Despite having lot of doubts (I cannot find any
disk-activity surveil gadgets that associates file system
activity with processes), I noticed with the aid of the
"ears" (the hdd is mechanical) that often, during prolonged
periods of heavy usage, there is a process (PLOCATE) that
also floats at heavy cpu usage.

Is this process related to the refreshing of the locate
database ?
Is it there a way (and how) to reduce the frequency of
refreshing ? I know I risk some false results during
searches with apps that rely on this database, but the disk
has invaluable data, so I am willing to reduce wear on it.
Tnx in advance for hints

--
1) Resistere, resistere, resistere.
2) Se tutti pagano le tasse, le tasse le pagano tutti
MarioCPPP

On 8/2/23 13:10, MarioCPPP wrote:
>
> Despite having lot of doubts (I cannot find any disk-activity surveil
> gadgets that associates file system activity with processes), I noticed
> with the aid of the "ears" (the hdd is mechanical) that often, during
> prolonged periods of heavy usage, there is a process (PLOCATE) that also
> floats at heavy cpu usage.
>
> Is this process related to the refreshing of the locate database ?

yes, plocate is a replacement for locate and mlocate.

> Is it there a way (and how) to reduce the frequency of refreshing ? I
> know I risk some false results during searches with apps that rely on
> this database, but the disk has invaluable data, so I am willing to
> reduce wear on it.

looking at gentoo
https://data.gpo.zugaina.org/gentoo/sys-apps/plocate/files/
it seems plocate do not handle the frequency of the update but with help
of other tools like cron or systemd where you can set up how often the
plocate is set to scan your storage.

I would check your /etc/cron.hourly to see if there is a plocate file,
if the case then move it to /etc/cron.daily

Some distributions could use a row in the /etc/crontab, in such case
just change the frequency check https://linuxhandbook.com/crontab/ for
hints.

For systemd scheduling, take a look at
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/553771/schedule-command-to-run-at-specific-timestamp-with-systemd

to see if you are using a systemd scheduler, run: systemctl -a | grep locate

If you have further questions about cron then I may be able to answer,
if you have questions about systemd then hope someone else replies.

--
//Aho

On 8/2/2023 7:10 AM, MarioCPPP wrote:
>
> Despite having lot of doubts (I cannot find any disk-activity surveil gadgets that associates file system activity with processes), I noticed with the aid of the "ears" (the hdd is mechanical) that often, during prolonged periods of heavy usage, there is a process (PLOCATE) that also floats at heavy cpu usage.
>
> Is this process related to the refreshing of the locate database ?
> Is it there a way (and how) to reduce the frequency of refreshing ? I know I risk some false results during searches with apps that rely on this database, but the disk has invaluable data, so I am willing to reduce wear on it.
> Tnx in advance for hints
>
>

sudo updatedb # would manually update the database

This discussion shows the use of crontab for scheduling. As
well as mentioning how it would be set up on systemd for
automating the updatedb operation. Maybe systemd plays a part
in annoying you during the day.

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/124757/how-to-update-linux-locate-cache

The updatedb.conf allows defining exclusions, so that the
indexing does not happen for every volume. For example, /media (automounts)
may be pruned from the list. You would not want to add USB sticks,
which disappear five minutes later.

https://linux.die.net/man/5/mlocate.db

The name of the locate makes a difference. mlocate, slocate, plocate,

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Mlocate

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Locate

https://plocate.sesse.net/

One blog entry, claims you can find things "almost as fast"
using "find", when storage is on an SSD. In which case, the
comparison should be made against the plocate version.

Paul

On Wed, 02 Aug 2023 07:10:44 -0400, MarioCPPP <NoliMihiFrangereMentulam@libero.it> wrote:

>
> Despite having lot of doubts (I cannot find any
> disk-activity surveil gadgets that associates file system
> activity with processes), I noticed with the aid of the
> "ears" (the hdd is mechanical) that often, during prolonged
> periods of heavy usage, there is a process (PLOCATE) that
> also floats at heavy cpu usage.
>
> Is this process related to the refreshing of the locate
> database ?
> Is it there a way (and how) to reduce the frequency of
> refreshing ? I know I risk some false results during
> searches with apps that rely on this database, but the disk
> has invaluable data, so I am willing to reduce wear on it.
> Tnx in advance for hints

