PAGES
← all tools
◆ General Utilities & Libraries

mdbtools

v1.0.1 open-source

Set of utilities and libraries for reading and exporting data from Microsoft Access (MDB/ACCDB) files.

source ↗ website ↗ rss ↗ What is a cyber toolchain?

Summary

mdbtools is an open-source set of command-line utilities and libraries for reading and exporting data from Microsoft Access (MDB/ACCDB) database files, free to use. Commands like mdb-export, mdb-json, and mdb-schema pull tables out as CSV, JSON, or SQL DDL, with libmdb and libmdbsql available for programs that need direct or SQL-style access instead of shelling out. It suits developers and data engineers who need to get data out of legacy Access files on Linux or Unix systems without owning a Windows/Access license, and its README frames it as the toolkit for that job rather than an Access replacement. Development stretches back to 2000 with 87 contributors, but activity has slowed sharply, with just two commits in the past year and the last release over 600 days ago.

Set of utilities and libraries for reading and exporting data from Microsoft Access (MDB/ACCDB) files.

How mdbtools helps

What tables and structure does this legacy Access file actually contain?

prints the version and schema as DDL, listing tables and columns without needing Access installed to open the file first

How do I get the rows out of this Access table and into something my pipeline can read?

exports a table to CSV or JSON so downstream scripts can consume it directly

Which table should I query, and how many rows am I dealing with before I commit to exporting it?

dumps table names and row counts, cheap checks usable in shell scripts before running a full export

What queries were saved inside this database, and what do they actually select?

lists and prints the queries stored in the file, showing their logic without opening Access

Can I run a quick SQL statement against this file without writing an export script first?

runs a SQL engine directly against the file so ad hoc questions get answered on the spot

Will the schema I generate load cleanly into another database engine?

writes the table definitions as DDL, including index and primary key output, for feeding into a SQL import

all 6 features, with the evidence for each →

Languages

Not documented

Features

6 capabilities

Built from mdbtools's releases, docs, README and our own runs. “Seen” marks the month we first spotted a release the vendor didn't date. Group names and tags are our labels.

Compare with peers →

What mdbtools offers you

  • Command-line interface1
All capabilities 6 capabilities
New mdb-queries CLI tool shipped Provides a command-line interface for executing queries against MDB databases. 5 releases · first seen Dec 2020

Also counts toward: Command-line interface

release

  • SQL parser accepts brackets around table names in input queries v0.9.4 · Aug 2021 · source · release history
  • mdb-query now wraps table names in brackets in its SQL output v0.9.4 · Aug 2021 · source · release history
  • mdb-export: Implement a serial type and relations for MySQL v0.9.2 · Feb 2021 · source · release history
  • mdb-export gains --escape-invisible flag for C-style escaping of tabs and newlines v0.9.1 · Jan 2021 · source · release history
  • Introduces new mdb-queries CLI tool for executing queries against MDB databases. v0.9.0 · Dec 2020 · source · release history
In-memory database support shipped Allows MDB databases to be opened and operated from memory buffers without requiring temporary files or file I/O. 5 releases · first seen Sep 2020

release

  • Supports files created with Access 2019 in libmdb 0.9.3 · May 2021 · source · release history
  • Add support for numeric scale/precision on JET3 databases and floating-point column types v0.9.2 · Feb 2021 · source · release history
  • Automatically detect character encoding of JET3 databases v0.9.1 · Jan 2021 · source · release history
  • Adds in-memory database API allowing databases to be operated entirely in memory without file I/O. v0.9.0 · Dec 2020 · source · release history
  • Adds mdb_open_buffer(void *buffer, size_t len, MdbFileFlags flags) API to parse .mdb files directly from memory without temporary files. 0.7 · Sep 2020 · source · release history
Enhanced SQL parser support shipped Supports SQL identifiers and database names containing spaces, double quotes, special characters, and negative floating point literals. 3 releases · 1 other source · first seen May 2021

