D. J. Bernstein
Data structures and program structures
How to install cdb
The cdbget program
The cdbmake and cdbdump programs
The cdbstats and cdbtest programs
The cdb format specification
The cdb-reading library interface
cdb is discussed on the
cdb mailing list.
What is it?
cdb is a fast, reliable, simple package for creating and reading
constant databases. Its database structure provides several features:
cdb is designed to be used in mission-critical applications like e-mail.
Database replacement is safe against system crashes. Readers don't have
to pause during a rewrite.
Fast lookups: A successful lookup in a large database normally takes
just two disk accesses. An unsuccessful lookup takes only one.
Low overhead: A database uses 2048 bytes, plus 24 bytes per record,
plus the space for keys and data.
No random limits: cdb can handle any database up to 4 gigabytes. There
are no other restrictions; records don't even have to fit into memory.
Databases are stored in a machine-independent format.
Fast atomic database replacement: cdbmake can rewrite an entire
database two orders of magnitude faster than other hashing packages.
Fast database dumps: cdbdump prints the contents of a database in
Information for distributors
You may distribute unmodified copies of the cdb package.
Packages that need to read cdb files
should incorporate the necessary portions of the cdb library
rather than relying on an external cdb library.
is a Perl interface to cdb.
M. J. Pomraning's
is a Python interface to cdb.
is a Ruby interface to cdb.
Michael Alyn Miller's
is a Java library to read cdb files.
is a Lua interface to cdb.
Felix von Leitner's
combines cdb with a separate journal of database updates.
is a Python reimplementation of cdb.
cdb is used in my