updatedb(1) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | BUGS | REPORTING BUGS | COPYRIGHT | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

UPDATEDB(1)              General Commands Manual             UPDATEDB(1)

NAME         top

       updatedb - update a file name database

SYNOPSIS         top

       updatedb [options]

DESCRIPTION         top

       This manual page documents the GNU version of updatedb, which
       updates file name databases used by GNU locate.  The file name
       databases contain lists of files that were in particular
       directory trees when the databases were last updated.  The file
       name of the default database is determined when locate and
       updatedb are configured and installed.  The frequency with which
       the databases are updated and the directories for which they
       contain entries depend on how often updatedb is run, and with
       which arguments.

       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.  Users can select which databases
       locate searches using an environment variable or command line
       option; see locate(1).  Databases cannot be concatenated
       together.

       The LOCATE02 database format was introduced in GNU findutils
       version 4.0 in order to allow machines with different byte
       orderings to share the databases.  GNU locate can read both the
       old and LOCATE02 database formats, though support for the old
       pre-4.0 database format will be removed shortly.

OPTIONS         top

       --findoptions='-option1 -option2...'
              Global options to pass on to find.  The environment
              variable FINDOPTIONS also sets this value.  Default is
              none.

       --localpaths='path1 path2...'
              Non-network directories to put in the database.  Default
              is /.

       --netpaths='path1 path2...'
              Network (NFS, AFS, RFS, etc.) directories to put in the
              database.  The environment variable NETPATHS also sets
              this value.  Default is none.

       --prunepaths='path1 path2...'
              Directories to not put in the database, which would
              otherwise be.  Remove any trailing slashes from the path
              names, otherwise updatedb won't recognise the paths you
              want to omit (because it uses them as regular expression
              patterns).  The environment variable PRUNEPATHS also sets
              this value.  Default is /tmp /usr/tmp /var/tmp /afs.

       --prunefs='path...'
              File systems to not put in the database, which would
              otherwise be.  Note that files are pruned when a file
              system is reached; any file system mounted under an
              undesired file system will be ignored.  The environment
              variable PRUNEFS also sets this value.  Default is nfs NFS
              proc.

       --output=dbfile
              The database file to build.  Default is system-dependent.
              In Debian GNU/Linux, the default is
              /var/cache/locate/locatedb.

       --localuser=user
              The user to search non-network directories as, using
              su(1).  Default is to search the non-network directories
              as the current user.  You can also use the environment
              variable LOCALUSER to set this user.

       --netuser=user
              The user to search network directories as, using su(1).
              Default is daemon.  You can also use the environment
              variable NETUSER to set this user.

       --dbformat=F
              Create the database in format F.  The default format is
              called LOCATE02.  Alternatively the slocate format is also
              supported.  When the slocate format is in use, the
              database produced is marked as having security level 1.
              If you want to build a system-wide slocate database, you
              may want to run updatedb as root.

       --version
              Print the version number of updatedb and exit.

       --help Print a summary of the options to updatedb and exit.

BUGS         top

       The updatedb program correctly handles filenames containing
       newlines, but only if the system's sort command has a working -z
       option.  If you suspect that locate may need to return filenames
       containing newlines, consider using its --null option.

REPORTING BUGS         top

       GNU findutils online help:
       <https://www.gnu.org/software/findutils/#get-help>
       Report any translation bugs to
       <https://translationproject.org/team/>

       Report any other issue via the form at the GNU Savannah bug
       tracker:
              <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=findutils>
       General topics about the GNU findutils package are discussed at
       the bug-findutils mailing list:
              <https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-findutils>

COPYRIGHT         top

       Copyright © 1994-2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License
       GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
       <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute
       it.  There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO         top

       find(1), locate(1), xargs(1), locatedb(5)

       Full documentation
       <https://www.gnu.org/software/findutils/updatedb>
       or available locally via: info updatedb

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the findutils (find utilities) project.
       Information about the project can be found at 
       ⟨http:https://www.gnu.org/software/findutils/⟩.  If you have a bug
       report for this manual page, see
       ⟨https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=findutils⟩.  This page was
       obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨git:https://git.savannah.gnu.org/findutils.git⟩ on 2023-12-22.  (At
       that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in
       the repository was 2023-11-11.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
       is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       [email protected]

                                                             UPDATEDB(1)

Pages that refer to this page: find(1)locate(1)xargs(1)