release

example

  • Use SQL identifiers containing special characters or spaces supported by the enhanced parser. mdb-sql "SELECT * FROM \"My Table\" WHERE col > -1.5" v0.9.3 · May 2021 · source
Microsoft Access version compatibility shipped Enables reading and processing MDB files created by recent Microsoft Access versions, including Access 2019, without format errors. 1 release · 1 other source · first seen May 2021

release

example

  • Read legacy MDB files generated by the most recent Access versions without format errors. mdb-export -t . input.mdb v0.9.3 · May 2021 · source
Encrypted page support shipped Enables the library to write encrypted pages within MDB databases. 1 release · first seen Aug 2021

release

ODBC driver support shipped Provides an ODBC driver interface for MDB databases to enable connectivity using the legacy UCS-2 character encoding. 1 release · first seen Sep 2020

release

  • Adds libmdbodbcW.so, an experimental ODBC driver supporting the UCS-2 interface for legacy character encoding compatibility 0.7.1 · Sep 2020 · source · release history

Lines in monospace are the tool's own words: help text parsed from its source, or an endpoint from its API document. Under release, a line is our summary of a dated release. Under docs, it is quoted from the tool's own documentation or website. Each links back to the source it came from.

Score card

  1. Shipping velocity releases a month, last 12 months
  2. Documentation quality release-notes rubric, 0–100
  3. Breaking-change discipline how rarely a release breaks users, and notice given
  4. Maintenance risk quiet time against its own cadence, maintainers
  5. Innovation & surface new capabilities, API and MCP surface
  6. Community health
  7. Contributor trend distinct committers, this year against last
  8. Maintainer concentration bus factor now against a year ago
  9. Issue backlog trend issues closed per issue opened, 12 months
  10. Responsiveness median time to a maintainer’s first reply

Nine scores for mdbtools, each built from the releases, notes and API history this site tracks — and, on Researcher and Business, where it stands among every measured tool in its category and how that has moved.

Score cards are part of every paid plan.

See plans →

Each score is 0–100 on a published rubric, derived from data this site already shows. A dimension we cannot measure says so — it is never scored 0 and never enters a rank.

How this is scored
  • Shipping velocity — releases a month over the last 12 months, on a log scale where 16 a month scores 100. Needs 3 releases in the window.
  • Documentation quality — the release-notes rubric published on the analytics page, unchanged.
  • Breaking-change discipline — the share of releases carrying a breaking change (none scores 100, half or more scores 0). Only projects that label breaking changes are measured: a clean record cannot be told from an unlabelled one.
  • Maintenance risk — quiet time measured against the tool's own release cadence (quiet longer than 90 days and three typical gaps scores 0), plus the number of active maintainers and whether contributors are growing, where known. Higher is lower risk.
  • Innovation & surface — new capabilities in the feature ledger this year, API and MCP operations added, and the share of commits that are features: the mean of whichever we hold.
  • Community health (open-source tools only) — each is a direction, not a size: contributors this year against last, the bus factor now against a year ago, and issues closed per issue opened, where steady scores 50, doubled 100 and halved 0; plus the median time to a maintainer's first reply (an hour scores about 100, a month or more 0). A commercial card has no repository and carries none of the four.
  • Documented delivery (commercial tools) — when a vendor's documented new capabilities have slowed against its own baseline, that counts against the overall standing as heavily as two low dimensions. Steady delivery, or too little history to judge, leaves the standing alone; it is never a sixth score.
  • Open-source tools are scored on repository signals; commercial tools on their published changelog. Ranks compare tools within one category and one profile and need at least five measured peers; the overall standing needs three ranked dimensions. Best-in-breed or consolidator is a shape, not a quality, and is never scored.

Release-note detail over time

See how much detail mdbtools puts in its release notes, quarter by quarter, and compare it with tracked tools in the same category. This history uses up to ten retained, reviewed notes per tool; sparse or blank older quarters may reflect that limit.

