Arch Linux

tethys

Member

Registered: 2019-08-13

Posts: 121

[SOLVED]Should I remove mlocate.db after plocate replaces mlocate?

Recently mlocate was replaced with plocate. However I see that the file /var/lib/mlocate/mlocate.db is still there. Should I remove this file? I am asking because of this:

$ pacman -Qi mlocate
Name            : plocate
Version         : 1.1.22-3
Description     : Alternative to locate, faster and compatible with mlocate's database.
Architecture    : x86_64
URL             : https://plocate.sesse.net
Licenses        : GPL-2.0-or-later  GPL-2.0-only
Groups          : None
Provides        : mlocate  locate
Depends On      : zstd  liburing  systemd
Optional Deps   : None
Required By     : None
Optional For    : pacman-contrib
Conflicts With  : mlocate
Replaces        : mlocate
Installed Size  : 499.19 KiB
Packager        : Morten Linderud <foxboron@archlinux.org>
Build Date      : Tue Sep 10 23:27:39 2024
Install Date    : Sun Oct 20 16:55:04 2024
Install Reason  : Explicitly installed
Install Script  : No
Validated By    : Signature

It says that plocate is compatible with mlocate database and in my system plocate.db is empty.

Last edited by tethys (2024-10-24 13:35:46)

Awebb

Member

Registered: 2010-05-06

Posts: 6,688

Re: [SOLVED]Should I remove mlocate.db after plocate replaces mlocate?

If you don't trust the mlocate db, nuke it. If it works keep it. If you rely heavily on locate, then nuke the old db in case plocate gives up on compatibility, but even when that happens, it should alter the existing db.

If your db isn't massive or if your computer isn't super slow, nuke and regenerate and see what happens.

Last edited by Awebb (2024-10-24 04:18:19)

tethys

Member

Registered: 2019-08-13

Posts: 121

Re: [SOLVED]Should I remove mlocate.db after plocate replaces mlocate?

Hi Awebb, thank for the answer.
During my last update, mlocate was replaced with plocate but mlocate.db was still there. For a few days plocate.db was empty but yesterday I saw that plocate.db had about the same size as mlocate.db. As I am not using mlocate/plocate/locate often, I decided to delete mlocate.db.

Awebb

Member

Registered: 2010-05-06

Posts: 6,688

Re: [SOLVED]Should I remove mlocate.db after plocate replaces mlocate?

Like I said, unless your machine is super slow and you have lots of files, regenerating the database should not pose a problem.