updatedb.conf(5)                                                                                                updatedb.conf(5)



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


DESCRIPTION
       /etc/updatedb.conf  is  a text file.  Blank lines are ignored.  A # character outside of a quoted string starts a comment
       extending until end of line.

       Other lines must be of the following form:
              VARIABLE = "VALUE"

       White space between tokens is ignored.  VARIABLE is an alphanumeric string which does not start with a digit.  VALUE  can
       contain  any  character  except  for ".  No escape mechanism is supported within VALUE and there is no way to write VALUE
       spanning more than one line.

       Unknown VARIABLE values are considered an error.  The defined variables are:


       PRUNEFS
              A whitespace-separated list of file system types (as used in /etc/mtab) which should  not  be  scanned  by  updat-
              edb(8).  The file system type matching is case-insensitive.  By default, no file system types are skipped.

              When  scanning  a  file  system is skipped, all file systems mounted in the subtree are skipped too, even if their
              type does not match any entry in PRUNEFS.


       PRUNENAMES
              A whitespace-separated list of directory names (without paths) which should not be  scanned  by  updatedb(8).   By
              default, no directory names are skipped.

              Note that only directories can be specified, and no pattern mechanism (e.g.  globbing) is used.


       PRUNEPATHS
              A  whitespace-separated  list  of path names of directories which should not be scanned by updatedb(8).  Each path
              name must be exactly in the form in which the directory would be reported by locate(1).

              By default, no paths are skipped.


       PRUNE_BIND_MOUNTS
              One of the strings 0, no, 1 or yes.  If PRUNE_BIND_MOUNTS is 1 or yes, bind mounts are not scanned by updatedb(8).
              All file systems mounted in the subtree of a bind mount are skipped as well, even if they are not bind mounts.  As
              an exception, bind mounts of a directory on itself are not skipped.

              By default, bind mounts are not skipped.


NOTES
       When a directory is matched by PRUNEFS, PRUNENAMES or PRUNEPATHS, updatedb(8) does not scan the contents  of  the  direc-
       tory.   The  path  of  the  directory  itself  is,  however, entered in the created database.  For example, if /tmp is in
       PRUNEPATHS, locate(1) will not show any files stored in /tmp, but it can show the /tmp directory.  This behavior  differs
       from traditional locate implementations.

       In  some updatedb(8) implementations PRUNEPATHS can be used to exclude non-directory files.  This is not the case in this
       implementation.

       /etc/updatedb.conf is a shell script in some implementations, which allows much more flexibility in  defining  the  vari-
       ables.  Equivalent functionality can be achieved by using the command-line options to updatedb(8).


AUTHOR
       Miloslav Trmac <mitrATredhat.com>


SEE ALSO
       locate(1), updatedb(8)



mlocate                                                     Jun 2008                                            updatedb.conf(5)