[postgresql] Extension exists but uuid_generate_v4 fails

At amazon ec2 RDS Postgresql:

=> SHOW rds.extensions;

rds.extensions                                                                                                                                 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 btree_gin,btree_gist,chkpass,citext,cube,dblink,dict_int,dict_xsyn,earthdistance,fuzzystrmatch,hstore,intagg,intarray,isn,ltree,pgcrypto,pgrowlocks,pg_trgm,plperl,plpgsql,pltcl,postgis,postgis_tiger_geocoder,postgis_topology,sslinfo,tablefunc,tsearch2,unaccent,uuid-ossp
(1 row)

As you can see, uuid-ossp extension does exist. However, when I'm calling the function for generation uuid_v4, it fails:

CREATE TABLE my_table (
    id uuid DEFAULT uuid_generate_v4() NOT NULL,
    name character varying(32) NOT NULL,

);

What's wrong with this?

If the extension is already there but you don't see the uuid_generate_v4() function when you do a describe functions \df command then all you need to do is drop the extension and re-add it so that the functions are also added. Here is the issue replication:

db=# \df
                       List of functions
 Schema | Name | Result data type | Argument data types | Type
--------+------+------------------+---------------------+------
(0 rows)
CREATE EXTENSION "uuid-ossp";
ERROR:  extension "uuid-ossp" already exists
DROP EXTENSION "uuid-ossp";
CREATE EXTENSION "uuid-ossp";
db=# \df
                                  List of functions
 Schema |        Name        | Result data type |    Argument data types    |  Type
--------+--------------------+------------------+---------------------------+--------
 public | uuid_generate_v1   | uuid             |                           | normal
 public | uuid_generate_v1mc | uuid             |                           | normal
 public | uuid_generate_v3   | uuid             | namespace uuid, name text | normal
 public | uuid_generate_v4   | uuid             |                           | normal

db=# select uuid_generate_v4();
           uuid_generate_v4
--------------------------------------
 b19d597c-8f54-41ba-ba73-02299c1adf92
(1 row)

What probably happened is that the extension was originally added to the cluster at some point in the past and then you probably created a new database within that cluster afterward. If that was the case then the new database will only be "aware" of the extension but it will not have the uuid functions added which happens when you add the extension. Therefore you must re-add it.

If you've changed the search_path, specify the public schema in the function call:

public.uuid_generate_v4()

Looks like the extension is not installed in the particular database you require it.

You should connect to this particular database with

 \CONNECT my_database

Then install the extension in this database

 CREATE EXTENSION "uuid-ossp";

This worked for me.

create extension IF NOT EXISTS "uuid-ossp" schema pg_catalog version "1.1"; 

make sure the extension should by on pg_catalog and not in your schema...

if you do it from unix command (apart from PGAdmin) dont forget to pass the DB as a parameter. otherwise this extension will not be enabled when executing requests on this DB

psql -d -c "create EXTENSION pgcrypto;"

#1 Re-install uuid-ossp extention in an exact schema:

SET search_path TO public;
DROP EXTENSION IF EXISTS "uuid-ossp";

CREATE EXTENSION "uuid-ossp" SCHEMA public;

If this is a fresh installation you can skip SET and DROP. Credits to @atomCode (details)

After this, you should see uuid_generate_v4() function IN THE RIGHT SCHEMA (when execute \df query in psql command-line prompt).

#2 Use fully-qualified names (with schemaname. qualifier):

CREATE TABLE public.my_table (
    id uuid DEFAULT public.uuid_generate_v4() NOT NULL,