-- make published columns nullable and remove default value ALTER TABLE post_like ALTER COLUMN published DROP NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE post_like ALTER COLUMN published DROP DEFAULT; ALTER TABLE comment_like ALTER COLUMN published DROP NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE comment_like ALTER COLUMN published DROP DEFAULT; -- get rid of comment_like.post_id, setting null first to reclaim space -- https://dba.stackexchange.com/a/117513 ALTER TABLE comment_like ALTER COLUMN post_id DROP NOT NULL; UPDATE post_like SET post_id = NULL; -- drop the columns ALTER TABLE comment_like DROP post_id;