I honestly love SQLlite, so many things about this database are refreshingly amazing. The lightweight embedded nature, the extreme ubiquity[1], the single-source-file-to-compile idea[2], the gigantic test suite[3], their commitment to stability and backward compatability[4], etc ...

Simply a modern marvel of engineering. A thing to put on the next Voyager and send to aliens as a representative of what human minds and hands can do.

[1] https://www.sqlite.org/mostdeployed.html

[2]https://www.sqlite.org/amalgamation.html

[3] https://www.sqlite.org/testing.html

[4]https://www.sqlite.org/lts.html

All I'd want is a CLI tool that can dump an SQLite file so that it actually looks like a table (using "|", "-", "+", etc.), and maybe also accept grep-style filter specs (per specified column[s] of course).

This sounds like an interesting weekend project. Are you saying you can't find anything for this?

There is catsql[1] but it barfs in my Python environment.

[1]https://github.com/paulfitz/catsql

you can get a long way with something like

$ echo "<sqlite3 commands / sql queries>" | sqlite3 FILE

sqlite also has roots in the us military (navy iirc). this could explain the US govs willingness to adopt.

The LOC page explains why they recommend SQLite.

https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd0004...