                            BerkeleyDB

                           Version 0.65

                          13th May 2022


 Copyright (c) 1997-2022 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

BerkeleyDB is a module which allows Perl programs to make use of the facilities provided by Berkeley DB version 2 or greater. (Note: if you want to use version 1 of Berkeley DB with Perl you need the DB_File module).

Berkeley DB is a C library which provides a consistent interface to a number of database formats. BerkeleyDB provides an interface to all four of the database types (hash, btree, queue and recno) currently supported by Berkeley DB.

For further details see the documentation in the file BerkeleyDB.pod.

PREREQUISITES

Before you can build BerkeleyDB you need to have the following installed on your system:

* To run the test harness for this module, you must make sure that the
  directory where you have untarred this module is NOT a network
  drive, e.g. NFS or AFS.

* Perl 5.6.0 or greater.

* Berkeley DB Version 2.6.4 or greater

  The official web site for Berkeley DB is

    http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/berkeley-db/db/index.html

  The latest version of Berkeley DB is always available there. It
  is recommended that you use the most recent version available.

  The one exception to this advice is where you want to use BerkeleyDB
  to access database files created by a third-party application,
  like Sendmail. In these cases you must build BerkeleyDB with a
  compatible version of Berkeley DB.

BUILDING THE MODULE

Assuming you have met all the prerequisites, building the module should be relatively straightforward.

Step 1 : If you are running Solaris 2.5, 2.7 or HP-UX 10 read either the Solaris Notes or HP-UX Notes sections below. If you are running Linux please read the Linux Notes section before proceeding. If you are running FreeBSD read the FreeBSD Notes section below.

Step 2 : Edit the file config.in to suit you local installation. Instructions are given in the file.

Step 3 : Build and test the module using this sequence of commands:

         perl Makefile.PL
         make
         make test

INSTALLATION

make install

TROUBLESHOOTING

Here are some of the problems that people encounter when building BerkeleyDB.

Missing db.h or libdb.a

If you get an error like this:

cc -c -I./libraries/ -Dbool=char -DHAS_BOOL -I/usr/local/include -O2 -DVERSION="0.07" -DXS_VERSION="0.07" -fpic -I/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.00503/i586-linux/CORE BerkeleyDB.c BerkeleyDB.xs:52: db.h: No such file or directory

or this:

cc -c -I./libraries/2.7.5 -Dbool=char -DHAS_BOOL -I/usr/local/include -O2 -DVERSION="0.07" -DXS_VERSION="0.07" -fpic -I/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.00503/i586-linux/CORE BerkeleyDB.c LD_RUN_PATH="/lib" cc -o blib/arch/auto/BerkeleyDB/BerkeleyDB.so -shared -L/usr/local/lib BerkeleyDB.o -L/home/paul/perl/ext/BerkDB/BerkeleyDB/libraries -ldb ld: cannot open -ldb: No such file or directory

This symptom can imply:

You don't have Berkeley DB installed on your system at all. Solution: get & install Berkeley DB.
You do have Berkeley DB installed, but it isn't in a standard place. Solution: Edit config.in and set the LIB and INCLUDE variables to point to the directories where libdb.a and db.h are installed.

#error db.h is not for Berkeley DB at all.

If you get the error above when building this module it means that there is a file called "db.h" on your system that isn't the one that comes with Berkeley DB.

Options:

You don't have Berkeley DB installed on your system at all. Solution: get & install Berkeley DB.
Edit config.in and make sure the INCLUDE variable points to the directory where the Berkeley DB file db.h is installed.
If option 2 doesn't work, try tempoarily renaming the db.h file that is causing the error.

#error db.h is for Berkeley DB 1.x - need at least Berkeley DB 2.6.4

The error above will occur if there is a copy of the Berkeley DB 1.x file db.h on your system.

This error will happen when

you only have Berkeley DB version 1 on your system. Solution: get & install a newer version of Berkeley DB.
you have both version 1 and a later version of Berkeley DB installed on your system. When building BerkeleyDB it attempts to use the db.h for Berkeley DB version 1. Solution: Edit config.in and set the LIB and INCLUDE variables to point to the directories where libdb.a and db.h are installed.

