disable_referential_integrity does not work with PostGIS tables

Start with lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql/referential_integrity.rb and compare its table handling with the exclusions in spec/support/database_cleaner.rb. Run bundle exec rspec to reproduce the PostgreSQL privilege error. Done means excluded tables such as spatial_ref_sys are not included in the referential-integrity operation and the test suite can run without superuser ownership.

We use the PostGIS extension and the rgeo AR gem. We use truncation for our js tests as well as our before(:suite) strategy.

The problem is that the PostGIS extension creates a table spatial_ref_sys that is owned by the user who installs the extension (namely, a super user).

Running bundle exec rspec fails with the following error:

/Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/activerecord-4.2.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql/database_statements.rb:155:in `async_exec': PG::InsufficientPrivilege: ERROR:  must be owner of relation spatial_ref_sys (ActiveRecord::StatementInvalid)
: ALTER TABLE "spatial_ref_sys" ENABLE TRIGGER USER;ALTER TABLE "filtered_tracked_points" ENABLE TRIGGER USER;ALTER TABLE "processed_tracked_points" ENABLE TRIGGER USER;ALTER TABLE "raw_tracked_points" ENABLE TRIGGER USER;ALTER TABLE "resource_intersections" ENABLE TRIGGER USER;ALTER TABLE "schema_migrations" ENABLE TRIGGER USER;ALTER TABLE "users" ENABLE TRIGGER USER;ALTER TABLE "feature_types" ENABLE TRIGGER USER;ALTER TABLE "features" ENABLE TRIGGER USER
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/activerecord-4.2.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql/database_statements.rb:155:in `block in execute'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/activerecord-4.2.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract_adapter.rb:473:in `block in log'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/activesupport-4.2.1/lib/active_support/notifications/instrumenter.rb:20:in `instrument'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/activerecord-4.2.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract_adapter.rb:467:in `log'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/activerecord-4.2.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql/database_statements.rb:154:in `execute'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/activerecord-4.2.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql/referential_integrity.rb:23:in `rescue in ensure in disable_referential_integrity'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/activerecord-4.2.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql/referential_integrity.rb:20:in `ensure in disable_referential_integrity'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/activerecord-4.2.1/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql/referential_integrity.rb:20:in `disable_referential_integrity'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/database_cleaner-1.4.1/lib/database_cleaner/active_record/truncation.rb:235:in `clean'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/database_cleaner-1.4.1/lib/database_cleaner/base.rb:40:in `clean_with'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/database_cleaner-1.4.1/lib/database_cleaner/configuration.rb:91:in `block in clean_with'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/database_cleaner-1.4.1/lib/database_cleaner/configuration.rb:91:in `each'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/database_cleaner-1.4.1/lib/database_cleaner/configuration.rb:91:in `clean_with'
    from /Users/<user>/Development/<company>/<project>/spec/support/database_cleaner.rb:3:in `block (2 levels) in <top (required)>'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/rspec-core-3.2.3/lib/rspec/core/example.rb:333:in `instance_exec'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/rspec-core-3.2.3/lib/rspec/core/example.rb:333:in `instance_exec'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/rspec-core-3.2.3/lib/rspec/core/hooks.rb:357:in `run'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/rspec-core-3.2.3/lib/rspec/core/configuration.rb:1559:in `block in run_hooks_with'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/rspec-core-3.2.3/lib/rspec/core/configuration.rb:1559:in `each'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/rspec-core-3.2.3/lib/rspec/core/configuration.rb:1559:in `run_hooks_with'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/rspec-core-3.2.3/lib/rspec/core/configuration.rb:1525:in `with_suite_hooks'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/rspec-core-3.2.3/lib/rspec/core/runner.rb:109:in `block in run_specs'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/rspec-core-3.2.3/lib/rspec/core/reporter.rb:62:in `report'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/rspec-core-3.2.3/lib/rspec/core/runner.rb:108:in `run_specs'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/rspec-core-3.2.3/lib/rspec/core/runner.rb:86:in `run'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/rspec-core-3.2.3/lib/rspec/core/runner.rb:70:in `run'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/rspec-core-3.2.3/lib/rspec/core/runner.rb:38:in `invoke'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/gems/rspec-core-3.2.3/exe/rspec:4:in `<top (required)>'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/bin/rspec:23:in `load'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/bin/rspec:23:in `<main>'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/bin/ruby_executable_hooks:15:in `eval'
    from /Users/<user>/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.0@<project>/bin/ruby_executable_hooks:15:in `<main>'

The error comes from the call to disable_referential_integrity because it calls all tables, ignoring any tables that might have been excluded via the truncation options.

Our database_cleaner.rb file:

RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.before(:suite) do
    DatabaseCleaner.clean_with(:truncation, {except: %w[spatial_ref_sys]})
  end

  config.before(:each) do
    DatabaseCleaner.strategy = :transaction
  end

  config.before(:each, :js => true) do
    DatabaseCleaner.strategy = :truncation, {except: %w[spatial_ref_sys]}
  end

  config.before(:each) do
    DatabaseCleaner.start
  end

  config.append_after(:each) do
    DatabaseCleaner.clean
  end
end

One workaround is to execute the tests as a db super user. Another would be to change the ownership of the spatial_ref_system table. Neither of these are very desirable.

Is there a way to skip tables in the disable_referential_integrity call?