Database Locations

There can be multiple file name databases. Users can select which databases locate searches using an environment variable or a command line option. The system administrator can choose the file name of the default database, the frequency with which the databases are updated, and the directories for which they contain entries. File name databases are updated by running the updatedb program, typically nightly.

In networked environments, it often makes sense to build a database at the root of each filesystem, containing the entries for that filesystem. updatedb is then run for each filesystem on the fileserver where that filesystem is on a local disk, to prevent thrashing the network. Here are the options to updatedb to select which directories each database contains entries for:

--localpaths='path...'

Non-network directories to put in the database. Default is `/'.

--netpaths='path...'

Network (NFS, AFS, RFS, etc.) directories to put in the database. Default is none.

--prunepaths='path...'

Directories to not put in the database, which would otherwise be. Default is `/tmp /usr/tmp /var/tmp /afs'.

--output=dbfile

The database file to build. Default is system-dependent, but typically `/usr/local/var/locatedb'.

--netuser=user

The user to search network directories as, using su. Default is daemon.

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