diff --git a/src/backend/catalog/heap.c b/src/backend/catalog/heap.c
index 1dbe77a8f5..6f5ef2247b 100644
--- a/src/backend/catalog/heap.c
+++ b/src/backend/catalog/heap.c
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
  *
  *
  * IDENTIFICATION
- *	  $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/catalog/heap.c,v 1.272 2004/07/11 19:52:48 tgl Exp $
+ *	  $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/catalog/heap.c,v 1.273 2004/08/28 21:05:26 tgl Exp $
  *
  *
  * INTERFACE ROUTINES
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ static void AddNewRelationType(const char *typeName,
 				   Oid new_rel_oid,
 				   char new_rel_kind,
 				   Oid new_type_oid);
-static void RelationRemoveInheritance(Relation relation);
+static void RelationRemoveInheritance(Oid relid);
 static void StoreRelCheck(Relation rel, char *ccname, char *ccbin);
 static void StoreConstraints(Relation rel, TupleDesc tupdesc);
 static void SetRelationNumChecks(Relation rel, int numchecks);
@@ -836,7 +836,7 @@ heap_create_with_catalog(const char *relname,
  * linking this relation to its parent(s).
  */
 static void
-RelationRemoveInheritance(Relation relation)
+RelationRemoveInheritance(Oid relid)
 {
 	Relation	catalogRelation;
 	SysScanDesc scan;
@@ -848,7 +848,7 @@ RelationRemoveInheritance(Relation relation)
 	ScanKeyInit(&key,
 				Anum_pg_inherits_inhrelid,
 				BTEqualStrategyNumber, F_OIDEQ,
-				ObjectIdGetDatum(RelationGetRelid(relation)));
+				ObjectIdGetDatum(relid));
 
 	scan = systable_beginscan(catalogRelation, InheritsRelidSeqnoIndex, true,
 							  SnapshotNow, 1, &key);
@@ -1015,7 +1015,7 @@ RemoveAttributeById(Oid relid, AttrNumber attnum)
 	heap_close(attr_rel, RowExclusiveLock);
 
 	if (attnum > 0)
-		RemoveStatistics(rel, attnum);
+		RemoveStatistics(relid, attnum);
 
 	relation_close(rel, NoLock);
 }
@@ -1147,33 +1147,24 @@ RemoveAttrDefaultById(Oid attrdefId)
 	relation_close(myrel, NoLock);
 }
 
-/* ----------------------------------------------------------------
- *		heap_drop_with_catalog	- removes specified relation from catalogs
- *
- *		1)	open relation, acquire exclusive lock.
- *		2)	flush relation buffers from bufmgr
- *		3)	remove inheritance information
- *		4)	remove pg_statistic tuples
- *		5)	remove pg_attribute tuples
- *		6)	remove pg_class tuple
- *		7)	unlink relation file
+/*
+ * heap_drop_with_catalog	- removes specified relation from catalogs
  *
  * Note that this routine is not responsible for dropping objects that are
  * linked to the pg_class entry via dependencies (for example, indexes and
  * constraints).  Those are deleted by the dependency-tracing logic in
  * dependency.c before control gets here.  In general, therefore, this routine
  * should never be called directly; go through performDeletion() instead.
- * ----------------------------------------------------------------
  */
 void
-heap_drop_with_catalog(Oid rid)
+heap_drop_with_catalog(Oid relid)
 {
 	Relation	rel;
 
 	/*
 	 * Open and lock the relation.
 	 */
-	rel = relation_open(rid, AccessExclusiveLock);
+	rel = relation_open(relid, AccessExclusiveLock);
 
 	/*
 	 * Release all buffers that belong to this relation, after writing any
@@ -1182,32 +1173,7 @@ heap_drop_with_catalog(Oid rid)
 	FlushRelationBuffers(rel, (BlockNumber) 0);
 
