| 403 | .. admonition:: Altering existing tables |
| 404 | |
| 405 | ``syncdb`` will only create tables for models which have not yet |
| 406 | been installed; it will never issue ``ALTER TABLE`` statements to |
| 407 | match changes made to a model class after installation. |
| 408 | |
| 409 | This is because changes to model classes and database schemas |
| 410 | nearly always involve some form of ambiguity, and so Django would |
| 411 | have to guess at the correct changes to make. The risk that |
| 412 | critical data would be lost by doing so is simply too great, so |
| 413 | Django never attempts to automatically change your tables for you; |
| 414 | instead, you'll need to manually issue the correct ``ALTER TABLE`` |
| 415 | statements if you need to change an existing table. |
| 416 | |