Locate command

[Matthew Seaman]

Rem P Roberti wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>>>> Actually, the very first thing I always do after installing a FreeBSD is
>>>> add this line to crontab:
>>>>
>>>> 00 02 * * * /usr/libexec/locate.updatedb
>>>>
>>>> I guess I'm a locate-freak ;^D
>>>>
>>> Done.  Thanks again.
>> You guys should rather use /etc/periodic/weekly/310.locate script
>> to update your locate database.
> 
> I'm pretty new to all of this, so how does one go about invoking that
> script?

Well, to run it by hand you type:

    /etc/periodic/weekly/310.locate

Otherwise it will be run automatically by the periodic(8) system. 
It is enabled by default:

happy-idiot-talk:~:% grep locate /etc/defaults/periodic.conf 
# 310.locate
weekly_locate_enable="YES"                              # Update locate weekly

You can create a file /etc/periodic.conf to control turning on
or off or to tweak parameters for any of the periodic scripts.

As the name suggests it's a weekly script, and if you look at
/etc/crontab you will see the line:

15      4       *       *       6       root    periodic weekly

Or in other words, it runs at around 4:15am on Saturdays.

If you wanted to run it every day, then you'ld copy it to
/usr/local/etc/periodic/daily/310.locate, globally substitute
daily_locate for weekly_locate eg. by:

sed -i.bak -e 's/weekly_locate/daily_locate/' \
     /usr/local/etc/periodic/daily/310.locate

and then put both 'daily_locate_enable="YES"' and 'weekly_locate_enable="NO"' into /etc/periodic.conf

In this case it would be run by the periodic system like so:

1       3       *       *       *       root    periodic daily

that is: at 3:01am every day.

	Cheers,

	Matthew

-- 
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.                   7 Priory Courtyard
                                                  Flat 3
PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey     Ramsgate
                                                  Kent, CT11 9PW

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