mdb-header(1)

📦
version 1.0.1 · 9 versions
, in fedora 43, fedora 44

💖 mdb-header — bestie edition 💖

okay so this is a page from the Executable programs or shell commands section of the manual, and today we're learning about mdb-header. buckle up 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

mdb-header — write a header file straight outta an MDB database 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

mdb-header [database]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

mdb-header is a lil utility program that ships with MDB Tools. no cap.

what does it do?? it dumps the names and types of the tables and columns in an MDB database, and it formats the whole thing as a C header. it's giving codegen, it's giving ✨automation✨.

and it doesn't just make one file, bestie — it creates three:

  • types.h
  • dumptypes.c
  • dumptypes.h

periodt 💅

🧚 ENVIRONMENT 🧚

the vibes here are fully configurable through env vars, and honestly? iconic.

  • MDB_JET3_CHARSET — sets the charset of the input JET3 file (that's access 97, iykyk). the default is CP1252. go peep iconv(1) if you wanna know more 💜
  • MDBICONV — sets the output charset. default is UTF-8. heads up tho: mdbtools has to have been compiled with iconv for this to work 🫶
  • MDBOPTS — a colon-separated list of options, and there are a LOT of them:
    • debug_like
    • debug_write
    • debug_usage
    • debug_ole
    • debug_row
    • debug_props
    • debug_all is a shortcut for all the debug_* options 🔥
    • no_memo (deprecated; has no effect — it literally does nothing, we love a retired queen 💀)
    • use_index (experimental; requires libmswstr) 🙈

😭 EXIT STATUS 😭

mdb-header exits with error code 1 if there was an unsupported type. (the original page says "anunsupported" — we love a typo moment, but yeah, the meaning is unsupported type, bestie 🍓)

⭐ FUTURE DIRECTIONS ⭐

okay so here's the tea and it's a little sad: mdb-header is deprecated. soon it will no longer be distributed. 😭

the developers feel like nobody's really using it, because generating C code is now usually replaced by more generic approaches — including libmdb calls and odbc. it's giving "the old ways are fading" fr fr.

BUT. should you find this tool useful?? drop them a line at https://github.com/mdbtools/mdbtools/issues/197 and they'll consider maintaining it. 👑 your voice matters, bestie.

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

go read these too, they're all in the same friend group:

mdb-array(1) mdb-count(1) mdb-export(1) mdb-hexdump(1) mdb-import(1) mdb-json(1) mdb-parsecsv(1) mdb-prop(1) mdb-queries(1) mdb-schema(1) mdb-sql(1) mdb-tables(1) mdb-ver(1)

🫶 AUTHORS 🫶

the mdb-header utility was written by Brian Bruns. absolute legend, we stan 💖

💀 BUGS 💀

only a few types are currently supported. that's it, that's the bug. lowkey tragic but at least it's honest 🙈

and that's the whole page!! this was MDBTools 1.0.1 from 13 July 2026 — mwah, go write some headers, you got this 💅✨🎀🦋

📦 where this page comes from