Schema Does Not Exist Error When Using Uppercase Schema Names in PostgreSQL

Applies to

• Liquibase Secure (Pro)
• Liquibase Community (Open Source)

Conditions

• PostgreSQL database (may apply to other databases)
• Schema name contains uppercase letters

Issue Summary

When using a schema name that contains uppercase letters with the --defaultSchemaName or --liquibase-schema-name parameters, Liquibase fails to create its tracking tables and returns an error stating the schema does not exist, even though the schema exists in the database.

Error Message

Liquibase 4.31.0:

Unexpected error running Liquibase: ERROR: schema "schema_name" does not exist
  Position: 14 [Failed SQL: (0) CREATE TABLE SCHEMA_NAME.databasechangelog ...]

Liquibase 4.32.0+:

Unexpected error running Liquibase: An error occurred while attempting to create the database changelog table. Please make sure that you have both read and write permissions for the 'SCHEMA_NAME.databasechangelog' table.
  - Caused by: ERROR: schema "schema_name" does not exist
  Position: 14 [Failed SQL: (0) CREATE TABLE SCHEMA_NAME.databasechangelog ...]

Root Cause

By default, Liquibase does not treat schema and catalog names as case-sensitive. When an uppercase schema name is passed via the command line, Liquibase converts it to lowercase before executing the SQL statement. Since PostgreSQL is case-sensitive with quoted identifiers, the generated SQL references a lowercase schema name (schema) that does not match the actual uppercase schema (SCHEMA) in the database, causing the error.

Resolution

Add the --preserve-schema-case=true parameter to your Liquibase command. This tells Liquibase to quote schema names in SQL statements, preserving their original casing.

Also, ensure that the value for --liquibase-schema-name is not wrapped in quotes on the command line.

Example command:

liquibase \
  --url=<your_url> \
  --username=<your_username> \
  --password=<your_password> \
  --changeLogFile=<your_changelog_file> \
  --defaultSchemaName=SCHEMA_NAME \
  --liquibase-schema-name=SCHEMA_NAME \
  --preserve-schema-case=true \
  update

When preserve-schema-case is enabled, the generated SQL will correctly quote the schema name:

CREATE TABLE "SCHEMA_NAME".databasechangelog (...)

Parameter Formats

CLI:

--preserve-schema-case=true

Flow File:

globalArgs: {preserve-schema-case: "true"} 

Properties File:

liquibase.preserveSchemaCase: true

Environment Variable:

LIQUIBASE_PRESERVE_SCHEMA_CASE=true

Related Article(s)

• Liquibase Global Parameters