Q:

Opening sqlite3 database from python in read-only mode

While using sqlite3 from C/C++ I learned that it has a open-in-read-only mode option, which is very handy to avoid accidental data-corruption. Is there such a thing in the Python binding? 

A:

As of Python 3.4.0 you can open the database in read only mode with the following:
db = sqlite3.connect('file:/path/to/database?mode=ro', uri=True)

Also see the documentation.

A:

Workaround for Python 2.x:
fd = os.open(filename, os.O_RDONLY)
c = sqlite3.connect('/dev/fd/%d' % fd)
os.close(fd)

Not posix, but available on Linux, OS/X and most modern unixes.

A:

Somewhat related, note that you can enable/disable modifications dynamically with a pragma:
pragma query_only = ON;   -- disable changes
pragma query_only = OFF;  -- enable changes

