destroy() breaking on model with has_and_belongs_to_many association to join table

[mwalsher]

Upgraded from rails 4.0.0 to 4.1.5 and ran into an issue when attempting to destroy an object that has a has_and_belongs_to_many association to another join table.

The model setup is as follows:

class Group < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_and_belongs_to_many :accounts_users
end

class AccountsUser < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :account
  belongs_to :user
end

class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
end

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
end

In the console:

g = Group.first
g.destroy()

Error:

ActiveRecord::StatementInvalid: Mysql2::Error: Incorrect table name '': DELETE FROM `` WHERE `accounts_users_groups`.`group_id` = 14
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract_mysql_adapter.rb:303:in `query'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract_mysql_adapter.rb:303:in `block in execute'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract_adapter.rb:373:in `block in log'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/notifications/instrumenter.rb:20:in `instrument'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract_adapter.rb:367:in `log'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract_mysql_adapter.rb:303:in `execute'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/mysql2_adapter.rb:228:in `execute'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/mysql2_adapter.rb:254:in `exec_delete'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:106:in `delete'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/query_cache.rb:14:in `delete'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/relation.rb:449:in `delete_all'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/associations/has_many_association.rb:122:in `delete_records'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/associations/collection_association.rb:255:in `delete'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/associations/collection_association.rb:198:in `delete_all'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/associations.rb:1596:in `destroy_associations'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activerecord-4.1.5/lib/active_record/persistence.rb:153:in `destroy'
... 17 levels...
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/commands/console.rb:9:in `start'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/commands/commands_tasks.rb:69:in `console'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/commands/commands_tasks.rb:40:in `run_command!'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/railties-4.1.5/lib/rails/commands.rb:17:in `<top (required)>'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:247:in `require'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:247:in `block in require'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:232:in `load_dependency'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:247:in `require'
  from /Users/Walsh/Sites/myapp/bin/rails:8:in `<top (required)>'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:241:in `load'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:241:in `block in load'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:232:in `load_dependency'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@myapp/gems/activesupport-4.1.5/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:241:in `load'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require'
  from /Users/Walsh/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/lib/ruby/2.1.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require'

[mwalsher]

Turned out to be a problem with the attribute_normalizer gem in version 1.1. 1.2 seems to fix the issue.

[joshnabbott]

Been looking for why my app broke for hours now. You have saved me. Thank you!