Checking release-note history…

Explore the full chart →

Releases

Show

9 entries

  1. December 20241
  3. October 20211
  5. August 20211
  7. May 20211
  9. February 20211
  11. January 20211
  13. December 20201
  15. September 20202
    Show

    9 entries

    1. v1.0.1 Dec 26, 2024 · release notes

      mdbtools v1.0.1 adds index/primary key output to SQLite schema export and floating-point type conversion via ODBCODBCA standard API, maintained by Microsoft, for connecting applications to relational databases regardless of vendor. Cyber tools use it to query databases without writing engine-specific code. SQLGetData.

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch v1.0.1 https://github.com/mdbtools/mdbtools.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout v1.0.1
      • Adds index and primary key output to the SQLite schema writer backend.
      • Adds ODBC SQLGetData support for converting floating-point types.

      2 details in Everything

    2. v1.0.0 Oct 24, 2021 · release notes

      MDB Tools 1.0 adds ILIKE and <> SQL operators, Rep ID formatting API, and safe client-side build via generated header.

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch v1.0.0 https://github.com/mdbtools/mdbtools.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout v1.0.0
      • Adds ILIKE SQL operator for case-insensitive pattern matching
      • Adds <> SQL operator for not-equal comparisons
      • Adds mdb_set_repid_fmt() function to set the format of Rep IDs (UUIDsUUIDsA universally unique identifier, usually a 128-bit value used to identify an object across systems. It is designed to make independently generated identifiers unlikely to collide.)
      • Generates platform-specific mdbtools.h at configure-time to remove HAVE_ macros and unsafe client-side flag requirements

      4 details in Everything

      └──▷ BREAKING ON UPGRADE
      • !Generating the configure script now requires autoconf 2.64 or later
    3. v0.9.4 Aug 4, 2021 · release notes

      MDB Tools 0.9.4 adds support for brackets around table names and encrypted page writing.

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch v0.9.4 https://github.com/mdbtools/mdbtools.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout v0.9.4
      • mdb-query now wraps table names in brackets in its SQL output
      • SQL parser accepts brackets around table names in input queries
      • libmdb can write encrypted pages

      3 details in Everything

    4. v0.9.3 May 1, 2021 · release notes

      MDB Tools v0.9.3 adds support for Access 2019 files, double-quoted SQL names, and negative floats in libmdbsql.

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch v0.9.3 https://github.com/mdbtools/mdbtools.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout v0.9.3
      └──▷ TRY IT
      Read legacy MDB files generated by the most recent Access versions without format errors.
      $ mdb-export -t . input.mdb
      Use SQL identifiers containing special characters or spaces supported by the enhanced parser.
      $ mdb-sql "SELECT * FROM \"My Table\" WHERE col > -1.5"
      • Supports .mdb files created with Access 2019 in libmdb
      • Allow double quoted (") database names in libmdbsql
      • Allows spaces in database names via libmdbsql
      • Support negative floating point literals in libmdbsql

      4 details in Everything

    5. v0.9.2 Feb 27, 2021 · release notes

      MDB Tools v0.9.2 adds numeric scale/precision support for JET3 databases and MySQL serial type generation in mdb-export.

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch v0.9.2 https://github.com/mdbtools/mdbtools.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout v0.9.2
      • Add support for numeric scale/precision on JET3 databases and floating-point column types
      • mdb-export: Implement a serial type and relations for MySQL

      2 details in Everything

    6. v0.9.1 Jan 4, 2021 · release notes

      MDB Tools v0.9.1 adds escape-invisible flag and improves JET3/4 encoding handling

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch v0.9.1 https://github.com/mdbtools/mdbtools.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout v0.9.1
      • mdb-export gains --escape-invisible flag for C-style escaping of tabs and newlines
      • Automatically detect character encoding of JET3 databases

      2 details in Everything

    7. v0.9.0 Dec 17, 2020 · release notes

      MDB Tools v0.9.0 adds in-memory API, multi-thread support, Access 2016 files, and mdb-queries CLI

