diff --git a/src/backend/catalog/heap.c b/src/backend/catalog/heap.c
index 5e773740f4..de982c2c52 100644
--- a/src/backend/catalog/heap.c
+++ b/src/backend/catalog/heap.c
@@ -684,10 +684,11 @@ CheckAttributeType(const char *attname,
  *		Construct and insert a set of tuples in pg_attribute.
  *
  * Caller has already opened and locked pg_attribute.  tupdesc contains the
- * attributes to insert.  attcacheoff is always initialized to -1.  attoptions
- * supplies the values for the attoptions fields and must contain the same
- * number of elements as tupdesc or be NULL.  The other variable-length fields
- * of pg_attribute are always initialized to null values.
+ * attributes to insert.  attcacheoff is always initialized to -1.
+ * tupdesc_extra supplies the values for certain variable-length/nullable
+ * pg_attribute fields and must contain the same number of elements as tupdesc
+ * or be NULL.  The other variable-length fields of pg_attribute are always
+ * initialized to null values.
  *
  * indstate is the index state for CatalogTupleInsertWithInfo.  It can be
  * passed as NULL, in which case we'll fetch the necessary info.  (Don't do
@@ -701,7 +702,7 @@ void
 InsertPgAttributeTuples(Relation pg_attribute_rel,
 						TupleDesc tupdesc,
 						Oid new_rel_oid,
-						const Datum *attoptions,
+						const FormExtraData_pg_attribute tupdesc_extra[],
 						CatalogIndexState indstate)
 {
 	TupleTableSlot **slot;
@@ -723,6 +724,7 @@ InsertPgAttributeTuples(Relation pg_attribute_rel,
 	while (natts < tupdesc->natts)
 	{
 		Form_pg_attribute attrs = TupleDescAttr(tupdesc, natts);
+		const FormExtraData_pg_attribute *attrs_extra = tupdesc_extra ? &tupdesc_extra[natts] : NULL;
 
 		ExecClearTuple(slot[slotCount]);
 
@@ -754,10 +756,15 @@ InsertPgAttributeTuples(Relation pg_attribute_rel,
 		slot[slotCount]->tts_values[Anum_pg_attribute_attislocal - 1] = BoolGetDatum(attrs->attislocal);
 		slot[slotCount]->tts_values[Anum_pg_attribute_attinhcount - 1] = Int16GetDatum(attrs->attinhcount);
 		slot[slotCount]->tts_values[Anum_pg_attribute_attcollation - 1] = ObjectIdGetDatum(attrs->attcollation);
-		if (attoptions && attoptions[natts] != (Datum) 0)
-			slot[slotCount]->tts_values[Anum_pg_attribute_attoptions - 1] = attoptions[natts];
+		if (attrs_extra)
+		{
+			slot[slotCount]->tts_values[Anum_pg_attribute_attoptions - 1] = attrs_extra->attoptions.value;
+			slot[slotCount]->tts_isnull[Anum_pg_attribute_attoptions - 1] = attrs_extra->attoptions.isnull;
+		}
 		else
+		{
 			slot[slotCount]->tts_isnull[Anum_pg_attribute_attoptions - 1] = true;
+		}
 
 		/*
 		 * The remaining fields are not set for new columns.
diff --git a/src/backend/catalog/index.c b/src/backend/catalog/index.c
index e6140853c0..7e428f3eb7 100644
--- a/src/backend/catalog/index.c
+++ b/src/backend/catalog/index.c
@@ -512,6 +512,20 @@ AppendAttributeTuples(Relation indexRelation, const Datum *attopts)
 	Relation	pg_attribute;
 	CatalogIndexState indstate;
 	TupleDesc	indexTupDesc;
+	FormExtraData_pg_attribute *attrs_extra = NULL;
+
+	if (attopts)
+	{
+		attrs_extra = palloc0_array(FormExtraData_pg_attribute, indexRelation->rd_att->natts);
+
+		for (int i = 0; i < indexRelation->rd_att->natts; i++)
+		{
+			if (attopts[i])
+				attrs_extra[i].attoptions.value = attopts[i];
+			else
+				attrs_extra[i].attoptions.isnull = true;
+		}
+	}
 
 	/*
 	 * open the attribute relation and its indexes
@@ -525,7 +539,7 @@ AppendAttributeTuples(Relation indexRelation, const Datum *attopts)
 	 */
 	indexTupDesc = RelationGetDescr(indexRelation);
 
-	InsertPgAttributeTuples(pg_attribute, indexTupDesc, InvalidOid, attopts, indstate);
+	InsertPgAttributeTuples(pg_attribute, indexTupDesc, InvalidOid, attrs_extra, indstate);
 
 	CatalogCloseIndexes(indstate);
 
diff --git a/src/include/catalog/heap.h b/src/include/catalog/heap.h
index 1d7f8380d9..21e31f9c97 100644
--- a/src/include/catalog/heap.h
+++ b/src/include/catalog/heap.h
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ extern List *heap_truncate_find_FKs(List *relationIds);
 extern void InsertPgAttributeTuples(Relation pg_attribute_rel,
 									TupleDesc tupdesc,
 									Oid new_rel_oid,
-									const Datum *attoptions,
+									const FormExtraData_pg_attribute tupdesc_extra[],
 									CatalogIndexState indstate);
 
 extern void InsertPgClassTuple(Relation pg_class_desc,
diff --git a/src/include/catalog/pg_attribute.h b/src/include/catalog/pg_attribute.h
index 9f2706c4e8..1cc7a848f0 100644
--- a/src/include/catalog/pg_attribute.h
+++ b/src/include/catalog/pg_attribute.h
@@ -208,6 +208,19 @@ CATALOG(pg_attribute,1249,AttributeRelationId) BKI_BOOTSTRAP BKI_ROWTYPE_OID(75,
  */
 typedef FormData_pg_attribute *Form_pg_attribute;
 
+/*
+ * FormExtraData_pg_attribute contains (some of) the fields that are not in
+ * FormData_pg_attribute because they are excluded by CATALOG_VARLEN.  It is
+ * meant to be used by DDL code so that the combination of
+ * FormData_pg_attribute (often via tuple descriptor) and
+ * FormExtraData_pg_attribute can be used to pass around all the information
+ * about an attribute.  Fields can be included here as needed.
+ */
+typedef struct FormExtraData_pg_attribute
+{
+	NullableDatum attoptions;
+} FormExtraData_pg_attribute;
+
 DECLARE_UNIQUE_INDEX(pg_attribute_relid_attnam_index, 2658, AttributeRelidNameIndexId, pg_attribute, btree(attrelid oid_ops, attname name_ops));
 DECLARE_UNIQUE_INDEX_PKEY(pg_attribute_relid_attnum_index, 2659, AttributeRelidNumIndexId, pg_attribute, btree(attrelid oid_ops, attnum int2_ops));
 
diff --git a/src/tools/pgindent/typedefs.list b/src/tools/pgindent/typedefs.list
index aa7a25b8f8..9ba7a9a56c 100644
--- a/src/tools/pgindent/typedefs.list
+++ b/src/tools/pgindent/typedefs.list
@@ -850,6 +850,7 @@ FormData_pg_ts_parser
 FormData_pg_ts_template
 FormData_pg_type
 FormData_pg_user_mapping
+FormExtraData_pg_attribute
 Form_pg_aggregate
 Form_pg_am
 Form_pg_amop