私もZODBを強くお勧めします。次のように、shelve データベースを ZODB データベースに移植できます。
#!/usr/bin/env python
import shelve
import ZODB, ZODB.FileStorage
import transaction
from optparse import OptionParser
import os
import sys
import re
reload(sys)
sys.setdefaultencoding("utf-8")
parser = OptionParser()
parser.add_option("-o", "--output", dest = "out_file", default = False, help ="original shelve database filename")
parser.add_option("-i", "--input", dest = "in_file", default = False, help ="new zodb database filename")
parser.set_defaults()
options, args = parser.parse_args()
if options.in_file == False or options.out_file == False :
print "Need input and output database filenames"
exit(1)
db = shelve.open(options.in_file, writeback=True)
zstorage = ZODB.FileStorage.FileStorage(options.out_file)
zdb = ZODB.DB(zstorage)
zconnection = zdb.open()
newdb = zconnection.root()
for key, value in db.iteritems() :
print "Copying key: " + str(key)
newdb[key] = value
transaction.commit()