.TH "doc_help_kdb-introduction_md" 3elektra "Sun May 29 2016" "Version 0.8.14" "Elektra" \" -*- nroff -*-
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.SH NAME
doc_help_kdb-introduction_md \- kdb-introduction\&.md 

.SH "kdb-introduction(1) -- introduction to kdb "
.PP
.PP
\fBElektra\fP solves the task of accessing the configuration storage\&. Additionally, a tooling gathered around Elektra helps with minor problems that appear every day\&. Maybe the administrator needs a cron job that periodically changes the settings of a service\&. Maybe the user wants to have an overview of the whole configuration to learn what can be tweaked\&. Maybe the developer needs to fully export the configuration the program had when a failure occurred\&. These tasks have in common that they become trivial once a programmatic access to a global key database exists\&.
.PP
In this subsection we give an overview of the command-line tool \fCkdb\fP\&. It is part of Elektra's environment and performs the mentioned tasks\&. \fCkdb\fP consists of individual subprograms\&. The programs are independent, but can access a shared part that provides functionality too specific to be in the library -- for example, pretty printing of error messages and warnings\&. Most parts of this suite are short programs which basically call \fC\fBkdbGet()\fP\fP, do something with the data structure and eventually write it back using \fC\fBkdbSet()\fP\fP\&. Note that the command-line tool \fCkdb\fP should not be confused with the class \fCKDB\fP\&.
.PP
\fCkdb\fP was rewritten as part of this thesis with a new architecture\&. Now every part of the application suite will be able to accept its own command line arguments and will have its own documentation\&. Also a completely new feature \fCmount\fP arose\&.
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Only a few commands are enough for daily use\&. We can retrieve a key by: 
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.nf
    > kdb get user/keyname

.fi
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We store a key permanently with a value given by: 
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.nf
    > kdb set user/keyname value

.fi
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We list all available keys arranged below a key by: 
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.nf
    > kdb ls user/keyname

.fi
.PP
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Many other tools beside \fCkdb\fP are possible\&. They may be more convenient depending on the situation\&. Preference dialogues, graphical editors, web-interfaces and web services can all provide access to the global key database\&.