NAME

       db5.3_dump - Write database to flat-text format

SYNOPSIS

       db5.3_dump [-klNpRrV] [-d ahr] [-f output] [-h home] [-P password] [-s database] file

DESCRIPTION

       The  db5.3_dump  utility reads the database file file and writes it to the standard output
       using a portable flat-text format understood by the db5.3_load utility.  The file argument
       must be a file produced using the Berkeley DB library functions.

OPTIONS

       -d     Dump  the  specified  database  in  a  format helpful for debugging the Berkeley DB
              library routines.

              a      Display all information.

              h      Display only page headers.

              r      Do not display the free-list or pages on the free list.  This mode  is  used
                     by the recovery tests.

              The  output format of the -d option is not standard and may change, without notice,
              between releases of the Berkeley DB library.

       -f     Write to the specified file instead of to the standard output.

       -h     Specify a home directory for the database  environment;  by  default,  the  current
              working directory is used.

       -k     Dump record numbers from Queue and Recno databases as keys.

       -l     List the databases stored in the file.

       -N     Do  not  acquire  shared  region  mutexes  while  running.  Other problems, such as
              potentially fatal errors in Berkeley DB, will be ignored as well.  This  option  is
              intended  only  for  debugging  errors,  and  should  not  be  used under any other
              circumstances.

       -P     Specify an environment password.  Although Berkeley DB utilities overwrite password
              strings  as  soon  as  possible, be aware there may be a window of vulnerability on
              systems where unprivileged users can see command-line arguments or where  utilities
              are not able to overwrite the memory containing the command-line arguments.

       -p     If  characters  in either the key or data items are printing characters (as defined
              by isprint(3)), use printing characters in file to  represent  them.   This  option
              permits  users  to  use  standard  text editors and tools to modify the contents of
              databases.

              Note: different systems may  have  different  notions  about  what  characters  are
              considered  printing  characters,  and  databases dumped in this manner may be less
              portable to external systems.

       -R     Aggressively salvage data from a possibly corrupt file.  The -R flag  differs  from
              the -r option in that it will return all possible data from the file at the risk of
              also returning already deleted or otherwise nonsensical items.  Data dumped in this
              fashion  will  almost certainly have to be edited by hand or other means before the
              data is ready for reload into another database

       -r     Salvage data from a possibly corrupt file.  When used on  a  uncorrupted  database,
              this  option  should  return equivalent data to a normal dump, but most likely in a
              different order.

       -s     Specify a single database to dump.  If no database is specified, all  databases  in
              the database file are dumped.

       -V     Write the library version number to the standard output, and exit.

       Dumping  and  reloading Hash databases that use user-defined hash functions will result in
       new databases that use the  default  hash  function.   Although  using  the  default  hash
       function may not be optimal for the new database, it will continue to work correctly.

       Dumping and reloading Btree databases that use user-defined prefix or comparison functions
       will result in new databases that use the default prefix  and  comparison  functions.   In
       this  case,  it is quite likely that the database will be damaged beyond repair permitting
       neither record storage or retrieval.

       The only available workaround for either case is to modify the sources for the  db5.3_load
       utility to load the database using the correct hash, prefix, and comparison functions.

       The  db5.3_dump  utility output format is documented in the Dump Output Formats section of
       the Berkeley DB Reference Guide.

       The db5.3_dump utility may be used with a Berkeley DB environment (as described for the -h
       option,  the  environment  variable DB_HOME, or because the utility was run in a directory
       containing a Berkeley DB environment).  In order  to  avoid  environment  corruption  when
       using  a  Berkeley  DB environment, db5.3_dump should always be given the chance to detach
       from the environment and exit gracefully.  To cause db5.3_dump to release all  environment
       resources and exit cleanly, send it an interrupt signal (SIGINT).

       Even  when  using  a Berkeley DB database environment, the db5.3_dump utility does not use
       any kind of database locking if it is invoked with the -d, -R, or -r arguments.   If  used
       with  one  of  these arguments, the db5.3_dump utility may only be safely run on databases
       that are not being modified by any other process; otherwise, the output may be corrupt.

       The db5.3_dump utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

ENVIRONMENT

       DB_HOME
              If the -h option is not specified and the environment variable DB_HOME is  set,  it
              is used as the path of the database home, as described in DB_ENV->open.

AUTHORS

       Sleepycat  Software, Inc. This manual page was created based on the HTML documentation for
       db_dump from Sleepycat, by Thijs Kinkhorst <thijs@kinkhorst.com>, for  the  Debian  system
       (but may be used by others).

                                         28 January 2005                            DB5.3_DUMP(1)