[Techtalk] updatedb hard drive thrashing

[Mary]

On Sun, Jun 22, 2003, Deanna Dunker wrote:
> I've noticed that sometimes it won't allow me to use the Find utility
> until I've ran updatedb.  I'll go to find a file, and a message will
> pop up saying something along the lines about how the search wont be
> completed until I've run updatedb as root.  This has happened to me
> several times in RH9, which I've been running for a few weeks now.
> I've never had that problem in RH8.
> 
> Is there a way around it?  I've just been trying to find files through
> the GUI (*cringes*, yes I'm a gui-gal).  Would I be able to search
> without having to wait to updatedb another way?  Also, would this
> affect Ed's searching capabilities if he uninstalled the program?

I assume what's happening is that your GUI is calling locate, or is
talking directly to the locate database, and if it is too out of date or
something, then it refuses to run. I don't know anything about the GUI
(I don't even know if Red Hat wrote it themselves, or if you're using a
GNOME or KDE program for it - one of the difficulties with talking about
GUI programs on Linux is that it's not always easy to figure out if the
two people are talking about the same program... but in any case, it's
sensible that it would use locate - a direct search of the harddrive is
just the same as what updatedb does!)

Yes, ed's ability to find files will be affected if he stops updatedb
running - he won't be able to run "locate" or Red Hat's GUI Find utility
- or if he does, it won't find new files because the locate database
won't be up to date.

-Mary