An attempt to make gdbm available beyond the C Ruby implementation.

Faithfully mimics MRI's standard library and is compatible with gdbm files produced by that version.

You can download and use gdbm.rb anyhow you would like.

You can also install it using Ruby Gems:

gem install ffi-gdbm

or, if using JRuby:

jgem install ffi-gdbm

JRuby does not require further installation, but other implementations may need the FFI gem:

gem install ffi

• Conforms to tests from MRI 1.8.7, 1.9.1, 2.6.1 and follows the C library for MRI if there are contradictions with the documentation
• Should be compatible with gdbm files created with MRI's standard library
• Certainly works with JRuby, may work with other alternative Ruby implementations

Tests passing on 64 bit Linux with

• JRuby 1.7.21 and 9.1.7.0

Tests passing on OSX (High Sierra) with

• JRuby 9.2.5.0

Passing all tests with JRuby 1.4, 1.5.3, 1.6 on 32-bit Linux.

Passing all tests with MRI Ruby 1.8.7, 1.9.1, 1.9.2 with Ruby-FFI 0.5.4, 0.6.3, 1.0.7 on 32-bit Linux.

Further testing on other systems is welcome!

Three sets of tests are included, copied straight from the MRI distribution. However, they do require the use of ObjectSpace, so this is how to run them with JRuby:

jruby --1.8 -X+O -r lib/gdbm test/test_gdbm-1.8.7.rb (Note: these tests only work with JRuby prior to 9.0.0.0)

jruby -X+O -r ./lib/gdbm test/test_gdbm-1.9.1.rb

jruby -X+O -r ./lib/gdbm test/test_gdbm-2.6.rb

Copyright (c), Justin Collins

This library is released under the same tri-license (GPL/LGPL/CPL) as JRuby. Please see the COPYING file distributed with JRuby for details.