The file(1) utility is a UNIX utility that examines and classifies files, based on information found in its database of file types, the /etc/magic file. The following information may be added to your system's /etc/magic file to enable file(1) to correctly identify Berkeley DB database files.

The file(1) utility magic(5) information for the standard System V UNIX implementation of the file(1) utility is included in the Berkeley DB distribution for both big-endian (for example, Sparc) and little-endian (for example, x86) architectures.

The file(1) utility magic(5) information for Release 3.X of Ian Darwin's implementation of the file utility (as distributed by FreeBSD and most Linux distributions) is included in the Berkeley DB distribution. This magic.txt information is correct for both big-endian and little-endian architectures.