DB_File
Version 1.16
20th Nov 1997
Copyright (c) 1995/6/7 Paul Marquess. All rights reserved. This
program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself.
DESCRIPTION
-----------
DB_File is a module which allows Perl programs to make use of the
facilities provided by Berkeley DB version 1. This release does NOT
support Berkeley DB version 2 (or greater).
If you want to make use of the new features available in Berkeley DB
2.x, use the Perl module BerkeleyDB instead.
Berkeley DB is a C library which provides a consistent interface to a
number of database formats. DB_File provides an interface to all three
of the database types (hash, btree and recno) currently supported by
Berkeley DB.
For further details see the pod documentation embedded in the file
DB_File.pm.
PREREQUISITES
-------------
Before you can build DB_File you need to have the following installed
on your system:
* Perl 5.003 or greater.
* Berkeley DB.
Berkeley DB either 1.85 or 1.86 are best.
The official web site for Berkeley DB is
http://www.sleepycat.com/db. The ftp equivalent is
ftp.sleepycat.com:/pub.
Alternatively, Berkeley DB version 1 is available at your nearest
CPAN archive (see the section on CPAN in the perlmod manpage for
a list) in src/misc/db.1.85.tar.gz
If you are running IRIX, then get Berkeley DB version 1 from
http://reality.sgi.com/ariel. It has the patches necessary to
compile properly on IRIX 5.3.
BUILDING THE MODULE
-------------------
Assuming you have met all the prerequisites, building the module should
be relatively straightforward.
The first step is to edit the file config.in to suit you local
installation. Instructions are given in the file.
The module can now be built and tested using this sequence of
commands:
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
INSTALLATION
------------
make install
FEEDBACK
--------
How to report a problem with DB_File.
To help me help you, I need of the following information:
1. the version of Perl and the operating system name and version you
are running. If you are running a newish version of Perl, the
output from running "perl -V" will tell me all I need to know.
If your perl doesn't understand the -V flag, then not only do you
have quite an old version of Perl, you very likely have an old
version of DB_File. You should consider upgrading. The problem you
have might already be fixed.
2. The version of DB_File you have. If you have successfully installed
DB_File, this one-liner will tell you:
perl -e 'use DB_File; print "DB_File ver $DB_File::VERSION\n"'
If you haven't installed DB_File then search DB_File for a line
like this:
$VERSION = "1.16" ;
3. The version of Berkeley DB you have installed. The most recent
recommended versions are 1.85 and 1.86. Again, if you have an older
version, think about upgrading. One point to note if you are
considering upgrading Berkeley DB - the file formats for 1.85, and
1.86 are different.
4. If you are having problems building DB_File, send me a complete log
of what happened.
5. Now the difficult one. If you think you have found a bug in DB_File
and you want me to fix it, you will *greatly* enhance the chances
of me being able to track it down by sending me a small
self-contained Perl script that illustrates the problem you are
encountering. Include a summary of what you think the problem is
and a log of what happens when you run the script, in case I can't
reproduce your problem on my system. If possible, don't have the
script dependent on an existing 20Meg database. If the script you
send me can create the database itself then that is preferred.
I realise that in some cases this is easier said than done, so if
you can only reproduce the problem in your existing script, then
you can post me that if you want. Just don't expect me to find your
problem in a hurry, or at all. :-)
CHANGES
-------
See the HISTORY section in DB_File.pm
Paul Marquess <
[email protected]>