 	/*
-	 * remove inheritance information
-	 */
-	RelationRemoveInheritance(rel);
-
-	/*
-	 * delete statistics
-	 */
-	RemoveStatistics(rel, 0);
-
-	/*
-	 * delete attribute tuples
-	 */
-	DeleteAttributeTuples(RelationGetRelid(rel));
-
-	/*
-	 * delete relation tuple
-	 */
-	DeleteRelationTuple(RelationGetRelid(rel));
-
-	/*
-	 * forget any ON COMMIT action for the rel
-	 */
-	remove_on_commit_action(rid);
-
-	/*
-	 * unlink the relation's physical file and finish up.
+	 * Schedule unlinking of the relation's physical file at commit.
 	 */
 	if (rel->rd_rel->relkind != RELKIND_VIEW &&
 		rel->rd_rel->relkind != RELKIND_COMPOSITE_TYPE)
@@ -1226,9 +1192,38 @@ heap_drop_with_catalog(Oid rid)
 	relation_close(rel, NoLock);
 
 	/*
-	 * flush the relation from the relcache
+	 * Forget any ON COMMIT action for the rel
 	 */
-	RelationForgetRelation(rid);
+	remove_on_commit_action(relid);
+
+	/*
+	 * Flush the relation from the relcache.  We want to do this before
+	 * starting to remove catalog entries, just to be certain that no
+	 * relcache entry rebuild will happen partway through.  (That should
+	 * not really matter, since we don't do CommandCounterIncrement here,
+	 * but let's be safe.)
+	 */
+	RelationForgetRelation(relid);
+
+	/*
+	 * remove inheritance information
+	 */
+	RelationRemoveInheritance(relid);
+
+	/*
+	 * delete statistics
+	 */
+	RemoveStatistics(relid, 0);
+
+	/*
+	 * delete attribute tuples
+	 */
+	DeleteAttributeTuples(relid);
+
+	/*
+	 * delete relation tuple
+	 */
+	DeleteRelationTuple(relid);
 }
 
 
@@ -1884,7 +1879,7 @@ RemoveRelConstraints(Relation rel, const char *constrName,
  * for that column.
  */
 void
-RemoveStatistics(Relation rel, AttrNumber attnum)
+RemoveStatistics(Oid relid, AttrNumber attnum)
 {
 	Relation	pgstatistic;
 	SysScanDesc scan;
@@ -1897,7 +1892,7 @@ RemoveStatistics(Relation rel, AttrNumber attnum)
 	ScanKeyInit(&key[0],
 				Anum_pg_statistic_starelid,
 				BTEqualStrategyNumber, F_OIDEQ,
-				ObjectIdGetDatum(RelationGetRelid(rel)));
+				ObjectIdGetDatum(relid));
 
 	if (attnum == 0)
 		nkeys = 1;
diff --git a/src/backend/catalog/index.c b/src/backend/catalog/index.c
index 9cb3c56110..09fbca2a59 100644
--- a/src/backend/catalog/index.c
+++ b/src/backend/catalog/index.c
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
  *
  *
  * IDENTIFICATION
- *	  $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/catalog/index.c,v 1.235 2004/08/01 17:32:14 tgl Exp $
+ *	  $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/catalog/index.c,v 1.236 2004/08/28 21:05:26 tgl Exp $
  *
  *
  * INTERFACE ROUTINES
@@ -769,8 +769,6 @@ index_drop(Oid indexId)
 	HeapTuple	tuple;
 	bool		hasexprs;
 
-	Assert(OidIsValid(indexId));
-
 	/*
 	 * To drop an index safely, we must grab exclusive lock on its parent
 	 * table; otherwise there could be other backends using the index!
@@ -790,14 +788,24 @@ index_drop(Oid indexId)
 	LockRelation(userIndexRelation, AccessExclusiveLock);
 
 	/*
-	 * fix RELATION relation
+	 * flush buffer cache and schedule physical removal of the file
 	 */
-	DeleteRelationTuple(indexId);
+	FlushRelationBuffers(userIndexRelation, (BlockNumber) 0);
+
+	if (userIndexRelation->rd_smgr == NULL)
+		userIndexRelation->rd_smgr = smgropen(userIndexRelation->rd_node);
+	smgrscheduleunlink(userIndexRelation->rd_smgr,
+					   userIndexRelation->rd_istemp);
+	userIndexRelation->rd_smgr = NULL;
 
 	/*
-	 * fix ATTRIBUTE relation
+	 * Close and flush the index's relcache entry, to ensure relcache
+	 * doesn't try to rebuild it while we're deleting catalog entries.
+	 * We keep the lock though.
 	 */
-	DeleteAttributeTuples(indexId);
+	index_close(userIndexRelation);
+
+	RelationForgetRelation(indexId);
 
