mkded

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Description

mkded is the command used to start and stop the Pervasive.SQL transactional server, including the underlying MKDE, as either a daemon process or in console mode. (Note that the primary way to start or stop the database engines is with the shell script psql. See Starting and Stopping the Database Engine on Linux .)

In daemon mode, Pervasive.SQL runs as a background daemon process. As a daemon, mkded relinquishes the control terminal and becomes the owner of the process group. Informational, warning, and error messages produced by the MKDE are printed to the console window (/dev/console), or to the system log (see syslogd(1)) if the MKDE cannot write to /dev/console.

When Pervasive.SQL is started in console mode, a >> prompt will be displayed allowing you to enter interactive commands. Console mode is functionally equivalent to daemon mode, except that MKDE messages are printed to standard out instead of to /dev/console (or the system log).

While the Pervasive.SQL database server is running, the butil Maintenance Utility can be executed to perform a variety of common file and data manipulation operations. For example, run butil -ver to print information on the Pervasive.SQL version that is currently running.

Synopsis

mkded [ -start | -stop | -console | -help ] 

Options

The options described below are supported by mkded. These options are case-insensitive.

-start	Runs the Pervasive.SQL database server as a daemon process.
-stop	Terminates execution of Pervasive.SQL engine that was previously started in daemon mode with the -start command line argument.
-console	Runs the Pervasive.SQL database server in console mode. When Pervasive.SQL is started in console mode, a '>>' prompt will be displayed allowing you to enter interactive commands. The following commands are supported within console mode:
	status prints client and file engine status, quit exits the MKDE process ? displays help information.
-help	Provides an informative message on options to the mkded command.

Configuration

Pervasive.SQL for Linux uses a bti.ini file to obtain MKDE configuration parameters. On startup, the MKDE determines the location of this file as follows:

1. If the BTIINI environment variable is defined, then look for bti.ini in the directory specified by this environment variable.
2. If (1) does not apply, then look for bti.ini in the current working directory.
3. If (1) and (2) do not apply, then look for bti.ini in the directory where the Pervasive.SQL database engine executable (mkded) resides.
4. If (1), (2), and (3) do not apply, then look for bti.ini in all directories contained in the $PATH environment variable.
5. If (1), (2), (3), and (4) do not apply, then create a default bti.ini in the current working directory. When the MKDE creates a default bti.ini file, an informational message is printed by the MKDE.

The configuration parameters that can be specified in bti.ini are described below. A sample configuration file can be found in $PVSW_ROOT/samples/config/bti.ini, where $PVSW_ROOT indicates the directory where Pervasive.SQL for Linux is installed.

The bti.ini file may contain several sections, denoted by section headings, each containing a set of configuration parameters. For this release, only the [MicroKernel] section is supported (although a [Database Names] section is created by default in the bti.ini file).

The MicroKernel performs a case-insensitive search for the name and value of each configuration parameter entry in the bti.ini file. Some entries can have more than one value. In such case, they are separated by a vertical bar (|). Values that are generic (such as, pathnames) are enclosed in angular brackets (<>).

See Also

butil(1), btadmin(1), syslogd(1), smb.conf(5)

API Programmer's Reference - describes the Pervasive.SQL API

$PVSW_ROOT/doc/readme.html - contains useful configuration information and release notes ($PVSW_ROOT denotes the directory where Pervasive.SQL V8 is installed).

Notes

Daemon Mode

To start the Pervasive.SQL database server as a daemon process (assuming $PVSW_ROOT/bin is in your path) run

% mkded -start

As a daemon, mkded relinquishes the control terminal and becomes the owner of the process group. To stop the database server process, run

% mkded -stop

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Note
The package installation script automatically launches mkded and incorporates its execution into rc scripts for automatically starting and stopping the database server as part of the system boot sequence.

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Most MKDE errors are handled by returning status codes to applications that call the BTRV() and BTRVID() functions. Occasionally, special informational, warning, and error messages are printed directly by the MKDE (for example, creation of default configuration file, roll forward after for crash recovery, unable to open directory for log files). When running in daemon mode, the MKDE prints these messages to the Linux system's console window (/dev/console). You can bring up a console window on your system using

% xterm -C &

Depending on your system configuration, root access may be required to bring up a console window. If the MKDE is unable to print to /dev/console, then it will print messages to the Linux system log file. You can find out more about the system log by running man syslogd.

Console Mode

To start the Pervasive.SQL database server in console mode (assuming $PVSW_ROOT/bin is in your path) run

% mkded -console

After executing this command, a >> prompt will be displayed allowing you to enter interactive commands. The status command prints client and engine status. Entering quit will exit the MKDE process.

Console mode is functionally equal to daemon mode, except that MKDE messages are printed to standard out instead of /dev/console (or the system log).