DB2 Version 9.7 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows

Public aliases simplify global object referencing

Referencing objects outside the current schema has been globalized in Version 9.7 by the use of public aliases, which are also known as public synonyms. Also, support for aliases (sometimes referred to as private aliases) within a schema has been extended.

Prior to this release, you could define aliases for another alias, a nickname, a table, or a view. You can now also define aliases for modules and sequences.

You can define public aliases for all of the objects that you can define private aliases for, namely, another alias (private or public), a nickname, a module, a sequence, a table, or a view. A public alias is implicitly qualified with SYSPUBLIC, and these aliases can be referenced using an unqualified or a qualified name by any authorization ID.

The benefits of public aliases are as follows:

An object can be referenced independent of the current SQL path or CURRENT SCHEMA setting by its simpler, one-part name.
You can use a single DDL statement to expose an object to all users of a database, which reduces the amount of typing needed.

You can use the public_alias.db2 sample program to learn how to use this feature.