Users are reporting a PG::UndefinedTable error regarding the missing translation_overrides relation during Discourse database migrations. jamesarobbo initially encountered this issue while attempting to run migrations on a production Heroku setup, noting that a similar problem was reportedly fixed previously. zogstrip suggested dropping and recreating the database, but jamesarobbo clarified that this is a production environment.
marcosbc identified the issue as a known problem affecting fresh startups in Kubernetes clusters and vanilla Discourse launcher setups. They provided logs showing the error occurring during rake db:migrate when the system attempts to query the translation_overrides table before it is fully established.
Eric_Keller provided a definitive root cause for automated restore pipelines: a version mismatch between the restored database backup and the current container code. The latest code references the translation_overrides model, but the older backup does not contain this table. The suggested solution is to rebuild the application first to create the necessary schema from scratch, and then perform the restore. This approach allows Discourse’s built-in restore process to properly handle the database structure, avoiding the migration conflict.
I have cloned master and in trying to run migrations i get this error:
ActiveRecord::StatementInvalid: PG::UndefinedTable: ERROR: relation “translation_overrides” does not exist
I see that a topic was created for this last November and seemingly fixed so i’m wondering what coudl be the cause?
ActiveRecord::StatementInvalid: PG::UndefinedTable: ERROR: relation "translation_overrides" does not exist
remote: LINE 5: WHERE a.attrelid = '"translation_overrides"':...
remote: ^
remote: : SELECT a.attname, format_type(a.atttypid, a.atttypmod),
remote: pg_get_expr(d.adbin, d.adrelid), a.attnotnull, a.atttypid, a.atttypmod
remote: FROM pg_attribute a LEFT JOIN pg_attrdef d
remote: ON a.attrelid = d.adrelid AND a.attnum = d.adnum
remote: WHERE a.attrelid = '"translation_overrides"'::regclass
remote: AND a.attnum > 0 AND NOT a.attisdropped
remote: ORDER BY a.attnum
PG::UndefinedTable: ERROR: relation "translation_overrides" does not exist
remote: LINE 5: WHERE a.attrelid = '"translation_overrides"':...
production but getting it to run on heroku (i realise that heroku is not the ‘supported’, ‘recommended’ setup ). despite that, do you have any ideas? thanks a lot
$ ./launcher rebuild app
...
I, [2021-05-27T10:53:27.612150 #1] INFO -- : > cd /var/www/discourse && su discourse -c 'bundle exec rake plugin:pull_compatible_all'
I, [2021-05-27T10:53:30.072954 #1] INFO -- : docker_manager já está na versão mais recente compatível
I, [2021-05-27T10:53:30.073194 #1] INFO -- : > cd /var/www/discourse && su discourse -c 'bundle exec rake db:migrate'
2021-05-27 10:53:32.977 UTC [4354] discourse@discourse ERROR: a relação "translation_overrides" não existe no caractere 454
2021-05-27 10:53:32.977 UTC [4354] discourse@discourse STATEMENT: SELECT a.attname, format_type(a.atttypid, a.atttypmod),
pg_get_expr(d.adbin, d.adrelid), a.attnotnull, a.atttypid, a.atttypmod,
c.collname, col_description(a.attrelid, a.attnum) AS comment
FROM pg_attribute a
LEFT JOIN pg_attrdef d ON a.attrelid = d.adrelid AND a.attnum = d.adnum
LEFT JOIN pg_type t ON a.atttypid = t.oid
LEFT JOIN pg_collation c ON a.attcollation = c.oid AND a.attcollation <> t.typcollation
WHERE a.attrelid = '"translation_overrides"'::regclass
AND a.attnum > 0 AND NOT a.attisdropped
ORDER BY a.attnum
Aviso: nenhum cast de tipo definido para o tipo "name" com oid 19. Por favor, faça o cast explícito deste tipo para TEXT para estar seguro contra mudanças futuras.
> Popular temas e esquemas de cores
I, [2021-05-27T10:53:49.976589 #1] INFO -- : == 20000225050318 AddSchemaMigrationDetails: migrando ========================
...
Isso também ocorre em uma instalação oficial simples do discourse_docker, usando algum teste de restauração automatizado via pipeline todas as manhãs da semana. Esse erro semelhante apareceu repentinamente no pipeline com falha.
I, [2026-05-20T07:59:01.413128 #1] INFO -- : > cd /var/www/discourse && su discourse -c 'bundle
exec rake db:migrate'
2026-05-20 07:59:09.214 UTC [1576] discourse@discourse ERROR: relation "translation_overrides" does not exist at character 523
2026-05-20 07:59:09.214 UTC [1576] discourse@discourse STATEMENT: SELECT a.attname, format_type(a.atttypid, a.atttypmod),
pg_get_expr(d.adbin, d.adrelid), a.attnotnull, a.atttypid, a.atttypmod,
c.collname, col_description(a.attrelid, a.attnum) AS comment,
attidentity AS identity,
attgenerated as attgenerated
FROM pg_attribute a
LEFT JOIN pg_attrdef d ON a.attrelid = d.adrelid AND a.attnum = d.adnum
LEFT JOIN pg_type t ON a.atttypid = t.oid
LEFT JOIN pg_collation c ON a.attcollation = c.oid AND a.attcollation <> t.typcollation
WHERE a.attrelid = '"translation_overrides"'::regclass
AND a.attnum > 0 AND NOT a.attisdropped
ORDER BY a.attnum
2026-05-20 07:59:13.167 UTC [1627] discourse@discourse ERROR: schema "discourse_functions" already exists
2026-05-20 07:59:13.167 UTC [1627] discourse@discourse STATEMENT: CREATE SCHEMA discourse_functions;
psql:/var/www/discourse/db/structure.sql:16: ERROR: schema "discourse_functions" already exists
rake aborted!
A causa raiz foi uma incompatibilidade de versão entre o backup restaurado e o código do contêiner.
O código mais recente do Discourse possui um modelo que referencia a tabela translation_overrides, mas o banco de dados de produção (a partir do backup) está em uma versão anterior em que essa tabela ainda não existe ou tem um nome diferente.
O que funcionou para mim foi reconstruir primeiro (o que cria o esquema do zero) e, em seguida, restaurar o backup. O processo de restauração utiliza a ferramenta de restauração integrada do Discourse, que descarta e recria adequadamente o banco de dados.
). despite that, do you have any ideas? thanks a lot