Why are not ROWIDs updated after VACUUM when using python sqlite3 module?

Question

I'm working on an app that employs the python sqlite3 module. My database makes use of the implicit ROWID column provided by sqlite3. I expected that the ROWIDs be reordered after I delete some rows and vacuum the database. Because in the sqlite3 official document:

The VACUUM command may change the ROWIDs of entries in any tables that do not have an explicit INTEGER PRIMARY KEY.

My pysqlite version is 2.6.0 and the sqlite version is 3.5.9. Can anybody tell me why it is not working? Anything I should take care when using vacuum?

P.S. I have a standalone sqlite installed whose version is 3.3.6. I tested the vacuum statement in it, and the ROWIDs got updated. So could the culprit be the version? Or could it be a bug of pysqlite?

Thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions!

Answer 1

This behaviour is version dependent.

If you want a guaranteed reordering, you have to copy all records into a new table yourself. (This works with both implicit and explicit ROWIDs.)