No 'locate' cmd in SuSE 9.0??
 

When I try to use locate bash informs me the command is not found. Same with updatedb. Searching for either of these in YaST gives me no results, although a search on the find command says that it's located within the findutils package (which IS installed, and I can use find ok. The description within YaST of the findutils package is:

Nothing about locate or updatedb. No problem, I went to FSF and downloaded, untar'd, configured, make, make installed, make clean the source I got there (that said it contained find, locate, updatedb, and xargs), but no luck -- still neither of those cmds work.

I haven't done anything odd to my paths, so I'm not sure what's going on...

Normal path:
nate@linux:~> echo $PATH
/home/nate/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/bin:/usr/games:/opt/gnome/bin:
/opt/kde3/bin:/usr/lib/java/jre/bin:.:/usr/java/j2sdk1.4.2_02/bin:
/usr/java/j2sdk1.4.2_02/bin:/usr/java/j2sdk1.4.2_02/bin

su path:
linux:/home/nate # echo $PATH
/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/X11R6/bin

I guess I'm looking for some help to figure out how to get these useful cmds up and running, and if they're already on my system as some have told me on XChat, where ARE they?

I also couldn't find Emacs although there were folders indicating that it was a prog on the system. YaST had never heard of it though. So I got that from FSF too, works fine. So I'm not surprised at finding other useful tools being left out because someone at SuSE decided I wouldn't want them, but why? Aren't these some pretty important omissions?

It should be there, it's almost a requirement to comfortabley use your system. You need to be root to run 'updatedb', though. If you've done that, I'm at a loss.

scott_R: Yeah, knew i'd forget some details. :) Have already tried to use updatedb (as root), and I still get 'command not found'. :(

Have also tried 'ldconfig' at the prompting of someone else trying to help (though I'm not sure what ldconfig does or if it would have updated the library databases - guess that's what we're aiming at, huh?), and that doesn't solve the problem either.

ldconfig sets up links for shared files and drivers, typically when you install something new or update parts of your system. If it was a fresh install, this shouldn't be an issue, however. If you can see the updatedb/slocate stuff in your directories, perhaps there is a permissions problem (like it's not even executable by root). Also, have you tried running it './updatedb' while in the /usr/bin directory?

I think you misunderstood... I could see folders for Emacs, but couldn't get it to run at any level until I installed it myself. Just weird IMO... why create a folder named Emacs, but not put an emacs program in there? And Xemacs isn't known by YaST either... lotsa' different vi editors though. Guess that's what SuSE wants ppl to use.

As for folders or info on the system relating to 'locate' and 'updatedb', nothing. Not in /usr/bin, not in yast, not in bash. Only place there is any reference is in the untar'd findutils-4.1 folder. But as I mentioned before, the usual compile from source procedure doesnt seem to install these at all.

Not in SuSE
 

That's been my finding too. Never seen the 'locate' command in SuSE 8.2, which I'm running now. And that really stinks. I used that all of the time in RH, and still do on our servers. I agree, it should be a requirement if you are using bash.

looseCannon: Well I am at least happy to hear it's not just me. Misery loves company. :)

I've only been Linux-based for about a month now, and thought SuSE would be a nice distro to learn on since they had 1) a live-eval version that'll win over any disenchanted Windows-slave, and 2) an extremely easy installation in 9.0. Actually tried Debian first, but the walk-thru I had couldn't get me past setting up X. Got my eyes on Slack for a month or two down the road when I'm more comfortable with my lack of knowledge. But until then, I thought I'd try to make SuSE as light as I could.

Anyways, not having 'locate' is an issue. I just cannot for the life of me understand why I cannot install it...

here is findutils
and findutils-locate

Ok, finally thought to search the SuSE db, and there it was... apparently, as of 8.0, they stopped including 'locate' in the standard installation. They walked through a method of getting it installed through YaST, which doesn't work on 9.0, so I can only assume that they've gone the extra step of totally removing 'locate' from they're software disks for SuSE 9. Clicky

As for 'updatedb', I found out that due to some problem with something, to get updatedb to work in 9.0 (specifically 9.0 this time), you have to modify the values for 'nobody' in the /etc/shadow file. I checked the file out, and my values were already in their corrected state... which means 'updatedb' would work, if it could be installed (or were installed already, which it ain't). :/ Clicky

Once again, neither of the solutions listed in the links has worked for me in 9.0. Anyone with any advice or a different experience?

rshaw: Missed your post as I was writing mine, but your stuff worked. Installed both locate and updatedb... thx for the help. :)

Still, would love to understand why installing findutils from source from FSF didn't produce any result, since I always look for source before RPM's. But baby steps I guess.

Once again thx.

I've got locate in /usr/bin (suse9) and didn't install it separately from the initial setup

it might be a personal/pro version difference.

Try slocate. On my mandrake computer, these two files are identical. Actually, I think that slocate is hard linked to locate. If you have slocate, it is probably located in /usr/bin/. Can you locate updatedb is you su to root?