pat98's always & forever

Oracle Server - Enterprise Edition - Version: 9.00 to 10.00
This problem can occur on any platform.

Symptoms

After executing an import from a full export DMP file, the following SYS objects become invalid:

OBJECT_NAME	OBJECT_TYPE	STATUS
DBMS_REPCAT_RGT_CUST	PACKAGE BODY	INVALID
DBMS_REPCAT_UTL4	PACKAGE BODY	INVALID
DBMS_REPCAT_MIGRATION	PACKAGE BODY	INVALID
_ALL_REPCONFLICT	VIEW	INVALID
USER_REPPARAMETER_COLUMN	VIEW	INVALID
ALL_REPPARAMETER_COLUMN	VIEW	INVALID
_ALL_REPPARAMETER_COLUMN	VIEW	INVALID
DBA_REPPARAMETER_COLUMN	VIEW	INVALID
_ALL_REPRESOLUTION	VIEW	INVALID
_ALL_REPCOLUMN_GROUP	VIEW	INVALID
_ALL_REPGROUPED_COLUMN	VIEW	INVALID
USER_REPGROUPED_COLUMN	VIEW	INVALID
ALL_REPGROUPED_COLUMN	VIEW	INVALID
DBA_REPGROUPED_COLUMN	VIEW	INVALID
USER_REPPARAMETER_COLUMN	SYNONYM	INVALID
ALL_REPPARAMETER_COLUMN	SYNONYM	INVALID
DBA_REPPARAMETER_COLUMN	SYNONYM	INVALID
USER_REPGROUPED_COLUMN	SYNONYM	INVALID
ALL_REPGROUPED_COLUMN	SYNONYM	INVALID
DBA_REPGROUPED_COLUMN	SYNONYM	INVALID

The alert.log of the database where the import was executed shows the following messages:

Replication pre-import:
trying to disable constraint REPCAT$_TEMPLATE_OBJECTS_FK1
for "SYSTEM"."REPCAT$_TEMPLATE_OBJECTS"
Replication pre-import:
constraint REPCAT$_TEMPLATE_OBJECTS_FK1 for
"SYSTEM"."REPCAT$_TEMPLATE_OBJECTS" is disabled successfully
...
Replication after-import:
trying to enable constraint REPCAT$_TEMPLATE_OBJECTS_FK1
for "SYSTEM"."REPCAT$_TEMPLATE_OBJECTS"
Replication after-import:
constraint REPCAT$_TEMPLATE_OBJECTS_FK1 for
"SYSTEM"."REPCAT$_TEMPLATE_OBJECTS" is enabled successfully

These messages appear for all constraints related to replication catalog
objects (SYSTEM.REPCAT$_%).

Cause

This is an expected behaviour because of the dependencies that exists between the objects being altered during the import and the objects being invalidated:

SQL> select object_name, object_id, object_type from dba_objects
2 where object_name = 'REPCAT$_PARAMETER_COLUMN';

OBJECT_NAME                                    OBJECT_ID   OBJECT_TYPE
------------------------------                  ----------         -------------------
REPCAT$_PARAMETER_COLUMN   7680               TABLE

Objectes that have dependencies to REPCAT$_PARAMETER_COLUMN:

SQL> select d_obj# from dependency$ where P_OBJ#=7680;

D_OBJ#
----------
7893
7904
7950
7953
7964
7995
8009
7688
7686
7685
7683

select object_name, object_type, owner
2 from dba_objects
3 where object_id in (7893,7904,7950,7953,7964,7995,8009,7688,7686,7685,7683);

OBJECT_NAME                                   OBJECT_TYPE        OWNER
------------------------------                  -------------------     ----------
DBMS_REPCAT_MIG_INTERNAL    PACKAGE BODY    SYS
DBMS_REPCAT_CONF                      PACKAGE BODY    SYS
DBMS_OFFLINE_RGT                        PACKAGE BODY    SYS
DBMS_REPCAT_SNA_UTL                PACKAGE BODY    SYS
DBMS_REPCAT_UTL                          PACKAGE BODY    SYS
DBMS_MAINT_GEN                           PACKAGE BODY    SYS
DBMS_DEFERGEN_RESOLUTION    PACKAGE BODY   SYS
USER_REPPARAMETER_COLUMN  VIEW                        SYS
ALL_REPPARAMETER_COLUMN    VIEW                         SYS
_ALL_REPPARAMETER_COLUMN  VIEW                         SYS
DBA_REPPARAMETER_COLUMN    VIEW                        SYS

The objects above depend on table REPCAT$_PARAMETER_COLUMN and thus may get invalidated if the table is altered.

Solution

The objects will be recompiled automatically the next time they are referenced.  In the case of
the synonyms, they will become valid the next time they are referenced after the object they point to becomes valid.