__RefactorLog table in SQL Server - safe to drop it?

Question

SSDT (I suspect) creates a table called __RefactorLog in any database you point it towards.

If I've hit a release is there any harm in deleting this table as I don't see any benefit in including it in schema creation scripts at the time of deployment?

I can't see any downside to it myself, but I'd like to pose the question to the knowledgeable people here to see if there's something I'm missing...

Sealer

Answer 1

It is created by SSDT when you use a refactor in SSDT (like Refactor -> Rename) if you do a deployment and just clear out the table it will retry to do any old refactorings which could just fail or cause a disaster!

If you clear the table make sure you also remove the entries from the refactorlog.xml in your project - the file is pretty obvious.

Make sure you don't try to deploy an old dacpac (I guess this is unlikely anyway)

Ed

Boutin

Ed's response is accurate. I'd just like to note that the most common "refactor" operation in an SSDT project is using the table designer to rename a column in a table. Editing the column name in the T-SQL panel is not considered a refactor operation, but editing the column name in the table designer is considered a refactor. This is a subtle, but important behavior to note. – Pym

You can initiate a rename from SQL text edtitor: 1) from the designer T-SQL pane use Shift-F10 or right-click, "Refactor / Rename... ", 2) from view or SPROC use Ctrl+., just like in any other VS or VSCode editor to initiate cleanup or refactor. (response to @StevenGreen) He's correct that "normal edits" are not analyzed for possible renames. – Grandmother