[comp.unix.questions] Filesizes of [mdn]dbm-files

ad@cat.uucp (Axel Dunkel) (08/14/90)

I want to build a [mn]dbm database with several thousand records about 
300 bytes each. Although I know that dbm leaves big holes in its files,
they are just too big: 1000 records with 300k of data result in a file
of 16 MEGABytes, 2MB of data become a 500 MB file. The problem occurs
at backup time: tar/cpio don't leave the holes out and so try to backup
several GIGAbytes of data which makes Backups nearly impossible.

Any suggestions on how to reduce the filesizes/holes of n/m/dbm?

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Axel Dunkel   (ad@cat.de or ad@cat.uucp or ..!unido!cat!ad)
C.A.T. Kommunkations-System, Frankfurt, West Germany