mlocate

Table of Contents

1. Module Description - What the module does and why it is useful
2. Setup - The basics of getting started with ntp

Module Description

• Install mlocate or plocate package
• Configures /etc/updatedb.conf
• Maintains a cron or timer to run mlocate or plocate.

Setup

Install mlocate or plocate and configure with default configuration.

include mlocate

Fedora 37 and newer will install plocate always since mlocate will be obsoleted by the plocate RPM allways.

Configure everything we can.

class{'mlocate':
  ensure            => true,
  locate            => 'plocate',
  prunefs           => ['9p', 'afs', 'autofs', 'bdev'],
  prune_bind_mounts => true,
  prunenames        => ['.git', 'CVS'],
  prunepaths        => ['/afs', 'mnt' ],
  period            => 'daily',
  force_updatedb    => true,
}

The parameters prunefs, prunenames and prunepaths are configured with a unique merge strategy within hiera so the defaults can be easily extended.

---
mlocate::prunefs:
  - winnt
mlocate::prunenames:
  - .cache
mlocate::prunepaths:
  - /cvmfs

To override all values and set and exact parameter the lookup_options will need to be re-defined

lookup_options:
  mlocate::prunepaths:
    merge: unique

mocate::prunepaths:
  - /set/prunepaths/to/this/path/and/drop/defaults

or just set via parameters:

class{ 'mlocate':
  prunepaths => ['just', 'this'],
}

If you wish to switch to plocate instead you can use the locate parameter to switch to that implementation instead.

---
mlocate::locate: plocate

Using plocate is the default for Archlinux, Debian 11 and newer, Fedora 37 and newer and RHEL 10 and newer

• mlocate is the default for RHEL 7, 8 and 9 and also Fedora 36.
• plocate is the default for Debian and any newer Fedoras or RHELs.