The Rekall Database File

Rekall uses a single file to store information about a Rekall database. This file contains information about where the database resides (for instance, the location, username and password for a MySQL database), but it does not store any actual data, nor does it contain information such as form or report definitions. Data is always stored in the server database, while forms and reports (and the like) are stored either in the server database or in files in the same directory as the information file. This file will normally have the extension .rkl, but for historical reasons the extension .kdb can be used.

Content-wise, the files have the same format, and are interchangable. Up to Rekall version 1.0.4 the data is stored in bar-separated format; from 1.0.5 is it stored in XML. In either case, you can look at it (or edit it, if you feel confident and want to move databases about). By the way, all Rekall objects, such as forms and reports, are stored as text files, usually XML, and can be viewed and edited; you could, for instance, write a program which dynamically generates a report definition.

As noted above, forms and reports, etc., can be stored either in a server database, or in the same directory as the information file. In the latter case, the files have names like myform.xxx.frm where xxx is the same as the Rekall information file extension ( If you need to, you can rename the main information file and any form or report files, to consistently change the extension. )