Oracle Error ORA-39269: Cannot alter a column of type LONG to anything other than LOB.

Oracle Error Message

ORA-39269: Cannot alter a column of type LONG to anything other than LOB.

Reason for the Error

DBMS_METADATA_DIFF was comparing two table columns, the first of type LONG, the second of a data type other than LOB. There is no SQL ALTER statement to modify a long data type to anything other than a CLOB or NCLOB.

Solution

The difference cannot be eliminated with an SQL ALTER statement.