updatedb(8)													       updatedb(8)



NAME
       updatedb - update a database for mlocate


SYNOPSIS
       updatedb [OPTION]...


DESCRIPTION
       updatedb  creates  or  updates  a  database used by locate(1).  If the database already exists, its data is reused to avoid
       rereading directories that have not changed.

       updatedb is usually run daily by cron(8) to update the default database.


EXIT STATUS
       updatedb returns with exit status 0 on success, 1 on error.


OPTIONS
       The PRUNE_BIND_MOUNTS, PRUNEFS, PRUNENAMES and PRUNEPATHS variables, which are modified by some of the options,	are  docu‐
       mented in detail in updatedb.conf(5).


       -f, --add-prunefs FS
	      Add entries in white-space-separated list FS to PRUNEFS.


       -n, --add-prunenames NAMES
	      Add entries in white-space-separated list NAMES to PRUNENAMES.


       -e, --add-prunepaths PATHS
	      Add entries in white-space-separated list PATHS to PRUNEPATHS.


       -U, --database-root PATH
	      Store  only  results  of	scanning the file system subtree rooted at PATH to the generated database.  The whole file
	      system is scanned by default.

	      locate(1) outputs entries as absolute path names which don't contain symbolic links, regardless of the form of PATH.


       --debug-pruning
	      Write debugging information about pruning decisions to standard error output.


       -h, --help
	      Write a summary of the available options to standard output and exit successfully.


       -o, --output FILE
	      Write the database to FILE instead of using the default database.


       --prune-bind-mounts FLAG
	      Set PRUNE_BIND_MOUNTS to FLAG, overriding the configuration file.


       --prunefs FS
	      Set PRUNEFS to FS, overriding the configuration file.


       --prunenames NAMES
	      Set PRUNENAMES to NAMES, overriding the configuration file.


       --prunepaths PATHS
	      Set PRUNEPATHS to PATHS, overriding the configuration file.


       -l, --require-visibility FLAG
	      Set the “require file visibility before reporting it” flag in the generated database to FLAG.

	      If FLAG is 0 or no, or if the database file is readable by "others" or it is not owned by mlocate, locate(1) outputs
	      the  database entries even if the user running locate(1) could not have read the directory necessary to find out the
	      file described by the database entry.

	      If FLAG is 1 or yes (the default), locate(1) checks the permissions of  parent  directories  of  each  entry  before
	      reporting  it to the invoking user.  To make the file existence truly hidden from other users, the database group is
	      set to mlocate and the database permissions prohibit reading the database by users using other means than locate(1),
	      which is set-gid mlocate.

	      Note  that  the  visibility flag is checked only if the database is owned by mlocate and it is not readable by "oth‐
	      ers".


       -v, --verbose
	      Output path names of files to standard output, as soon as they are found.


       -V, --version
	      Write information about the version and license of locate on standard output and exit successfully.


EXAMPLES
       To create a private mlocate database as an user other than root, run
	      updatedb -l 0 -o db_file -U source_directory
       Note that all users that can read db_file can get the complete list of files in the subtree of source_directory.


FILES
       /etc/updatedb.conf
	      A configuration file.  See updatedb.conf(5).


       /var/lib/mlocate/mlocate.db
	      The database updated by default.


SECURITY
       Databases built with --require-visibility no allow users to find names of files and directories of other users, which  they
       would not otherwise be able to do.


NOTES
       The  accompanying  locate(1)  utility  was designed to be compatible to slocate and attempts to be compatible to GNU locate
       where possible.	This is not the case for updatedb.


AUTHOR
       Miloslav Trmac 


SEE ALSO
       locate(1), mlocate.db(5), updatedb.conf(5)



mlocate 						     Jun 2008						       updatedb(8)