Starting with the 0.21.0 release POPFile uses a SQLite 2.x database to store the corpus, the magnets and other data. POPFile's SQLite database is a single file, usually called 'popfile.db'. The SQLite library includes a simple command-line utility called sqlite.exe which is shipped with the Windows version of POPFile.

Although the SQLite website describes this as a “simple” utility, it is very powerful so any mistakes made when using it could seriously damage the POPFile database and stop POPFile from working properly.

The POPFile installer creates a shortcut (“Run SQLite utility”) in the 'User Data' folder to make it easy to use the SQLite command-line utility. The utility runs in a DOS-box and the necessary commands have to be typed into the DOS-box to make the utility do anything, so the installer provides some user-friendly front-ends for this utility which can be used instead:

• POPFile SQLite Database Status Check utility
• POPFile Run SQLite Utility

The sqlite.exe command-line utility allows advanced users to manually enter and execute SQL commands against an SQLite database. A brief introduction on how to use this utility can be found on the SQLite website.

Be very careful if you decide to use this utility - a simple mistake made while using it could stop POPFile from working.