bool DoLookupTransaction(const char *db_name,
                         const char *key_name,
                         Buffer *buf)
{
  // lookups can occur even as some backends are being finished
  // (i.e. the block backend). allow this behavior, which must come
  // before the Xdb backend itself is finished.
  if (TransactionBackend::HasFinishedBackends()) {
    Assert(!IsAnalysisRemote());

    Xdb *xdb = GetDatabase(db_name, false);
    if (!xdb || !xdb->Exists())
      return false;

    String *key = String::Make(key_name);
    return XdbFindUncompressed(xdb, key, buf);
  }

  Transaction *t = new Transaction();

  size_t data_res = t->MakeVariable(true);
  TOperand *key_arg = new TOperandString(t, key_name);
  t->PushAction(Backend::XdbLookup(t, db_name, key_arg, data_res));

  SubmitTransaction(t);

  TOperandString *data_value = t->LookupString(data_res);

  if (data_value->GetDataLength() == 0) {
    delete t;
    return false;
  }
  else {
    TOperandString::Uncompress(data_value, buf);

    delete t;
    return true;
  }
}