#error db.h is for Berkeley DB 2.0-2.5 - need at least Berkeley DB 2.6.4

The error above will occur if there is a copy of the the file db.h for Berkeley DB 2.0 to 2.5 on your system.

This symptom can imply:

You don't have a new enough version of Berkeley DB. Solution: get & install a newer version of Berkeley DB.
You have the correct version of Berkeley DB installed, but it isn't in a standard place. Solution: Edit config.in and set the LIB and INCLUDE variables to point to the directories where libdb.a and db.h are installed.

Undefined Symbol: txn_stat

BerkeleyDB seems to have built correctly, but you get an error like this when you run the test harness:

$ make test PERL_DL_NONLAZY=1 /home/paul/perl/install/bin/perl5.00503 -Iblib/arch -Iblib/lib -I/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.00503/i586-linux -I/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.00503 -e 'use Test::Harness qw(&runtests $verbose); $verbose=0; runtests @ARGV;' t/*.t t/btree.............Can't load 'blib/arch/auto/BerkeleyDB/BerkeleyDB.so' for module BerkeleyDB: blib/arch/auto/BerkeleyDB/BerkeleyDB.so: undefined symbol: txn_stat at /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.00503/i586-linux/DynaLoader.pm line 169. ...

This error usually happens when you have both version 1 and a newer version of Berkeley DB installed on your system. BerkeleyDB attempts to build using the db.h for Berkeley DB version 2/3/4 and the version 1 library. Unfortunately the two versions aren't compatible with each other. BerkeleyDB can only be built with Berkeley DB version 2, 3 or 4.

Solution: Setting the LIB & INCLUDE variables in config.in to point to the correct directories can sometimes be enough to fix this problem. If that doesn't work the easiest way to fix the problem is to either delete or temporarily rename the copies of db.h and libdb.a that you don't want BerkeleyDB to use.

Undefined Symbol: db_appinit

BerkeleyDB seems to have built correctly, but you get an error like this when you run the test harness:

$ make test PERL_DL_NONLAZY=1 /home/paul/perl/install/bin/perl5.00561 -Iblib/arch -Iblib/lib -I/home/paul/perl/install/5.005_61/lib/5.00561/i586-linux -I/home/paul/perl/install/5.005_61/lib/5.00561 -e 'use Test::Harness qw(&runtests $verbose); $verbose=0; runtests @ARGV;' t/*.t t/btree.............Can't load 'blib/arch/auto/BerkeleyDB/BerkeleyDB.so' for module BerkeleyDB: blib/arch/auto/BerkeleyDB/BerkeleyDB.so: undefined symbol: db_appinit at /home/paul/perl/install/5.005_61/lib/5.00561/i586-linux/DynaLoader.pm ...

This error usually happens when you have both version 2 and version 3 of Berkeley DB installed on your system and BerkeleyDB attempts to build using the db.h for Berkeley DB version 2 and the version 3 library. Unfortunately the two versions aren't compatible with each other.

Undefined Symbol: db_create

BerkeleyDB seems to have built correctly, but you get an error like this when you run the test harness:

$ make test PERL_DL_NONLAZY=1 /home/paul/perl/install/bin/perl5.00561 -Iblib/arch -Iblib/lib -I/home/paul/perl/install/5.005_61/lib/5.00561/i586-linux -I/home/paul/perl/install/5.005_61/lib/5.00561 -e 'use Test::Harness qw(&runtests $verbose); $verbose=0; runtests @ARGV;' t/*.t t/btree.............Can't load 'blib/arch/auto/BerkeleyDB/BerkeleyDB.so' for module BerkeleyDB: blib/arch/auto/BerkeleyDB/BerkeleyDB.so: undefined symbol: db_create at /home/paul/perl/install/5.005_61/lib/5.00561/i586-linux/DynaLoader.pm ...

