plocate/updatedb.conf(5)

1updatedb.conf(5)              File Formats Manual             updatedb.conf(5)
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NAME

6       /etc/updatedb.conf - a configuration file for updatedb(8)
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DESCRIPTION

10       /etc/updatedb.conf is a text file.  Blank lines are ignored.  A # char‐
11       acter outside of a quoted string starts a comment extending  until  end
12       of line.
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14       Other lines must be of the following form:
15              VARIABLE = "VALUE"
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17       White  space  between  tokens  is ignored.  VARIABLE is an alphanumeric
18       string which does not start with a digit.  VALUE can contain any  char‐
19       acter  except for ".  No escape mechanism is supported within VALUE and
20       there is no way to write VALUE spanning more than one line.
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22       Unknown VARIABLE values are considered an error.  The defined variables
23       are:
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26       PRUNEFS
27              A  whitespace-separated  list  of  file system types (as used in
28              /etc/mtab) which should not be scanned by updatedb(8).  The file
29              system  type  matching is case-insensitive.  By default, no file
30              system types are skipped.
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32              When scanning a file system is skipped, all file systems mounted
33              in  the  subtree  are  skipped  too, even if their type does not
34              match any entry in PRUNEFS.
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37       PRUNENAMES
38              A whitespace-separated list of directory names  (without  paths)
39              which  should not be scanned by updatedb(8).  By default, no di‐
40              rectory names are skipped.
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42              Note that only directories can  be  specified,  and  no  pattern
43              mechanism (e.g.  globbing) is used.
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46       PRUNEPATHS
47              A  whitespace-separated  list of path names of directories which
48              should not be scanned by updatedb(8).  Each path  name  must  be
49              exactly  in the form in which the directory would be reported by
50              locate(1).
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52              By default, no paths are skipped.
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55       PRUNE_BIND_MOUNTS
56              One of the strings 0, no, 1 or yes.  If PRUNE_BIND_MOUNTS  is  1
57              or  yes,  bind  mounts are not scanned by updatedb(8).  All file
58              systems mounted in the subtree of a bind mount  are  skipped  as
59              well,  even  if they are not bind mounts.  As an exception, bind
60              mounts of a directory on itself  are  not  skipped.   Note  that
61              Btrfs  subvolume  mounts are handled internally in the kernel as
62              bind mounts (see btrfs-subvolume(8)), and thus, may get  skipped
63              if  you  have also mounted the filesystem root itself.  To coun‐
64              teract this, make your root directory a Btrfs subvolume, too.
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66              By default, bind mounts are not skipped.
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NOTES

70       When a directory is matched by PRUNEFS, PRUNENAMES or  PRUNEPATHS,  up‐
71       datedb(8) does not scan the contents of the directory.  The path of the
72       directory itself is, however, entered in the created database.  For ex‐
73       ample,  if  /tmp  is  in  PRUNEPATHS, locate(1) will not show any files
74       stored in /tmp, but it can show the /tmp directory.  This behavior dif‐
75       fers from traditional locate implementations.
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77       In  some  updatedb(8) implementations PRUNEPATHS can be used to exclude
78       non-directory files.  This is not the case in this implementation.
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80       /etc/updatedb.conf is a shell script in some implementations, which al‐
81       lows much more flexibility in defining the variables.  Equivalent func‐
82       tionality can be achieved by using the command-line options  to  updat‐
83       edb(8).
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AUTHOR

87       Miloslav Trmac <mitr@redhat.com>
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NAME

DESCRIPTION

NOTES

AUTHOR

SEE ALSO