Gather stale does not recognize partitioned tables

I've recently started the automatic gathering of statistics using DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS with the 'GATHER STALE' and 'GATHER EMPTY' options. I also use the 'LIST STALE' and 'LIST EMPTY' options to create a log file. This new system has worked very well for all our tables, execpt partitioned tables. LIST STALE does not seem to recognize when a table is partitioned. It gathers statistics on all partitions if the "table" is deemed stale, not just the partitions that are stale.

This seems totally contrary to the purpose of both partitioned tables
(manage a large table in smaller pieces) and the 'GATHER STALE'
option (only gather statistics when necessary).

I have used GATHER_TABLE_STATS to gather statistics on individual partitions. However, I was hoping to use the built in algorithm associated with GATHER STALE to simplify and to minimize the statistics that are gathered on our rather large partitioned table
(nearly 700 million rows and growing).

The database is running Oracle 8.1.7.3 (soon to be upgraded to 8.1.7.4) on a Sun 4500 server.

Has anyone wanted to or tried to 'GATHER STALE' statistics on a partitioned table? I've looked in various 3rd party books and in the Oracle online documentation, but haven't found anything that specifically addresses this situation. Any suggestions or information would be greatly appreciated.

Gail Binkley
Stanford University
gail_at_genome.stanford.edu

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