source: chapter06/findutils.xml@ b2c8a77

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<sect1 id="ch-system-findutils" role="wrap">
<title>Findutils-&findutils-version;</title>
<?dbhtml filename="findutils.html"?>

<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>

<segmentedlist>
<segtitle>&buildtime;</segtitle>
<segtitle>&diskspace;</segtitle>
<seglistitem><seg>0.1 SBU</seg><seg>9.4 MB</seg></seglistitem>
</segmentedlist>

<segmentedlist>
<segtitle>&dependencies;</segtitle>
<seglistitem><seg>Bash, Binutils, Coreutils,
Diffutils, GCC, Gettext, Glibc, Grep, Make and Sed</seg></seglistitem>
</segmentedlist>
</sect2>

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

<para>Prepare Findutils for compilation:</para>

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

<para>The meaning of the configure options:</para>

<variablelist>
<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>Compile the package:</para>

<screen><userinput>make</userinput></screen>

<para>To test the results, issue:
<userinput>make check</userinput>.</para>

<para>Install the package:</para>

<screen><userinput>make install</userinput></screen>

</sect2>

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

<segmentedlist>
<segtitle>Installed programs</segtitle>
<seglistitem><seg>bigram, code, find, frcode, locate, updatedb, and xargs</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="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>