Linux From Scratch: Version 5.1-pre1
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# Installing Findutils-4.1.20

The Findutils package contains programs to find files. The finding is done either by doing a live recursive search through a directory tree, or by consulting a previously set up database.

    Approximate build time:  0.2 SBU
    Required disk space:     7.5 MB

Official download location for Findutils (4.1.20):
ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/findutils/

For its installation Findutils depends on: Bash, Binutils, Coreutils, Diffutils, GCC, Gettext, Glibc, Grep, Make, Sed.

##

## Installation of Findutils

Prepare Findutils for compilation:

    ./configure --prefix=/usr --libexecdir=/usr/lib/locate

The default location for the locate database is `/usr/var`. To make the location of this database FHS-compliant, add --localstatedir=/var/lib/misc to the above configure options.

Compile the package:

    make

This package has a test suite available which can perform a number of checks to ensure it built correctly. Should you choose to run it, the following command will do so:

    make check

And install the package:

    make install

##

## Contents of Findutils

Installed programs: bigram, code, find, frcode, locate, updatedb and xargs

## Short descriptions

bigram was formerly used to produce locate databases.

code was formerly used to produce locate databases. It is the ancestor of frcode.

find searches given directory trees for files matching the specified criteria.

frcode is called by updatedb to compress the list of file names. It uses front-compression, reducing the database size by a factor of 4 to 5.

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 in the database.

xargs can be used to apply a given command to a list of files.

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