Your message dated Tue, 7 Apr 2009 15:32:26 +0200
with message-id <[email protected]>
and subject line Re: Bug#494966: mlocate: database should be under /var/cache
has caused the Debian Bug report #494966,
regarding mlocate: database should be under /var/cache
to be marked as done.
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494966: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=494966
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--- Begin Message ---
Package: mlocate
Version: 0.21-1
Severity: minor
The locate database should be under /var/cache, not /var/lib.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (990, 'testing'), (500, 'testing-proposed-updates')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.25-2-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=C, lc_ctype=it...@euro (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968) (ignored: LC_ALL
set to C)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Versions of packages mlocate depends on:
ii adduser 3.108 add and remove users and groups
ii libc6 2.7-10 GNU C Library: Shared libraries
mlocate recommends no packages.
mlocate suggests no packages.
-- no debconf information
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Uhm, it seems I completely forgot about this bug, sorry about that.
On 2008-08-14, Francesco Potorti` wrote:
> Looking at the usage of /var/cache in the Filesystem Hierarchy
> Statndard, at
> http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#VARCACHEAPPLICATIONCACHEDATA
> I read that /var/cache should host data that can be regenerated by the
> application if not present. For example, the administrator should be
> able to delete those data at any moment without any loss (apart from cpu
> time).
> However, this is not true of mlocate, because if I delete mlocate.db,
> the locate command does not work.
> So for one, yes we have a problem, as most administrators would leave
> out the mlocate database of normal daily backups; but the solution I
> suggested is not correct, because the mlocate database is not
> automatically rebuilt if deleted, so it is not a candidate for
> /var/cache.
Yeah, I think the key issue is what you say: the database is not
automatically rebuilt if deleted.
We have plenty of other stuff in /var/lib that can be easily
regenerated, but that won’t be regenerated without manual action, and
whose absence will make the software not work, eg. the package lists
under /var/lib/apt.
Because of this, I’ll mark this bug as closed, since I don’t think the
database should be moved out of /var/lib. Please let me know if in the
time that has passed since your last message you’ve come to any new
conclusions.
Regarding backups, I think it should be the decision of the person doing
the backup whether to include it or not, depending on their intent of
preserving only valuable data, or making a restore-and-back-to-normal
scheme possible.
Cheers,
--
- Are you sure we're good?
- Always.
-- Rory and Lorelai
--- End Message ---
