Why updatedb doesn't traverse my external HD?

[Marko Vojinovic]

On Saturday 24 December 2011 20:07:20 Reindl Harald wrote:
> Am 24.12.2011 19:58, schrieb Marko Vojinovic:
> > (1) What is the proper place to customize this configuration? I want
> > /media to be ext4, so that it doesn't get excluded by updatedb. I know
> > I could reconfigure the /lib/systemd/system/media.mount, but that would
> > probably be overwritten on update or something. How are these things
> > meant to be customized?
> 
> /media is for temporary mounts and this design is OK
> mount your drive somewhere else

Why? This drive *is* a temporary mount, and the system is properly mounting it 
under /media. I see no reason to mount it anywhere else --- /media is 
precisely the place where this drive should be mounted.

> > (2) Why is /media being mounted like this? If I reconfigure it back to
> > ext4, is anything else going to break?
> 
> because it makes no sense to "updatedb" temporary mounts like
> usb-disks, network-mounts and such things since locate-hits
> are normally useless for them and "updatedb" runs forever
> on slow temporary mounts with a hughe amount of files

Maybe it doesn't make sense for you, but there are other people out there with 
other usecases, and running updatedb through /media might make sense for them. 

This external drive is used as a backup for a laptop. I typically plug it in 
every now and then, perform the backup, start updatedb manually once the 
backup is done, and remove the drive. The mlocate database stays on the system 
for the situations when I lose/modify some local file, and need to know where 
it is on the backup, for later retreival. When out in the field, I am often not 
in a position to replug the backup disk, and even then it would take a lot of 
time to search through 1.5 TB for a single file, on a slow USB disk. The very 
purpose of locate and updatedb is to cut this time short.

When I ask how to do something, the only thing I don't want to hear is an 
answer on the lines of "only a jackass would want to do that". You should get 
out of your own little world and have a more open mind about how other people 
use computers, which might be quite different from your own habits.

Or if you are unable to imagine a situation where traversing an external USB 
drive might be useful, it is much better to *ask* me about my usecase than 
playing smart and telling me that I am doing it all wrong, especially when you 
don't have the slightest idea what am I doing in the first place. Such behavior 
makes you look very stupid in the eyes of other people.

Please.

Best, :-)
Marko