A gdbm database has essentially the same functionality as a mapping, except the syntax is different, and it is located on disk, not in memory. Each gdbm database is one file which contains a set of key-value pairs. Both keys and values are strings and all keys are unique.
The fast mode prevents the database from syncronizing each change in the database immediately. This is dangerous because the database can be left in an unusable state if uLPC is terminated abnormally.
The default mode is "rwc".