command locate not available
 

When my friend issued the "locate" command, it returned the following output. How should I fix it?

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# locate ls
warning: locate: could not open database: /var/lib/slocate/slocate.db: No such file or directory
warning: You need to run the 'updatedb' command (as root) to create the database.
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The answer is right in front of you. Your friend should run "updatedb" so that /var/lib/slocate/slocate.db is created. Once thats done, your friend can then use locate. :)

First "su" to root, and then run the "updatedb" command. Just as the message says.

On my FC5 boxen, that is now part of the mlocate package. I seem to recall it being slocate on previous installs.

Try installing it with yum...
yum install mlocate

then, update the database so it can find things with the command:
updatedb