I also haven't found an intended command line way or program API to add a directory to exclude from Spotlight. (they are buried in a plist file in the Spotlight data directory for the particular mount point, and one could use command line tools to add it there, but I would NOT recommend risking it)
But in System Preferences ->Spotlight->Privacy tab, the usual command-shift-G type the path works just fine to set a directory (not needing to be a volume mount point) to exclude. That's probably needed because /opt/local/var/macports has the Finder invisible flag set. > On Nov 17, 2021, at 13:31, Peter Hancock <[email protected]> wrote: > > On 17/11/2021 15:46, Chris Jones wrote: >> Some users might find it useful, and the exact volume to exclude >> depends on the details of the users installation, which would be >> difficult to automate. So I think its fine to just leave it to be >> done by hand by those that wish to. >> On 17/11/2021 3:09 pm, André-John Mas wrote: >>> Just wondering whether it would make sense for MacPorts to auto >>> exclude that folder? Does spotlight even provide an API or command >>> that would allow MacPorts to do that?>> > > André-John Mas mentions folders (directories?), while Chris Jones mentions > volumes > (mounted filesystems?). > > On Catalina, for me the command "sudo mdutil -i off /opt/local/var/macports " > evokes: > [ > Password: > /System/Volumes/Data/opt/local/var/macports: > Error: invalid operation. > Error: unknown indexing state. > ] > > Trying to drag that directory into the appropriate System Preferences > "privacy" pane, > accomplishes nothing. It doesn't appear on the list. > > My man page for mdutil seems to speak only about volumes. A bit of googling > suggests > that though there *may* have been a time when you could exclude various > directories > from spotlight indexing, by one trick or another, those days are gone. > > Am I wrong? > > I hope so. I'm getting pretty dyspeptic about how much of my computer seems > to be > taken over by Spotlight and it's various underlings/minions. > > (Eg, It/they seem(s) to spend a large chunk of resources on creating > tens/hundreds of thousands > of empty directories deep under /private/var/folders, to no apparent purpose.) > > > -- eMail: mailto:[email protected]
