As Niall demonstrated so beautifully, there are no relational rules when it comes to v$ views (actually the x$ "tables" upon which the views are built). As to V$SESSION_LONGOPS being inaccurate, cryptic and useless, I can't follow you there. I don't find them any more cryptic than any other table or view and within the confines of being an estimate, I find them remarkably accurate and extremely useful in gaging eta of a process - or detecting escalating deterioration which is a very useful observation in its own right. Gogala, Mladen wrote: > To do otherwise would seriously break the relational > rules. Sadly, V$SESSION_LONGOPS is inaccurate, cryptic and, generally > speaking, useless. -- Regards Wolfgang Breitling Centrex Consulting Corporation www.centrexcc.com -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l