73 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
73 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
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# rlocate
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`locate` is an unix utility for finding files by filename. It runs a
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scheduled task that updates a simple database file with the list of
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every file in the system, and provides a tool for querying that
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database.
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`locate` was first released in 1994, accompanying the release of BSD 4.4
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Unix. `mlocate` is a more modern implementation that improves
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performance in the scanner by copying the contents of a folder that
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hasn't changed since the last scan (although it still has to recurse
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down that folder's subfolders).
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`rlocate` seeks to update these two, and provide better functionality
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going forward.
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# Features
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Right now, none of this works. The _intended_ feature list is:
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- Can read the following locatedb formats:
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- MLOCATE
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- Provides new locatedb formats:
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- RLOCR01: Directory path prefixes are built by reference, making for
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a much smaller database.
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- RLOCR02: RLOCR01, but compressed.
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- Dynamic, real-time monitoring of local (not networked) filesystems,
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with real-time updating. (Currently Linux only; Requires
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`located-server` feature flag.)
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- A library for accessing the RLocate database or the RLocate server.
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- A C FFI for that library.
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# Installation
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`rlocate` is a replacement for `mlocate`, which is part of the
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`findutils` package, and you do not want to damage _that_. After
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building, install the client, and updater or server (depending on which
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you built) into the folder of your choice. If you're using the timed
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updater, edit your cron table to run it, removing the mlocate entry. If
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you're using the server, you can run it and it should *just work*. It
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may take some time to build an initial database file, however.
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# Motivation
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I can't remember the project that started this. All I recall was that
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at one time I was very disappointed to learn that there was no way of
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scanning the mlocate.db file from a library; the only way to access it
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was to run a process pipe from inside your C or Rust program. The
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mlocate.db file has a unique group as is readable only by members of
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that group; it's also owned by root and can only be updated if the
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updatedb program is run by root.
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I wanted something that was both better and had fewer security
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requirements. This is the result of that project.
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It also let me get back into writing Rust, something I haven't done in
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awhile.
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## LICENSE
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`rlocate` is Copyright [Elf M. Sternberg](https://elfsternberg.com)
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(c) 2019, and licensed with the Mozilla Public License vers. 2.0. A
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copy of the license file is included [in the root folder](./docs/LICENSE.md).
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