NAME

       updatedb - update a database for plocate

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 from a systemd.timer(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.

       --add-single-prunepath PATH
              Add PATH to PRUNEPATHS. Note that this is currently the only way to add a path with a space in it.

       -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 plocate,
              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 plocate and the database permissions prohibit reading
              the database by users using other means than locate(1), which is set-gid plocate.

              Note that the visibility flag is checked only if the database is owned by plocate 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 plocate database as a 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).   Uses exactly the same format as the one used by
              mlocate(1)'s updatedb, so they can be shared.

       /var/lib/plocate/plocate.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.

AUTHOR

       Miloslav Trmac <mitr@redhat.com>

       Steinar H. Gunderson <steinar+plocate@gunderson.no>

SEE ALSO

       locate(1), updatedb.conf(5)

plocate                                             Dec 2020                                         updatedb(8)