---
name: "cyrus-cyr_dbtool"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "cyrus-common"
version: "3.10.2-1+deb13u2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/cyrus-cyr_dbtool"
---

# cyrus-cyr\_dbtool(8)

Cyrus IMAP documentation Manage Cyrus databases

## NAME

cyr\_dbtool - Cyrus IMAP documentation

Manage Cyrus databases

## SYNOPSIS

```
cyr_dbtool [ -C config-file ] [ -M ] [ -n ] [ -o ] [ -T ]
        db-file db-backend action [ key ] [ value ]
```

## DESCRIPTION

**cyr\_dbtool** *is used to manage a cyrusdb file. The usable actions are:*

**show** *\[\<prefix\>\]*

**get** *\<key\>*

**set** *\<key\> \<value\>*

**delete** *\<key\>*

**consistency**

**repack**

*You may omit key or key/value and specify one per line on stdin.* *Keys are terminated by tab or newline, values are terminated by newline.*

*Running without any options will list the available database backends and* *usable actions.*

*The consistency action runs a consistency check on the DB by calling* *'myconsistent' on it.*

*The repack action will compress the database by removing stale data* *on backends which support it.  It's a NOOP otherwise.*

**cyr\_dbtool** *reads its configuration options out of the [imapd.conf(5)](/imapd.conf/5.md) file unless specified otherwise by* **-C***.*

**NOTE:**

*Note that the file locations are NOT read out of the configuration* *file, and must be supplied on the command line.*

**TIP:**

*The format of all Cyrus databases is detailed in the distribution in* *file doc/internal/database-formats.html.  Please consult that for* *details.*

## OPTIONS

- **-C config-file**

  *Use the specified configuration file config-file rather than the default [imapd.conf(5)](/imapd.conf/5.md).*

- **-M, --improved-mboxlist-sort**

  *Uses improved MBOX list sort*

- **-n, --create**

  *Create the database file if it doesn't already exist.*

- **-T, --use-transaction**

  *Use a transaction to do the action (most especially for 'show') - the* *default used to be transactions.*

## EXAMPLES

*This series of examples address manipulating the user\_deny.db* *database, which is used to deny users access to specific services.  This* *is typically a Cyrus "flat" format database.*

*user\_deny.db is indexed by userid and each record contains the* *database version number (currently 2), a list of "wildmat" patterns* *specifying Cyrus services to be denied, and a text message to be* *displayed to the user upon denial. The service names to be matched are* *those as used in [cyrus.conf(5)](/cyrus.conf/5.md).  cyr\_deny(8)* *provides more convenient way to manage user\_deny.db.*

**NOTE:**

*Given that keys are tab-delimited, these examples use the notation* *\<tab\> to indicate the tab character.  When entering this via the* *command line, remember to escape tabs.  In a normal shell, one can* *do so with \<ctrl-v\> (^v).  The sequence "\<ctrl-v\>\<ctrl-i\>" (^v^i)* *works well to enter tab characters.*

```
cyr_dbtool /var/lib/imap/user_deny.db flat baduser "2<tab>pop3,imap<tab>Denied"
```

**Deny the user 'baduser' access to imap and pop3.**

```
cyr_dbtool /var/lib/imap/user_deny.db flat show
```

**Show all current database records.**

```
cyr_dbtool /var/lib/imap/user_deny.db flat get baduser
```

**Get the current database record(s) for user 'baduser'.**

## FILES

**/etc/imapd.conf**

## SEE ALSO

*[imapd.conf(5)](/imapd.conf/5.md)*

## AUTHOR

**The Cyrus Team, Nic Bernstein (Onlight), Jeroen van Meeuwen (Kolab Systems)**

## COPYRIGHT

**1993–2025, The Cyrus Team**