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch v0.9.0 https://github.com/mdbtools/mdbtools.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout v0.9.0
      └──▷ HOW TO FIND IT
      Build MDB Tools without GLib dependency by passing the configure flag
      📍./configure --disable-glib && make
      • Adds in-memory database API allowing databases to be operated entirely in memory without file I/O.
      • Supports multiple handles opened by multiple threads, enabling concurrent access from different threads.
      • Adds support for files created with Access 2013 and Access 2016, expanding compatible file formats.
      • Makes GLib optional via --disable-glib configure option, allowing builds without the GLib dependency.
      • Introduces new mdb-queries CLI tool for executing queries against MDB databases.

      5 details in Everything

      └──▷ BREAKING ON UPGRADE
      • !ABI changes necessitate a bump to the dynamic library version; existing binaries linked against previous versions may fail.
      • !Slight breaking API changes since 0.7.1; most programs require recompilation with minor modifications.
    8. 0.7.1 Sep 2, 2020 · release notes

      Adds libmdbodbcW.so ODBCODBCA standard API, maintained by Microsoft, for connecting applications to relational databases regardless of vendor. Cyber tools use it to query databases without writing engine-specific code. driver with UCS-2 interface support and updates build system standards.

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch 0.7.1 https://github.com/mdbtools/mdbtools.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout 0.7.1
      • Adds libmdbodbcW.so, an experimental ODBC driver supporting the UCS-2 interface for legacy character encoding compatibility

      1 detail in Everything

      └──▷ BREAKING ON UPGRADE
      • !autogen.sh is removed; users must now use autoreconf -if to bootstrap the configuration process
    9. 0.7 Sep 2, 2020 · release notes

      MDBTools 0.7 adds in-memory database parsing via mdb_open_buffer and per-handle date formatting

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch 0.7 https://github.com/mdbtools/mdbtools.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout 0.7
      • Adds mdb_open_buffer(void *buffer, size_t len, MdbFileFlags flags) API to parse .mdb files directly from memory without temporary files.
      • Modifies mdb_set_date_fmt(MdbHandle *mdb, const char *) to accept a handle parameter for non-global date format configuration.

      2 details in Everything

      └──▷ BREAKING ON UPGRADE
      • !The ABI struct layout changes require bumping SO numbers.
      • !Existing projects using mdb_set_date_fmt must update the call signature to include the MdbHandle *mdb argument.

    Project health

    Issue, contributor and maintainer activity in mdbtools/mdbtools, 2023-10 – 2026-09, as of 2026-09-25. Twelve-month figures first; the trend lines run the whole window.

    1. Contributors 4 +2 vs prior 12 months
    2. Maintainers 1 +2 joined · −2 left, last 12 months
    3. Bus factor 1 committers behind half the commits
    4. Community-filed 100% of issues opened, last 12 months
    5. Median time to close 43 days first maintainer reply 43 days
    6. Open backlog 79 of 274 issues ever filed
    1. Issues opened / month 0 · 0 communitymaintainers
    2. Open backlog 79
    3. Contributors / month 3
    4. Commits / month 5
    5. Stars 1,173
    Issue themes, last 12 months
    • other 100%

    Counts from the project's public repository and git history; no individuals are identified. Maintainers are the committers covering 80% of the last year's commits. how we measure this

    Libraries its release ships

    What its latest release locks, checked against known advisories.

    None of its release's images build from a lockfile we can read.

    Add the badge to your README

    Maintain this project? The badge links readers straight to this page, so they can follow every release here.

    Tracked by Cyber Toolchain Choose a badge style and copy the code →
    compare.md

      Free the public facts, no sign-in Any paid plan all other sections Researcher & Business pricing history and category rank

      my-toolchain — 0 tools

        Betas, release candidates and previews. Turn it off to see final releases only. It also applies to changes you ask for over MCP when you're signed in.
        browse all tools → score card for your toolchain →
        cyber-toolchain / feedback

        Send us feedback