 	/*
 	 * fix INDEX relation, and check for expressional index
@@ -822,18 +830,17 @@ index_drop(Oid indexId)
 	 * statistics about them.
 	 */
 	if (hasexprs)
-		RemoveStatistics(userIndexRelation, 0);
+		RemoveStatistics(indexId, 0);
 
 	/*
-	 * flush buffer cache and physically remove the file
+	 * fix ATTRIBUTE relation
 	 */
-	FlushRelationBuffers(userIndexRelation, (BlockNumber) 0);
+	DeleteAttributeTuples(indexId);
 
-	if (userIndexRelation->rd_smgr == NULL)
-		userIndexRelation->rd_smgr = smgropen(userIndexRelation->rd_node);
-	smgrscheduleunlink(userIndexRelation->rd_smgr,
-					   userIndexRelation->rd_istemp);
-	userIndexRelation->rd_smgr = NULL;
+	/*
+	 * fix RELATION relation
+	 */
+	DeleteRelationTuple(indexId);
 
 	/*
 	 * We are presently too lazy to attempt to compute the new correct
@@ -846,12 +853,9 @@ index_drop(Oid indexId)
 	CacheInvalidateRelcache(userHeapRelation);
 
 	/*
-	 * Close rels, but keep locks
+	 * Close owning rel, but keep lock
 	 */
-	index_close(userIndexRelation);
 	heap_close(userHeapRelation, NoLock);
-
-	RelationForgetRelation(indexId);
 }
 
 /* ----------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/backend/commands/tablecmds.c b/src/backend/commands/tablecmds.c
index a7eac55f25..6a7a8a3017 100644
--- a/src/backend/commands/tablecmds.c
+++ b/src/backend/commands/tablecmds.c
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
  *
  *
  * IDENTIFICATION
- *	  $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/commands/tablecmds.c,v 1.126 2004/08/15 23:44:46 tgl Exp $
+ *	  $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/commands/tablecmds.c,v 1.127 2004/08/28 21:05:26 tgl Exp $
  *
  *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  */
@@ -4924,7 +4924,7 @@ ATExecAlterColumnType(AlteredTableInfo *tab, Relation rel,
 	add_column_datatype_dependency(RelationGetRelid(rel), attnum, targettype);
 
 	/* Drop any pg_statistic entry for the column, since it's now wrong type */
-	RemoveStatistics(rel, attnum);
+	RemoveStatistics(RelationGetRelid(rel), attnum);
 
 	/*
 	 * Update the default, if present, by brute force --- remove and re-add
diff --git a/src/include/catalog/heap.h b/src/include/catalog/heap.h
index 06f0f4da3a..9f9479dcb8 100644
--- a/src/include/catalog/heap.h
+++ b/src/include/catalog/heap.h
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
  * Portions Copyright (c) 1996-2003, PostgreSQL Global Development Group
  * Portions Copyright (c) 1994, Regents of the University of California
  *
- * $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/include/catalog/heap.h,v 1.68 2004/07/11 19:52:51 tgl Exp $
+ * $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/include/catalog/heap.h,v 1.69 2004/08/28 21:05:26 tgl Exp $
  *
  *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  */
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ extern Oid heap_create_with_catalog(const char *relname,
 						 OnCommitAction oncommit,
 						 bool allow_system_table_mods);
 
-extern void heap_drop_with_catalog(Oid rid);
+extern void heap_drop_with_catalog(Oid relid);
 
 extern void heap_truncate(Oid rid);
 
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ extern void RemoveAttributeById(Oid relid, AttrNumber attnum);
 extern void RemoveAttrDefault(Oid relid, AttrNumber attnum,
 				  DropBehavior behavior, bool complain);
 extern void RemoveAttrDefaultById(Oid attrdefId);
-extern void RemoveStatistics(Relation rel, AttrNumber attnum);
+extern void RemoveStatistics(Oid relid, AttrNumber attnum);
 
 extern Form_pg_attribute SystemAttributeDefinition(AttrNumber attno,
 						  bool relhasoids);