ClarkQAQ / bstore

database library for storing and quering Go struct data

Bstore is a database library for storing and quering Go values.

Bstore is designed as a small, pure Go library that still provides most of the common data consistency requirements for modest database use cases. Bstore aims to make basic use of cgo-based libraries, such as sqlite, unnecessary.

See https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/mjl-/bstore for features, examples and full documentation.

MIT-licensed

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Is bstore an ORM?

No. The API for bstore may look like an ORM. But instead of mapping bstore "queries" (function calls) to an SQL query string, bstore executes them directly without converting to a query language, storing the data itself.

How does bstore store its data?

A bstore database is a single-file BoltDB database. BoltDB provides ACID properties. Bstore uses a BoltDB "bucket" (key/value store) for each Go type stored, with multiple subbuckets: one for type definitions, one for the actual data, and one bucket per index. BoltDB stores data in a B+tree. See format.md for details.

How does bstore compare to sqlite?

Sqlite is a great library, but Go applications that require cgo are hard to cross-compile. With bstore, cross-compiling to most Go-supported platforms stays trivial (though not plan9, unfortunately). Although bstore is much more limited in so many aspects than sqlite, bstore also offers some advantages as well. Some points of comparison:

• Cross-compilation and reproducibility: Trivial with bstore due to pure Go, much harder with sqlite because of cgo.
• Code complexity: low with bstore (7k lines including comments/docs), high with sqlite.
• Query language: mostly-type-checked function calls in bstore, free-form query strings only checked at runtime with sqlite.
• Functionality: very limited with bstore, much more full-featured with sqlite.
• Schema management: mostly automatic based on Go type definitions in bstore, manual with ALTER statements in sqlite.
• Types and packing/parsing: automatic/transparent in bstore based on Go types (including maps, slices, structs and custom MarshalBinary encoding), versus manual scanning and parameter passing with sqlite with limited set of SQL types.
• Performance: low to good performance with bstore, high performance with sqlite.
• Database files: single file with bstore, several files with sqlite (due to WAL or journal files).
• Test coverage: decent coverage but limited real-world for bstore, versus extremely thoroughly tested and with enormous real-world use.