ALTER MODIFY COLUMN is stuck, the column is inaccessible.

Problem

You have table:

CREATE TABLE modify_column(column_n String) ENGINE=MergeTree() ORDER BY tuple();

Populate it with data:

INSERT INTO modify_column VALUES ('key_a');
INSERT INTO modify_column VALUES ('key_b');
INSERT INTO modify_column VALUES ('key_c');

Tried to apply alter table query with changing column type:

ALTER TABLE modify_column MODIFY COLUMN column_n Enum8('key_a'=1, 'key_b'=2);

But it didn’t succeed and you see an error in system.mutations table:

SELECT *
FROM system.mutations
WHERE (table = 'modify_column') AND (is_done = 0)
FORMAT Vertical

Row 1:
──────
database:                   default
table:                      modify_column
mutation_id:                mutation_4.txt
command:                    MODIFY COLUMN `column_n` Enum8('key_a' = 1, 'key_b' = 2)
create_time:                2021-03-03 18:38:09
block_numbers.partition_id: ['']
block_numbers.number:       [4]
parts_to_do_names:          ['all_3_3_0']
parts_to_do:                1
is_done:                    0
latest_failed_part:         all_3_3_0
latest_fail_time:           2021-03-03 18:38:59
latest_fail_reason:         Code: 36, e.displayText() = DB::Exception: Unknown element 'key_c' for type Enum8('key_a' = 1, 'key_b' = 2): while executing 'FUNCTION CAST(column_n :: 0, 'Enum8(\'key_a\' = 1, \'key_b\' = 2)' :: 1) -> cast(column_n, 'Enum8(\'key_a\' = 1, \'key_b\' = 2)') Enum8('key_a' = 1, 'key_b' = 2) : 2': (while reading from part /var/lib/clickhouse/data/default/modify_column/all_3_3_0/): While executing MergeTree (version 21.3.1.6041)

And you can’t query that column anymore:

SELECT column_n
FROM modify_column

┌─column_n─┐
 key_a    
└──────────┘
┌─column_n─┐
 key_b    
└──────────┘
 Progress: 2.00 rows, 2.00 B (19.48 rows/s., 19.48 B/s.)
2 rows in set. Elapsed: 0.104 sec.

Received exception from server (version 21.3.1):
Code: 36. DB::Exception: Received from localhost:9000. DB::Exception: Unknown element 'key_c' for type Enum8('key_a' = 1, 'key_b' = 2): while executing 'FUNCTION CAST(column_n :: 0, 'Enum8(\'key_a\' = 1, \'key_b\' = 2)' :: 1) -> cast(column_n, 'Enum8(\'key_a\' = 1, \'key_b\' = 2)') Enum8('key_a' = 1, 'key_b' = 2) : 2': (while reading from part /var/lib/clickhouse/data/default/modify_column/all_3_3_0/): While executing MergeTreeThread.

Solution

You should do the following:

Check which mutation is stuck and kill it:

SELECT * FROM system.mutations WHERE table = 'modify_column' AND is_done=0 FORMAT Vertical;
KILL MUTATION WHERE table = 'modify_column' AND mutation_id = 'id_of_stuck_mutation';

Apply reverting modify column query to convert table to previous column type:

ALTER TABLE modify_column MODIFY COLUMN column_n String;

Check if column is accessible now:

SELECT column_n, count() FROM modify_column GROUP BY column_n;

Run fixed ALTER MODIFY COLUMN query.

ALTER TABLE modify_column MODIFY COLUMN column_n Enum8('key_a'=1, 'key_b'=2, 'key_c'=3);

You can monitor progress of column type change with system.mutations or system.parts_columns tables:

SELECT
    command,
    parts_to_do,
    is_done
FROM system.mutations
WHERE table = 'modify_column'

SELECT
    column,
    type,
    count() AS parts,
    sum(rows) AS rows,
    sum(bytes_on_disk) AS bytes
FROM system.parts_columns
WHERE (table = 'modify_column') AND (column = 'column_n') AND active
GROUP BY
    column,
    type