Migrations: table rename throws an exception

[dpihac]

I have created new migration which produced following code.
Table is to be renamed from Image to Images.

  public partial class ImagesRename : Migration
  {
      protected override void Up(MigrationBuilder migrationBuilder)
      {
          migrationBuilder.DropForeignKey(
              name: "FK_Image_Items_OwnerId",
              table: "Image");

          migrationBuilder.DropPrimaryKey(
              name: "PK_Image",
              table: "Image");

          migrationBuilder.RenameTable(
              name: "Image",
              newName: "Images");

          migrationBuilder.RenameIndex(
              name: "IX_Image_OwnerId",
              table: "Images",
              newName: "IX_Images_OwnerId");

          migrationBuilder.AddPrimaryKey(
              name: "PK_Images",
              table: "Images",
              column: "Id");

          migrationBuilder.AddForeignKey(
              name: "FK_Images_Items_OwnerId",
              table: "Images",
              column: "OwnerId",
              principalTable: "Items",
              principalColumn: "Id",
              onDelete: ReferentialAction.Restrict);
      }
 }

After running update-database, following exception was thrown:

Applying migration '20210217173637_ImagesRename'.
Failed executing DbCommand (107ms) [Parameters=[], CommandType='Text', CommandTimeout='30']
EXEC sp_rename N'[Image]', N'Images';
Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): This action cannot be performed on a system type.
   at Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection, Action`1 wrapCloseInAction) in H:\tsaagent1\_work\21\s\src\Microsoft.Data.SqlClient\netcore\src\Microsoft\Data\SqlClient\SqlConnection.cs:line 1777
   at Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection, Action`1 wrapCloseInAction) in H:\tsaagent1\_work\21\s\src\Microsoft.Data.SqlClient\netcore\src\Microsoft\Data\SqlClient\SqlInternalConnection.cs:line 606
   at Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean callerHasConnectionLock, Boolean asyncClose) in H:\tsaagent1\_work\21\s\src\Microsoft.Data.SqlClient\netcore\src\Microsoft\Data\SqlClient\TdsParser.cs:line 1302
   at Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.TryRun(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean& dataReady) in H:\tsaagent1\_work\21\s\src\Microsoft.Data.SqlClient\netcore\src\Microsoft\Data\SqlClient\TdsParser.cs:line 2523
   at Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteNonQueryTds(String methodName, Boolean isAsync, Int32 timeout, Boolean asyncWrite) in H:\tsaagent1\_work\21\s\src\Microsoft.Data.SqlClient\netcore\src\Microsoft\Data\SqlClient\SqlCommand.cs:line 3043
   at Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.InternalExecuteNonQuery(TaskCompletionSource`1 completion, Boolean sendToPipe, Int32 timeout, Boolean& usedCache, Boolean asyncWrite, Boolean inRetry, String methodName) in H:\tsaagent1\_work\21\s\src\Microsoft.Data.SqlClient\netcore\src\Microsoft\Data\SqlClient\SqlCommand.cs:line 1483
   at Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteNonQuery() in H:\tsaagent1\_work\21\s\src\Microsoft.Data.SqlClient\netcore\src\Microsoft\Data\SqlClient\SqlCommand.cs:line 1040
   at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Storage.RelationalCommand.ExecuteNonQuery(RelationalCommandParameterObject parameterObject)
   at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Migrations.MigrationCommand.ExecuteNonQuery(IRelationalConnection connection, IReadOnlyDictionary`2 parameterValues)
   at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Migrations.Internal.MigrationCommandExecutor.ExecuteNonQuery(IEnumerable`1 migrationCommands, IRelationalConnection connection)
   at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Migrations.Internal.Migrator.Migrate(String targetMigration)
   at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design.Internal.MigrationsOperations.UpdateDatabase(String targetMigration, String connectionString, String contextType)
   at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design.OperationExecutor.UpdateDatabaseImpl(String targetMigration, String connectionString, String contextType)
   at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design.OperationExecutor.UpdateDatabase.<>c__DisplayClass0_0.<.ctor>b__0()
   at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design.OperationExecutor.OperationBase.Execute(Action action)
ClientConnectionId:b8cf77b7-9335-4dc2-84d3-bdd08c329f5d
Error Number:4185,State:1,Class:16
This action cannot be performed on a system type.

I tried to run the T-SQL on the target DB to make sure

EXEC sp_rename N'[Image]', N'Images';

Following error was reported back:

Msg 4185, Level 16, State 1, Procedure sp_rename, Line 186 [Batch Start Line 0]
This action cannot be performed on a system type.

Completion time: 2021-02-17T18:41:26.4619026+01:00

Workaround

Following T-SQL code is workaround:

EXEC sp_rename 'Database.Schema.TableName', 'NewTableName';

I have run EXEC sp_rename 'dbo.Image', 'Images'; which successfully renamed the table.

Another solution would be to manually edit migration and add explicit schema to the migration:

migrationBuilder.RenameTable(
    name: "Image", 
    schema: "dbo",
    newName: "Images", 
    newSchema: "dbo");

Provider and version information

EF Core version: 5.0.3
Database provider: Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer
Target framework: .NET 5
Operating system: Windows 10
IDE: Visual Studio 2019 18.6.5

[bricelam]

Good bug. We should add special handing for tables with names that match system types.