContext(ctx, "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM session_privs WHERE privilege = 'ALTER SESSION'").Scan(&hasPriv); err != nil || !hasPriv {
    return errors.New("ALTER SESSION privilege required for segment attribute toggle")
}

Try / catch

err := withSegmentAttributesDisabled(db, op)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "disable Oracle segment attributes") {
    // fall back to running op without the attribute tweak, or surface a privileges hint
    return fmt.Errorf("check privileges/edition for segment attributes: %w", err)
}

Prevention

Grant ALTER SESSION and related privileges to the driver's DB user
Verify the Oracle edition supports the statement before running exports
Pre-flight with a no-op ALTER SESSION to catch permission issues early
Check wrapped ORA- codes (e.g. ORA-01031) to distinguish grants from version limits

When it happens

Trigger: The connection lacks privileges to alter segment attributes, the SQL is invalid for the Oracle version/edition, or the connection fails right after being checked out (network drop, bad pooled conn).

Common situations: Running against Oracle Express/older editions where the relevant feature is unavailable; a user without ALTER SESSION/segment privileges; restricted sessions or read-only setups.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of t8y2/dbx@c0390bff16 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e36a4cf1f4d149d6. Report an issue: GitHub.