This error usually happens when you have both version 2 and version 3 of Berkeley DB installed on your system and BerkeleyDB attempts to build using the db.h for Berkeley DB version 3 and the version 2 library. Unfortunately the two versions aren't compatible with each other.

Incompatible versions of db.h and libdb

BerkeleyDB seems to have built correctly, but you get an error like this when you run the test harness:

$ make test PERL_DL_NONLAZY=1 /home/paul/perl/install/bin/perl5.00503 -Iblib/arch -Iblib/lib -I/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.00503/i586-linux -I/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.00503 -e 'use Test::Harness qw(&runtests $verbose); $verbose=0; runtests @ARGV;' t/*.t t/btree............. BerkeleyDB needs compatible versions of libdb & db.h you have db.h version 2.6.4 and libdb version 2.7.5 BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at t/btree.t line 25. dubious Test returned status 255 (wstat 65280, 0xff00) ...

Another variation on the theme of having two versions of Berkeley DB on your system.

Solaris build fails with "language optional software package not installed"

If you are trying to build this module under Solaris and you get an error message like this

/usr/ucb/cc: language optional software package not installed

it means that Perl cannot find the C compiler on your system. The cryptic message is just Sun's way of telling you that you haven't bought their C compiler.

When you build a Perl module that needs a C compiler, the Perl build system tries to use the same C compiler that was used to build perl itself. In this case your Perl binary was built with a C compiler that lived in /usr/ucb.

To continue with building this module, you need to get a C compiler, or tell Perl where your C compiler is, if you already have one.

Assuming you have now got a C compiler, what you do next will be dependant on what C compiler you have installed. If you have just installed Sun's C compiler, you shouldn't have to do anything. Just try rebuilding this module.

If you have installed another C compiler, say gcc, you have to tell perl how to use it instead of /usr/ucb/cc.

This set of options seems to work if you want to use gcc. Your mileage may vary.

perl Makefile.PL CC=gcc CCCDLFLAGS=-fPIC OPTIMIZE=" "
make test

If that doesn't work for you, it's time to make changes to the Makefile by hand. Good luck!

Solaris build fails with "gcc: unrecognized option `-KPIC'"

You are running Solaris and you get an error like this when you try to build this Perl module

gcc: unrecognized option `-KPIC'

This symptom usually means that you are using a Perl binary that has been built with the Sun C compiler, but you are using gcc to build this module.

When Perl builds modules that need a C compiler, it will attempt to use the same C compiler and command line options that was used to build perl itself. In this case "-KPIC" is a valid option for the Sun C compiler, but not for gcc. The equivalent option for gcc is "-fPIC".

The solution is either:

1. Build both Perl and this module with the same C compiler, either
   by using the Sun C compiler for both or gcc for both.

2. Try generating the Makefile for this module like this perl

       perl Makefile.PL CC=gcc CCCDLFLAGS=-fPIC OPTIMIZE=" " LD=gcc
       make test

   This second option seems to work when mixing a Perl binary built
   with the Sun C compiler and this module built with gcc. Your
   mileage may vary.

Network Drive

BerkeleyDB seems to have built correctly, but you get a series of errors like this when you run the test harness:

t/btree........NOK 178Can't call method "txn_begin" on an undefined value at t/btree.t line 637. t/btree........dubious Test returned status 11 (wstat 2816, 0xb00) DIED. FAILED tests 28, 178-244 Failed 68/244 tests, 72.13% okay t/db-3.0.......NOK 2Can't call method "set_mutexlocks" on an undefined value at t/db-3.0.t line 39. t/db-3.0.......dubious Test returned status 11 (wstat 2816, 0xb00) DIED. FAILED tests 2-14 Failed 13/14 tests, 7.14% okay t/db-3.1.......ok t/db-3.2.......NOK 5Can't call method "set_flags" on an undefined value at t/db-3.2.t line 62. t/db-3.2.......dubious Test returned status 11 (wstat 2816, 0xb00) DIED. FAILED tests 3, 5-6 Failed 3/6 tests, 50.00% okay t/db-3.3.......ok

This pattern of errors happens if you have built the module in a directory that is network mounted (e.g. NFS ar AFS).

