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)