Thank you, yes! And in fact, had I read http://wiki.dwscoalition.org/notes/Beginning_dev_checklist more carefully, I might have noticed http://wiki.dwscoalition.org/notes/Dev_Finding_Things , and specifically http://wiki.dwscoalition.org/notes/Dev_Finding_Things#Managing_the_database_schema , which does mention the register_alter script I need.