How can I remove a unique constraint from a database column in Rails?

You must remove your index with:

remove_index :profile_pictures, :picture_id

and add it again with:

add_index :profile_pictures, :picture_id

ActiveRecord::Migration

add_index :profile_pictures, :picture_id, unique: true

So update your index to:

  remove_index :profile_pictures, :picture_id
  add_index :profile_pictures, :picture_id

I'm guessing this is it.

There is a problem with the accepted answer: Rollbacks don't work correctly as the unique index is not restored.

You could try this instead:

reversible do |dir|
  dir.up do
    remove_index :profile_pictures, :picture_id
    add_index :profile_pictures, :picture_id
  end

  dir.down do
    remove_index :profile_pictures, :picture_id
    add_index :profile_pictures, :picture_id, unique: true
  end
end