The solution is to use a local drive. Berkeley DB doesn't support network drives.

Berkeley DB library configured to support only DB_PRIVATE environments

BerkeleyDB seems to have built correctly, but you get a series of errors like this when you run the test harness:

t/btree........ok 27/244

: Berkeley DB library configured to support only DB_PRIVATE environments

t/btree........ok 177/244

: Berkeley DB library configured to support only DB_PRIVATE environments

t/btree........NOK 178Can't call method "txn_begin" on an undefined value at t/btree.t line 638. t/btree........dubious Test returned status 2 (wstat 512, 0x200) Scalar found where operator expected at (eval 153) line 1, near "'int' $__val" (Missing operator before $__val?) DIED. FAILED tests 28, 178-244 Failed 68/244 tests, 72.13% okay

Some versions of Redhat Linux, and possibly some other Linux distributions, include a seriously restricted build of the Berkeley DB library that is incompatible with this module. See https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=91933 for an exhaustive discussion on the reasons for this.

Solution:

You will have to build a private copy of the Berkeley DB library and use it when building this Perl module.

Linux Notes

Some versions of Linux (e.g. RedHat 6, SuSe 6) ship with a C library that has version 2.x of Berkeley DB linked into it. This makes it difficult to build this module with anything other than the version of Berkeley DB that shipped with your Linux release. If you do try to use a different version of Berkeley DB you will most likely get the error described in the "Incompatible versions of db.h and libdb" section of this file.

To make matters worse, prior to Perl 5.6.1, the perl binary itself always included the Berkeley DB library.

If you want to use a newer version of Berkeley DB with this module, the easiest solution is to use Perl 5.6.1 (or better) and Berkeley DB 3.x (or better).

There are two approaches you can use to get older versions of Perl to work with specific versions of Berkeley DB. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

The first approach will only work when you want to build a version of Perl older than 5.6.1 along with Berkeley DB 3.x. If you want to use Berkeley DB 2.x, you must use the next approach. This approach involves rebuilding your existing version of Perl after applying an unofficial patch. The "patches" directory in the this module's source distribution contains a number of patch files. There is one patch file for every stable version of Perl since 5.004. Apply the appropriate patch to your Perl source tree before re-building and installing Perl from scratch. For example, assuming you are in the top-level source directory for Perl 5.6.0, the command below will apply the necessary patch. Remember to replace the path shown below with one that points to this module's patches directory.

patch -p1 -N </path/to/BerkeleyDB/patches/5.6.0

Now rebuild & install perl. You should now have a perl binary that can be used to build this module. Follow the instructions in "BUILDING THE MODULE", remembering to set the INCLUDE and LIB variables in config.in.

The second approach will work with Berkeley DB 2.x or better. Start by building Berkeley DB as a shared library. This is from the Berkeley DB build instructions:

Building Shared Libraries for the GNU GCC compiler

If you're using gcc and there's no better shared library example for
your architecture, the following shared library build procedure will
probably work.

Add the -fpic option to the CFLAGS value in the Makefile.

Rebuild all of your .o files. This will create a Berkeley DB library
that contains .o files with PIC code. To build the shared library,
then take the following steps in the library build directory:

% mkdir tmp
% cd tmp
% ar xv ../libdb.a
% gcc -shared -o libdb.so *.o
% mv libdb.so ..
% cd ..
% rm -rf tmp

Note, you may have to change the gcc line depending on the
requirements of your system.

The file libdb.so is your shared library

Once you have built libdb.so, you will need to store it somewhere safe.

cp libdb.so /usr/local/BerkeleyDB/lib

If you now set the LD_PRELOAD environment variable to point to this shared library, Perl will use it instead of the version of Berkeley DB that shipped with your Linux distribution.

export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/local/BerkeleyDB/lib/libdb.so

Finally follow the instructions in "BUILDING THE MODULE" to build, test and install this module. Don't forget to set the INCLUDE and LIB variables in config.in.

