If it's the article I'm thinking of, it was by hex-editing a saved game file. I saved the game, flew a mission that unlocked a database entry and saved again. By comparing the two files I figured out (with some trial and error) what offset was telling it which entries were unlocked. I cycled through the options until I had everything.
Since then, though, awesome P2 developer Paulie Hughes has actually sent us all the game's internal text. That's posted somewhere too!