Can you *read* leveldb data without the proper comparator?

Question

I'm trying to access leveldbs generated by Chrome storing indexeddbs. I get keys and values. But they are either in an unknown encoding - I've tried many ways to detect them - or they are scrambled in some way.

import plyvel    
db = plyvel.DB(dirname, comparator=cmp, comparator_name="idb_cmp1")
for key, value in db:
    print(key) 
    print(value)

I don't mind if the keys are in random order as described here. But it would be nice to get the keys and values in a readable fashion. I'm not dealing with binary data in the leveldb, either.

I'm using plyvel in python to iterate over the db. This answer might be related: LevelDB C iterator

Answer 1

you may fake it by passing exactly the same comparator name to a custom comparator in plyvel. that comparator may work differently from the one originally used to create the database. that would get you past the first hurdle i guess.

but since leveldb does not provide a read-only mode of operation, there may be a background thread kicking in to do some compaction while you read the database. and since the comparator is mishaving, this can lead to data loss and destruction of your database.