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DBOPEN(3)                BSD Library Functions Manual                DBOPEN(3)

NAME
     dbopen, db -- database access methods

SYNOPSIS
     #include <sys/types.h>
     #include <limits.h>
     #include <db.h>
     #include <fcntl.h>

     DB *
     dbopen(const char *file, int flags, mode_t mode, DBTYPE type,
         const void *openinfo);

DESCRIPTION
     dbopen is the library interface to database files.  The supported file
     formats are btree, hashed, and UNIX file oriented.  The btree format is a
     representation of a sorted, balanced tree structure.  The hashed format
     is an extensible, dynamic hashing scheme.  The flat-file format is a byte
     stream file with fixed or variable length records.  The formats and file
     format specific information are described in detail in their respective
     manual pages btree(3), hash(3), and recno(3).

     The dbopen() function opens file for reading and/or writing.  Files never
     intended to be preserved on disk may be created by setting the file
     parameter to NULL.

     The flags and mode arguments are as specified to the open(2) routine,
     however, only the O_CREAT, O_EXCL, O_EXLOCK, O_NONBLOCK, O_RDONLY,
     O_RDWR, O_SHLOCK, and O_TRUNC flags are meaningful.  (Note, opening a
     database file O_WRONLY is not possible.)

     The type argument is of type DBTYPE (as defined in the <db.h> include
     file) and may be set to DB_BTREE, DB_HASH, or DB_RECNO.

     The openinfo argument is a pointer to an access method specific structure
     described in the access method's manual page.  If openinfo is NULL, each
     access method will use defaults appropriate for the system and the access
     method.

   The DB Structure
     The dbopen() function returns a pointer to a DB structure on success and
     NULL on error.  The DB structure is defined in the <db.h> include file,
     and contains at least the following fields:

           typedef struct {
                   DBTYPE type;
                   int (*close)(const DB *db);
                   int (*del)(const DB *db, const DBT *key, u_int flags);
                   int (*fd)(const DB *db);
                   int (*get)(const DB *db, DBT *key, DBT *data, u_int flags);
                   int (*put)(const DB *db, DBT *key, const DBT *data,
                       u_int flags);
                   int (*sync)(const DB *db, u_int flags);
                   int (*seq)(const DB *db, DBT *key, DBT *data, u_int flags);
           } DB;

     These elements describe a database type and a set of functions performing
     various actions.  These functions take a pointer to a structure as
     returned by dbopen, and sometimes one or more pointers to key/data
     structures and a flag value.

           type    The type of the underlying access method (and file format).

           close   A pointer to a routine to flush any cached information to
                   disk, free any allocated resources, and close the
                   underlying file(s).  Since key/data pairs may be cached in
                   memory, failing to sync the file with a close or sync
                   function may result in inconsistent or lost information.
                   close routines return -1 on error (setting errno) and 0 on
                   success.

           del     A pointer to a routine to remove key/data pairs from the
                   database.

                   The parameter flag may be set to the following value:

                   R_CURSOR   Delete the record referenced by the cursor.  The
                              cursor must have previously been initialized.

                   delete routines return -1 on error (setting errno), 0 on
                   success, and 1 if the specified key was not in the file.

           fd      A pointer to a routine which returns a file descriptor
                   representative of the underlying database.  A file
                   descriptor referencing the same file will be returned to
                   all processes which call dbopen with the same file name.
                   This file descriptor may be safely used as an argument to
                   the fcntl(2) and flock(2) locking functions.  The file
                   descriptor is not necessarily associated with any of the
                   underlying files used by the access method.  No file
                   descriptor is available for in memory databases.  fd
                   routines return -1 on error (setting errno), and the file
                   descriptor on success.

           get     A pointer to a routine which is the interface for keyed
                   retrieval from the database.  The address and length of the
                   data associated with the specified key are returned in the
                   structure referenced by data.  get routines return -1 on
                   error (setting errno), 0 on success, and 1 if the key was
                   not in the file.

           put     A pointer to a routine to store key/data pairs in the
                   database.

                   The parameter flag may be set to one of the following
                   values:

                   R_CURSOR        Replace the key/data pair referenced by the
                                   cursor.  The cursor must have previously
                                   been initialized.

                   R_IAFTER        Append the data immediately after the data
                                   referenced by key, creating a new key/data
                                   pair.  The record number of the appended
                                   key/data pair is returned in the key
                                   structure.  (Applicable only to the
                                   DB_RECNO access method.)

                   R_IBEFORE       Insert the data immediately before the data
                                   referenced by key, creating a new key/data
                                   pair.  The record number of the inserted
                                   key/data pair is returned in the key
                                   structure.  (Applicable only to the
                                   DB_RECNO access method.)

                   R_NOOVERWRITE   Enter the new key/data pair only if the key
                                   does not previously exist.

                   R_SETCURSOR     Store the key/data pair, setting or
                                   initializing the position of the cursor to
                                   reference it.  (Applicable only to the
                                   DB_BTREE and DB_RECNO access methods.)

                   R_SETCURSOR is available only for the DB_BTREE and DB_RECNO
                   access methods because it implies that the keys have an
                   inherent order which does not change.

