#include <db.h>

int
DB_ENV->txn_begin(DB_ENV *env,
    DB_TXN *parent, DB_TXN **tid, u_int32_t flags);

The DB_ENV->txn_begin method creates a new transaction in the environment and copies a pointer to a DB_TXN that uniquely identifies it into the memory to which tid refers. Calling the DB_TXN->abort, DB_TXN->commit or DB_TXN->discard methods will discard the returned handle.

Note: Transactions may only span threads if they do so serially; that is, each transaction must be active in only a single thread of control at a time. This restriction holds for parents of nested transactions as well; no two children may be concurrently active in more than one thread of control at any one time.

Note: Cursors may not span transactions; that is, each cursor must be opened and closed within a single transaction.

Note: A parent transaction may not issue any Berkeley DB operations -- except for DB_ENV->txn_begin, DB_TXN->abort and DB_TXN->commit -- while it has active child transactions (child transactions that have not yet been committed or aborted).

The DB_ENV->txn_begin method returns a non-zero error value on failure and 0 on success.

• The flags parameter must be set to 0 or by bitwise inclusively OR'ing together one or more of the following values:
  DB_READ_COMMITTED
  • This transaction will have degree 2 isolation. This provides for cursor stability but not repeatable reads. Data items which have been previously read by this transaction may be deleted or modified by other transactions before this transaction completes.
  DB_READ_UNCOMMITTED
  • This transaction will have degree 1 isolation. Read operations performed by the transaction may read modified but not yet committed data. Silently ignored if the DB_READ_UNCOMMITTED flag was not specified when the underlying database was opened.
  DB_TXN_NOSYNC
  • Do not synchronously flush the log when this transaction commits or prepares. This means the transaction will exhibit the ACI (atomicity, consistency, and isolation) properties, but not D (durability); that is, database integrity will be maintained but it is possible that this transaction may be undone during recovery.

    This behavior may be set for a Berkeley DB environment using the DB_ENV->set_flags method. Any value specified to this method overrides that setting.

  DB_TXN_NOWAIT
  • If a lock is unavailable for any Berkeley DB operation performed in the context of this transaction, cause the operation to return DB_LOCK_DEADLOCK (or DB_LOCK_NOTGRANTED if the database environment has been configured using the DB_TIME_NOTGRANTED flag).

    This behavior may be set for a Berkeley DB environment using the DB_ENV->set_flags method. Any value specified to this method overrides that setting.

  DB_TXN_SNAPSHOT
  • This transaction will execute with snapshot isolation. For databases with the DB_MULTIVERSION flag set, data values will be read as they are when the transaction begins, without taking read locks. Silently ignored for operations on databases with DB_MULTIVERSION not set on the underlying database (read locks are acquired).

    The error DB_LOCK_DEADLOCK will be returned from update operations if a snapshot transaction attempts to update data which was modified after the snapshot transaction read it.

  DB_TXN_SYNC
  • Synchronously flush the log when this transaction commits or prepares. This means the transaction will exhibit all of the ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability) properties.

    This behavior is the default for Berkeley DB environments unless the DB_TXN_NOSYNC flag was specified to the DB_ENV->set_flags method. Any value specified to this method overrides that setting.

  DB_TXN_WAIT
  • If a lock is unavailable for any Berkeley DB operation performed in the context of this transaction, wait for the lock.

    This behavior is the default for Berkeley DB environments unless the DB_TXN_NOWAIT flag was specified to the DB_ENV->set_flags method. Any value specified to this method overrides that setting.

  DB_TXN_WRITE_NOSYNC
  • Write, but do not synchronously flush, the log when this transaction commits. This means the transaction will exhibit the ACI (atomicity, consistency, and isolation) properties, but not D (durability); that is, database integrity will be maintained, but if the system fails, it is possible some number of the most recently committed transactions may be undone during recovery. The number of transactions at risk is governed by how often the system flushes dirty buffers to disk and how often the log is flushed or checkpointed.

    This behavior may be set for a Berkeley DB environment using the DB_ENV->set_flags method. Any value specified to this method overrides that setting.

  
  

• If the parent parameter is non-NULL, the new transaction will be a nested transaction, with the transaction indicated by parent as its parent. Transactions may be nested to any level. In the presence of distributed transactions and two-phase commit, only the parental transaction, that is a transaction without a parent specified, should be passed as an parameter to DB_TXN->prepare.

The DB_ENV->txn_begin method may fail and return one of the following non-zero errors:

• The maximum number of concurrent transactions has been reached.