Command line tools

The python-pure-cdb package contains Python implementations of the cdbmake and cdbdump programs.

python-pure-cdbmake should be able to create databases that are compatible with other implementations, including the standard one. It can also create “64-bit” databases that don’t have the usual 4 GiB restriction.

Similarly, python-pure-cdbdump should be able to read databases produced by other implementations, including the standard one. It can also read the “64-bit” databases produced by this package.

python-pure-cdbmake

This utility creates a database file from text records using the following format:

+klen,dlen:key->data
Where:

  • klen is the length of key (in bytes)

  • dlen is the length of data (in bytes)

  • key can be any string of characters

  • data can be any string of characters

Each record must end with a newline character. For example:

+1,2:a->bb
+2,1:aa->b

python-pure-cdbmake reads these records from stdin. When invoking the utility, you have to specify two file paths:

  • The first (cdb) is the ultimate location of the database.

  • The second (cdb.tm) is a temporary location to use when creating the database. It will be moved to the ultimate location after completion.

$ <records_file.txt python-pure-cdbmake ~/records_db.cdb /tmp/records_db.tmp

Use the -64 switch to enable “64-bit” mode, which can write larger database files at the expense of compatibility with other cdb packages.

python-pure-cdbdump

This utility creates a text export of the contents of a database file.

The output format is the same as the one used by python-pure-cdbmake for input - see above.

python-pure-cdbdump reads the database from stdin and prints to stdout.

$ <~records_db.cdb python-pure-cdbdump
+1,2:a->bb
+2,1:aa->b

Use the -64 switch to read databases created by this package using “64-bit” mode.