                   R_IAFTER and R_IBEFORE are available only for the DB_RECNO
                   access method because they each imply that the access
                   method is able to create new keys.  This is only true if
                   the keys are ordered and independent, record numbers for
                   example.

                   The default behavior of the put routines is to enter the
                   new key/data pair, replacing any previously existing key.

                   put routines return -1 on error (setting errno), 0 on
                   success, and 1 if the R_NOOVERWRITE flag was set and the
                   key already exists in the file.

           seq     A pointer to a routine which is the interface for
                   sequential retrieval from the database.  The address and
                   length of the key are returned in the structure referenced
                   by key, and the address and length of the data are returned
                   in the structure referenced by data.

                   Sequential key/data pair retrieval may begin at any time,
                   and the position of the "cursor" is not affected by calls
                   to the del, get, put, or sync routines.  Modifications to
                   the database during a sequential scan will be reflected in
                   the scan, i.e., records inserted behind the cursor will not
                   be returned while records inserted in front of the cursor
                   will be returned.

                   The flag value must be set to one of the following values:

                   R_CURSOR   The data associated with the specified key is
                              returned.  This differs from the get routines in
                              that it sets or initializes the cursor to the
                              location of the key as well.  (Note, for the
                              DB_BTREE access method, the returned key is not
                              necessarily an exact match for the specified
                              key.  The returned key is the smallest key
                              greater than or equal to the specified key,
                              permitting partial key matches and range
                              searches.)

                   R_FIRST    The first key/data pair of the database is
                              returned, and the cursor is set or initialized
                              to reference it.

                   R_LAST     The last key/data pair of the database is
                              returned, and the cursor is set or initialized
                              to reference it.  (Applicable only to the
                              DB_BTREE and DB_RECNO access methods.)

                   R_NEXT     Retrieve the key/data pair immediately after the
                              cursor.  If the cursor is not yet set, this is
                              the same as the R_FIRST flag.

                   R_PREV     Retrieve the key/data pair immediately before
                              the cursor.  If the cursor is not yet set, this
                              is the same as the R_LAST flag.  (Applicable
                              only to the DB_BTREE and DB_RECNO access
                              methods.)

                   R_LAST and R_PREV are available only for the DB_BTREE and
                   DB_RECNO access methods because they each imply that the
                   keys have an inherent order which does not change.

                   seq routines return -1 on error (setting errno), 0 on
                   success and 1 if there are no key/data pairs less than or
                   greater than the specified or current key.  If the DB_RECNO
                   access method is being used, and if the database file is a
                   character special file and no complete key/data pairs are
                   currently available, the seq routines return 2.

           sync    A pointer to a routine to flush any cached information to
                   disk.  If the database is in memory only, the sync routine
                   has no effect and will always succeed.

                   The flag value may be set to the following value:

                   R_RECNOSYNC  If the DB_RECNO access method is being used,
                                this flag causes the sync routine to apply to
                                the btree file which underlies the recno file,
                                not the recno file itself.  (See the bfname
                                field of the recno(3) manual page for more
                                information.)

                   sync routines return -1 on error (setting errno) and 0 on
                   success.

   Key/data Pairs
     Access to all file types is based on key/data pairs.  Both keys and data
     are represented by the following data structure:

           typedef struct {
                   void *data;
                   size_t size;
           } DBT;

     The elements of the DBT structure are defined as follows:

           data   A pointer to a byte string.

           size   The length of the byte string.

     Key and data byte strings may reference strings of essentially unlimited
     length although any two of them must fit into available memory at the
     same time.  It should be noted that the access methods provide no
     guarantees about byte string alignment.

ERRORS
     The dbopen routine may fail and set errno for any of the errors specified
     for the library routines open(2) and malloc(3) or the following:

     EFTYPE             A file is incorrectly formatted.

     EINVAL             A parameter has been specified (hash function, pad
                        byte, etc.) that is incompatible with the current file
                        specification or which is not meaningful for the
                        function (for example, use of the cursor without prior
                        initialization) or there is a mismatch between the
                        version number of file and the software.

     EFBIG              The key could not be inserted due to limitations in
                        the DB file format (e.g., a hash database was out of
                        overflow pages).

     The close routines may fail and set errno for any of the errors specified
     for the library routines close(2), read(2), write(2), free(3), or
     fsync(2).

     The del, get, put, and seq routines may fail and set errno for any of the
     errors specified for the library routines read(2), write(2), free(3), or
     malloc(3).

     The fd routines will fail and set errno to ENOENT for in memory
     databases.

     The sync routines may fail and set errno for any of the errors specified
     for the library routine fsync(2).

SEE ALSO
     btree(3), hash(3), mpool(3), recno(3)

     Margo Seltzer and Michael Olson, "LIBTP: Portable, Modular Transactions
     for UNIX", Proceedings of the 1992 Winter USENIX Technical Conference,
     USENIX Association, 9-25, 1992.

BUGS
     The typedef DBT is a mnemonic for "data base thang", and was used because
     no one could think of a reasonable name that wasn't already used.

     The file descriptor interface is a kludge and will be deleted in a future
     version of the interface.

     None of the access methods provide any form of concurrent access,
     locking, or transactions.

BSD                            December 16, 2010                           BSD

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | ERRORS | SEE ALSO | BUGS