Documentation Source Text

      <a href="http://www.sqlite.org/src/timeline">
      http://www.sqlite.org/src/timeline</a>.</p>
    }
    hd_close_aux
    hd_enable_main 1
  }
}

chng {2010 December 08 (3.7.4)} {
<li> Added the [sqlite3_blob_reopen()] interface to allow an existing
     [sqlite3_blob] object to be rebound to a new row.
<li> Use the new [sqlite3_blob_reopen()] interface to improve the performance
     of FTS.
<li> [sqlite3_vfs | VFSes] that does not support shared memory are allowed
     to access [WAL] databases if [PRAGMA locking_mode] is set to EXCLUSIVE.
}

chng {2010 October 08 (3.7.3)} {
<li> Added the [sqlite3_create_function_v2()] interface that includes a
     destructor callback.
<li> Added support for [custom r-tree queries] using application-supplied
     callback routines to define the boundary of the query region.
<li> The default page cache strives more diligently to avoid using memory

}
doc {Alphabetical Listing Of Documents} {doclist.html} {
  A list of all titled pages on this website, sorted by title.
}
doc {Website Keyword Index} {keyword_index.html} {
  A cross-reference from keywords to various pages within this website.
}
doc {Permuted Title Index} {sitemap.html#pindex} {
  Also known as a "keyword in context" or "KWIC" index or as a concordance,
  this document is a listing of all other documents sorted by keyword.
}


heading {SQLite Programming Interfaces} {
  Documentation describing the APIs used to program SQLite, and the SQL
  dialect that it interprets.
}

</td>
<td width="20"></td><td bgcolor="#044a64" width="1"></td><td width="20"></td>
<td valign="top">
<h3>Current Status</h3>

<p><ul>
<li><a href="releaselog/3_7_4.html">Version 3.7.4</a>
of SQLite is recommended for all new development.
Upgrading from versions 3.7.2 and 3.7.3 is optional.
Upgrading from all other SQLite versions is recommended.</li>
</ul></p>

<h3>Common Links</h3>

<p><ul>
<li> <a href="features.html">Features</a> </li>

    <p>^Database locks obtained by a connection in EXCLUSIVE mode may be
    released either by closing the database connection, or by setting the
    locking-mode back to NORMAL using this pragma and then accessing the
    database file (for read or write). ^Simply setting the locking-mode to
    NORMAL is not enough - locks are not be released until the next time
    the database file is accessed.</p>

    <p>There are three reasons to set the locking-mode to EXCLUSIVE.
    <ol>
    <li>The application actually want to prevent other processes from
        accessing the database file.
    <li>The number of system calls for filesystem operations is reduced,
        possibly resulting in a small performance increase.
    <li>^[WAL] databases can be accessed in EXCLUSIVE mode without the
        use of shared memory. 
        ([WAL without shared memory | Additional information])
    </ol>
    </p>

    <p>^(When the locking_mode pragma specifies a particular database,
    for example:</p>

    <blockquote>
PRAGMA <b>main.</b>locking_mode=EXCLUSIVE;
    </blockquote>

<p>Specialized applications for which the default implementation of
shared memory is unacceptable can devise alternative methods via a
custom [sqlite3_vfs | VFS].  
For example, if it is known that a particular database
will only be accessed by threads within a single process, the wal-index
can be implemented using heap memory instead of true shared memory.</p>

<tcl>hd_fragment noshm {WAL without shared memory}</tcl>
<h2>Use of WAL Without Shared-Memory</h2>

<p>Beginning in SQLite version 3.7.4, WAL databases can be read and
written even if shared memory is unavailable as long as the
[locking_mode] is set to EXCLUSIVE.  In other words, a process can
read and write a WAL database without using shared memory if that
process is guaranteed to be the only process accessing the database.</p>

<p>When [locking_mode] is EXCLUSIVE, the SQLite connection creates its
own private wal-index in heap memory.  While a wal-index is held in heap
memory, the [locking_mode] cannot be changed back to normal - invocations
of "PRAGMA locking_mode=NORMAL" become no-ops.  In order to change back
to NORMAL locking_mode, the database must first be converted to use
a rollback journal, for example by "PRAGMA journal_mode=DELETE;"</p>

<p>To access a pre-existing WAL database without using shared memory,
the database connection must run "PRAGMA locking_mode=EXCLUSIVE;" prior
to any attempt to read or write the database.</p>

<h2>Backwards Compatibility</h2>

<p>The database file format is unchanged for WAL mode.  However, the
WAL file and the [wal-index] are new concepts and so older versions of 
SQLite will not know
how to recover a crashed SQLite database that was operating in WAL mode