Remember, you will need to have the LD_PRELOAD variable set anytime you want to use Perl with Berkeley DB. Also note that if you have LD_PRELOAD permanently set it will affect ALL commands you execute. This may be a problem if you run any commands that access a database created by the version of Berkeley DB that shipped with your Linux distribution.

Solaris 2.5 Notes

If you are running Solaris 2.5, and you get this error when you run the BerkeleyDB test harness:

libc internal error: _rmutex_unlock: rmutex not held.

you probably need to install a Sun patch. It has been reported that Sun patch 103187-25 (or later revisions) fixes this problem.

To find out if you have the patch installed, the command "showrev -p" will display the patches that are currently installed on your system.

Solaris 2.7 Notes

If you are running Solaris 2.7 and all the tests in the test harness generate a core dump, try applying Sun patch 106980-09 (or better).

To find out if you have the patch installed, the command "showrev -p" will display the patches that are currently installed on your system.

HP-UX Notes

Some people running HP-UX 10 have reported getting an error like this when building this module with the native HP-UX compiler.

ld: (Warning) At least one PA 2.0 object file (BerkeleyDB.o) was detected.
The linked output may not run on a PA 1.x system.
ld: Invalid loader fixup for symbol "$000000A5".

If this is the case for you, Berkeley DB needs to be recompiled with the +z or +Z option and the resulting library placed in a .sl file. The following steps should do the trick:

1: Configure the Berkeley DB distribution with the +z or +Z C compiler flag:

    env "CFLAGS=+z" ../dist/configure ...

2: Edit the Berkeley DB Makefile and change:

    "libdb= libdb.a" to "libdb= libdb.sl".

3: Build and install the Berkeley DB distribution as usual.

FreeBSD Notes

On FreeBSD 4.x through 6.x, the default db.h is for version 1. The build will fail with an error similar to:

BerkeleyDB.xs:74: #error db.h is from Berkeley DB 1.x - need at least Berkeley DB 2.6.4

Later versions of Berkeley DB are usually installed from ports. The available versions can be found by running a find(1) command:

%  find /usr/local/include -name 'db.h'
/usr/local/include/db3/db.h
/usr/local/include/db4/db.h
/usr/local/include/db41/db.h
/usr/local/include/db42/db.h
/usr/local/include/db43/db.h

The desired version of the library must be specified on the command line or via the config.in file. Make sure both values point to the same version:

INCLUDE = /usr/local/include/db43
LIB     = /usr/local/lib/db43

FEEDBACK

General feedback/questions/bug reports can be sent to https://github.com/pmqs/BerkeleyDB/issues (preferred) or https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=BerkeleyDB

Alternatively, email me at [email protected].

How to report a problem with BerkeleyDB.

To help me help you, I need of the following information:

The version of Perl and the operating system name and version you are running. The complete output from running "perl -V" will tell me all I need to know. If your perl does not understand the "-V" option is too old. BerkeleyDB needs Perl version 5.004_04 or better.
The version of BerkeleyDB you have. If you have successfully installed BerkeleyDB, this one-liner will tell you:

perl -MBerkeleyDB -e 'print qq{BerkeleyDB ver $BerkeleyDB::VERSION\n}'

If you are running windows use this

perl -MBerkeleyDB -e "print qq{BerkeleyDB ver $BerkeleyDB::VERSION\n}"

If you haven't installed BerkeleyDB then search BerkeleyDB.pm for a line like this:

$VERSION = "1.20" ;
The version of Berkeley DB you have installed. If you have successfully installed BerkeleyDB, this one-liner will tell you:
```
perl -MBerkeleyDB -e 'print BerkeleyDB::DB_VERSION_STRING.qq{\n}'
```
If you are running windows use this
```
perl -MBerkeleyDB -e "print BerkeleyDB::DB_VERSION_STRING.qq{\n}"
```
If you haven't installed BerkeleyDB then search db.h for a line like this:

#define DB_VERSION_STRING
If you are having problems building BerkeleyDB, send me a complete log of what happened.
Now the difficult one. If you think you have found a bug in BerkeleyDB 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. :-)