Reflect changes to search tables with hook_schema_alter()

Nope, haven't touched the module - I almost never do that with core unless it is really-really-really necessary to. I have only applied the patch from post #146 in #269877: path_set_alias() doesn't account for same alias in different languages, but that doesn't touch search.module at all or the db, only path.module is modified. Please, take a look for yourself, it's just a 5-or-so liner: http://drupal.org/files/issues/path-module_269877-D6_1.patch

As for any contrib module messin' where it shouldn't... how could I figure out which one it could be. I cannot start by disabling all + uninstalling them and start over, since I am on a live site. Would I know by looking at their .install files or is this done during run-time? Is there any string I can search for in the modules' files?

I honestly want to help track this one down, but my list of modules is huge. I can provide a list of modules and their respective versions, but I don't like to pollute the issue with long posts. Perhaps I'll dump it in a .txt file and upload. Let me know if that would help.

Let me also add that this issue doesn't have any other quirks than that error in the site's status report. I haven't enabled search in my site yet, so I cannot know if/what it will cause. I am simply reporting it because earlier experience has shown that problems not dealt with in time come back to bite you later on. So I'll 'downgrade' this issue to minor till someone reports real problems caused by it. Please do guide me in troubleshooting this further though.

Thanx in advance.

Got it! Its the Data module:

root@www:/var/www/hellas247/sites/all/modules# grep -r "{search_dataset}" *
data/data_search/data_search.module:    $result = db_query_range("SELECT dt.{$base_field} id FROM {{$name}} dt LEFT JOIN {search_dataset} d ON d.type = '{$name}' AND d.sid = dt.{$base_field} WHERE d.sid IS NULL OR d.reindex <> 0 ORDER BY d.reindex ASC, dt.{$base_field} ASC", 0, $limit);
data/data_search/data_search.module:    db_query("DELETE sd, si, snl FROM {search_dataset} sd LEFT JOIN {{$name}} dt ON sd.type = '{$name}' AND sd.sid = dt.{$base_field} LEFT JOIN {search_index} si ON sd.sid = si.sid AND sd.type = si.type LEFT JOIN {search_node_links} snl ON sd.sid = snl.sid AND sd.type = snl.type WHERE dt.{$base_field} IS NULL");
data/data_search/data_search.module:        db_query("UPDATE {search_dataset} SET reindex = %d WHERE type = '%s'", time(), $name);
data/data_search/data_search.module:        $remaining = $remaining + db_result(db_query("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM {{$name}} dt LEFT JOIN {search_dataset} d ON d.type = '{$name}' AND d.sid = dt.{$base_field} WHERE (d.sid IS NULL OR d.reindex <> 0)"));
data/data_search/data_search.module:  db_query("DELETE s FROM {search_dataset} s LEFT JOIN {{$name}} t ON s.sid = t.$field WHERE s.type = '%s' AND t.$field IS NULL", $table->get('name'));
data/data_search/data_search.install:  db_query("ALTER TABLE {search_dataset} CHANGE COLUMN type type VARCHAR(64)");
root@www:/var/www/hellas247/sites/all/modules# grep -r "{search_index}" *
data/data_search/data_search.module:    db_query("DELETE sd, si, snl FROM {search_dataset} sd LEFT JOIN {{$name}} dt ON sd.type = '{$name}' AND sd.sid = dt.{$base_field} LEFT JOIN {search_index} si ON sd.sid = si.sid AND sd.type = si.type LEFT JOIN {search_node_links} snl ON sd.sid = snl.sid AND sd.type = snl.type WHERE dt.{$base_field} IS NULL");
data/data_search/data_search.module:  db_query("DELETE s FROM {search_index} s LEFT JOIN {{$name}} t ON s.sid = t.$field WHERE s.type = '%s' AND t.$field IS NULL", $table->get('name'));
data/data_search/data_search.install:  db_query("ALTER TABLE {search_index} CHANGE COLUMN type type VARCHAR(64)");
root@www:/var/www/hellas247/sites/all/modules# grep -r "{search_node_links}" *
data/data_search/data_search.module:    db_query("DELETE sd, si, snl FROM {search_dataset} sd LEFT JOIN {{$name}} dt ON sd.type = '{$name}' AND sd.sid = dt.{$base_field} LEFT JOIN {search_index} si ON sd.sid = si.sid AND sd.type = si.type LEFT JOIN {search_node_links} snl ON sd.sid = snl.sid AND sd.type = snl.type WHERE dt.{$base_field} IS NULL");
data/data_search/data_search.install:  db_query("ALTER TABLE {search_node_links} CHANGE COLUMN type type VARCHAR(64)");

taking it there...

Coming from the core search.module...

In data_search.install lines 12, 13 &14:

  db_query("ALTER TABLE {search_dataset} CHANGE COLUMN type type VARCHAR(64)");
  db_query("ALTER TABLE {search_index} CHANGE COLUMN type type VARCHAR(64)");
  db_query("ALTER TABLE {search_node_links} CHANGE COLUMN type type VARCHAR(64)");

alter the respective fields' lengths from 16 to 64. Is this necessary?

Schema module reports table mismatches. Please take a look at #0

Thanx for taking the time alex. I kinda knew no actual problems were caused. That's why it's set to 'minor' ;)

I'll test this on first chance, but I trust your experience anyways so I believe it'll simply work ;)

...concerning this:

...but there is another larger issue about the fact that if someone installs data_search and later uninstalls the module - the core tables for search module are now mis-matched to their schema.

I wouldn't know code-wise, but how about undoing the changes during module uninstallation then. I am not talking about when simply disabling the module, but rather when offering an uninstallation option in the 'uninstall' tab (I think it has to do with hook_uninstall()).