Linux From Scratch - Version r12.2-833-multilib

Chapter 8. Installing Basic System Software

8.63. Findutils-4.10.0

The Findutils package contains programs to find files. Programs are provided to search through all the files in a directory tree and to create, maintain, and search a database (often faster than the recursive find, but unreliable unless the database has been updated recently). Findutils also supplies the xargs program, which can be used to run a specified command on each file selected by a search.

Approximate build time: 0.7 SBU
Required disk space: 62 MB

8.63.1. Installation of Findutils

Prepare Findutils for compilation: 

./configure --prefix=/usr --localstatedir=/var/lib/locate

The meaning of the configure options:

--localstatedir

This option moves the locate database to /var/lib/locate, which is the FHS-compliant location.

Compile the package: 

make

To test the results, issue: 

chown -R tester .
su tester -c "PATH=$PATH make check"

Install the package: 

make install

8.63.2. Contents of Findutils

Installed programs: find, locate, updatedb, and xargs
Installed directory: /var/lib/locate

Short Descriptions

find

Searches given directory trees for files matching the specified criteria

locate

Searches through a database of file names and reports the names that contain a given string or match a given pattern

updatedb

Updates the locate 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

xargs

Can be used to apply a given command to a list of files