source: BOOK/final-system/common/findutils.xml

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<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../../general.ent">
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<sect1 id="ch-system-findutils" role="wrap">
  <?dbhtml filename="findutils.html"?>

  <title>Findutils-&findutils-version;</title>

  <indexterm zone="ch-system-findutils">
    <primary sortas="a-Findutils">Findutils</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <sect2 role="package">
    <title/>

    <para>The Findutils package contains programs to find files. These programs
    are provided to recursively search through a directory tree and to
    create, maintain, and search a database (often faster than the recursive
    find, but unreliable if the database has not been recently updated).</para>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="installation">
    <title>Installation of Findutils</title>

    <para os="a">Prepare Findutils for compilation:</para>

<screen os="b"><userinput>./configure \
    --prefix=/usr \
    --libexecdir=/usr/lib/locate \
    --localstatedir=/var/lib/locate</userinput></screen>

    <variablelist os="c">
      <title>The meaning of the configure options:</title>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><parameter>--localstatedir</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This option changes the location of the <command>locate</command>
          database to be in <filename class="directory">/var/lib/locate</filename>,
          which is FHS-compliant.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

    <para os="d">Compile the package:</para>

<screen os="e"><userinput>make</userinput></screen>

    <para os="f">To test the results, issue:</para>

<screen os="f2"><userinput remap="test">make check</userinput></screen>

    <para os="g">Install the package:</para>

<screen os="h"><userinput>make install</userinput></screen>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 id="contents-findutils" role="content">
    <title>Contents of Findutils</title>

    <segmentedlist>
      <segtitle>Installed programs</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed directory</segtitle>

      <seglistitem>
        <seg>bigram, code, find, frcode, locate, oldfind, updatedb, xargs</seg>
        <seg>/usr/lib/locate</seg>
      </seglistitem>
    </segmentedlist>

    <variablelist>
      <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Short Descriptions</bridgehead>
      <?dbfo list-presentation="list"?>
      <?dbhtml list-presentation="table"?>

      <varlistentry id="bigram">
        <term><command>bigram</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Was formerly used to produce <command>locate</command>
          databases</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-findutils bigram">
            <primary sortas="b-bigram">bigram</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="code">
        <term><command>code</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Was formerly used to produce <command>locate</command>
          databases; it is the ancestor of <command>frcode</command>.</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-findutils code">
            <primary sortas="b-code">code</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="find">
        <term><command>find</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Searches given directory trees for files matching the specified
          criteria</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-findutils find">
            <primary sortas="b-find">find</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="frcode">
        <term><command>frcode</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Is called by <command>updatedb</command> to compress the list
          of file names; it uses front-compression, reducing the database size
          by a factor of four to five.</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-findutils frcode">
            <primary sortas="b-frcode">frcode</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="locate">
        <term><command>locate</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Searches through a database of file names and reports the names
          that contain a given string or match a given pattern</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-findutils locate">
            <primary sortas="b-locate">locate</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="oldfind">
        <term><command>oldfind</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Older version of find, using a different algorithm</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-findutils oldfind">
            <primary sortas="b-oldfind">oldfind</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="updatedb">
        <term><command>updatedb</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Updates the <command>locate</command> database; it scans the
          entire file system (including other file systems that are currently
          mounted, unless told not to) and puts every file name it finds into
          the database</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-findutils updatedb">
            <primary sortas="b-updatedb">updatedb</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="xargs">
        <term><command>xargs</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Can be used to apply a given command to a list of files</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-findutils xargs">
            <primary sortas="b-xargs">xargs</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

  </sect2>

</sect1>