NULL in primary keys NOT logged to exceptions table

Question

Problem: Inconsistent behavior when enabling constraints using the "EXCEPTIONS INTO" clause. RDBMS Version: 9.2.0.8.0 and 10.2.0.3.0
- NULL values in primary keys are NOT logged to exceptions table
- NOT NULL column constraints ARE logged to exceptions table
-- Demonstration
-- NULL values in primary keys NOT logged to exceptions table
TRUNCATE TABLE exceptions;
DROP TABLE t;
CREATE TABLE t ( x NUMBER );
INSERT INTO t VALUES ( NULL );
ALTER TABLE t
ADD ( CONSTRAINT tpk PRIMARY KEY (x) EXCEPTIONS INTO exceptions );
SELECT * FROM exceptions; -- returns no rows
-- NOT NULL column constraints logged to exceptions table
TRUNCATE TABLE exceptions;
DROP TABLE t;
CREATE TABLE t ( x NUMBER );
INSERT INTO t VALUES ( NULL );
ALTER TABLE t MODIFY ( X NOT NULL EXCEPTIONS INTO EXCEPTIONS );
SELECT * FROM exceptions; -- returns one row
I would have expected all constraint violations to be logged to exceptions. I was not able to find any documentation describing the behavior I describe above.
Can anyone tell me if this is the intended behavior and if so, where it is documented?
I would also appreciate it if others would confirm this behavior on their systems and say if it is what they expect.
Thanks.
- Doug
P.S. Apologies for the repost from an old thread, which someone else found objectionable.

Answer 1

I should have posted the output. Here it is.
SQL>TRUNCATE TABLE exceptions;
Table truncated.
SQL>DROP TABLE t;
Table dropped.
SQL>CREATE TABLE t ( x NUMBER );
Table created.
SQL>INSERT INTO t VALUES ( NULL );
1 row created.
SQL>ALTER TABLE t ADD ( CONSTRAINT tpk PRIMARY KEY (x) EXCEPTIONS INTO exceptions );
ALTER TABLE t ADD ( CONSTRAINT tpk PRIMARY KEY (x) EXCEPTIONS INTO exceptions )
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01449: column contains NULL values; cannot alter to NOT NULL
SQL>SELECT * FROM exceptions;
no rows selected
SQL>
SQL>TRUNCATE TABLE exceptions;
Table truncated.
SQL>DROP TABLE t;
Table dropped.
SQL>CREATE TABLE t ( x NUMBER );
Table created.
SQL>INSERT INTO t VALUES ( NULL );
1 row created.
SQL>ALTER TABLE t MODIFY ( X NOT NULL EXCEPTIONS INTO EXCEPTIONS );
ALTER TABLE t MODIFY ( X NOT NULL EXCEPTIONS INTO EXCEPTIONS )
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-02296: cannot enable (MYSCHEMA.) - null values found
SQL>SELECT * FROM exceptions;
ROW_ID OWNER TABLE_NAME CONSTRAINT
AAAkk5AAMAAAEByAAA MYSCHEMA T T
1 row selected.
As you can see, I get the expected error message. But I only end up with a record in the exceptions table for the NOT NULL column constraint, not for the null primary key value.