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 documented 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 "others".

       -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 <mitr@redhat.com>

SEE ALSO

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