NAME
mlocate.db - a mlocate database
DESCRIPTION
A mlocate database starts with a file header: 8 bytes for a magic
number ("\0mlocate" like a C literal), 4 bytes for the configuration
block size in big endian, 1 byte for file format version (0), 1 byte
for the “require visibility” flag (0 or 1), 2 bytes padding, and a NUL-
terminated path name of the root of the database.
The header is followed by a configuration block, included to ensure
databases are not reused if some configuration changes could affect
their contents. The size of the configuration block in bytes is stored
in the file header. The configuration block is a sequence of variable
assignments, ordered by variable name. Each variable assignment
consists of a NUL-terminated variable name and an ordered list of NUL-
terminated values. The value list is terminated by one more NUL
character. The ordering used is defined by the strcmp () function.
Currently defined variables are:
prune_bind_mounts
A single entry, the value of PRUNE_BIND_MOUNTS; one of the
strings 0 or 1.
prunefs
The value of PRUNEFS, each entry is converted to uppercase.
prunepaths
The value of PRUNEPATHS.
The rest of the file until EOF describes directories and their
contents. Each directory starts with a header: 8 bytes for directory
time (seconds) in big endian, 4 bytes for directory time (nanoseconds)
in big endian (0 if unknown, less than 1,000,000,000), 4 bytes padding,
and a NUL-terminated path name of the the directory. Directory
contents, a sequence of file entries sorted by name, follow.
Directory time is the maximum of st_ctime and st_mtime of the
directory. updatedb(8) uses the original data if the directory time in
the database and in the file system match exactly. Directory time
equal to 0 always causes rescanning of the directory: this is necessary
to handle directories which were being updated while building the
database.
Each file entry starts with a single byte, marking its type:
0 A non-directory file. Followed by a NUL-terminated file (not
path) name.
1 A subdirectory. Followed by a NUL-terminated file (not path)
name.
2 Marks the end of the current directory.
locate(1) only reports file entries, directory names are not reported
because they are reported as an entry in their parent directory. The
only exception is the root directory of the database, which is stored
in the file header.
AUTHOR
Miloslav Trmac <mitr@redhat.com>
SEE ALSO
locate(1), updatedb.conf(5), updatedb(8)