$ cat /lib/systemd/system/plocate-updatedb.timer
[Unit]
Description=Update the plocate database daily

[Timer]
OnCalendar=daily
RandomizedDelaySec=12h
AccuracySec=20min
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Regards, Dave Hodgins

On 02/08/23 18:13, David W. Hodgins wrote:
> On Wed, 02 Aug 2023 07:10:44 -0400, MarioCPPP
> <NoliMihiFrangereMentulam@libero.it> wrote:
>
>>
>> Despite having lot of doubts (I cannot find any
>> disk-activity surveil gadgets that associates file system
>> activity with processes), I noticed with the aid of the
>> "ears" (the hdd is mechanical) that often, during prolonged
>> periods of heavy usage, there is a process (PLOCATE) that
>> also floats at heavy cpu usage.
>>
>> Is this process related to the refreshing of the locate
>> database ?
>> Is it there a way (and how) to reduce the frequency of
>> refreshing ? I know I risk some false results during
>> searches with apps that rely on this database, but the disk
>> has invaluable data, so I am willing to reduce wear on it.
>> Tnx in advance for hints
>
> $ cat /lib/systemd/system/plocate-updatedb.timer
> [Unit]
> Description=Update the plocate database daily
>
> [Timer]
> OnCalendar=daily
> RandomizedDelaySec=12h
> AccuracySec=20min
> Persistent=true
>
> [Install]
> WantedBy=timers.target
>
> Regards, Dave Hodgins

I answer this first since it is the simplest answer (the
other ones need more work).
I get the identical output here.

Must I accept things as they are or possibly update less
often, i.g. every 2-3 days ? How so ?

--
1) Resistere, resistere, resistere.
2) Se tutti pagano le tasse, le tasse le pagano tutti
MarioCPPP

On 8/2/23 19:46, MarioCPPP wrote:
> On 02/08/23 18:13, David W. Hodgins wrote:

>> $ cat /lib/systemd/system/plocate-updatedb.timer
>> [Unit]
>> Description=Update the plocate database daily
>>
>> [Timer]
>> OnCalendar=daily
>> RandomizedDelaySec=12h
>> AccuracySec=20min
>> Persistent=true
>>
>> [Install]
>> WantedBy=timers.target
>>
>> Regards, Dave Hodgins
>
> I answer this first since it is the simplest answer (the other ones need
> more work).

Different distros do it in different ways, so did just cover the most
common way to run plocate, yours used systemd.

> Must I accept things as they are or possibly update less often, i.g.
> every 2-3 days ? How so ?

Adjust the RandomizedDelaySec to something larger and maybe change
AccuracySec to something smaller, don't forget to reload systemctl with
"sudo systemctl daemon-reload"

--
//Aho

On Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:46:27 -0400, MarioCPPP <NoliMihiFrangereMentulam@libero.it> wrote:
> On 02/08/23 18:13, David W. Hodgins wrote:
>> $ cat /lib/systemd/system/plocate-updatedb.timer
>> [Unit]
>> Description=Update the plocate database daily
>>
>> [Timer]
>> OnCalendar=daily
>> RandomizedDelaySec=12h
>> AccuracySec=20min
>> Persistent=true
>>
>> [Install]
>> WantedBy=timers.target
>>
>> Regards, Dave Hodgins
>
> I answer this first since it is the simplest answer (the
> other ones need more work).
> I get the identical output here.
>
> Must I accept things as they are or possibly update less
> often, i.g. every 2-3 days ? How so ?

Override the setting by creating a file
/etc/systemd/system/plocate-updatedb.timer with the setting you want.

From "man systemd.timer" ...
OnCalendar=
Defines realtime (i.e. wallclock) timers with calendar event expressions. See systemd.time(7) for more information on the syntax of calendar event expressions.

From "man systemd.time" ...
PARSING TIME SPANS
When parsing, systemd will accept the same time span syntax. Separating spaces may be omitted. The following time units are understood:
• usec, us, µs
• msec, ms
• seconds, second, sec, s
• minutes, minute, min, m
• hours, hour, hr, h
• days, day, d
• weeks, week, w
• months, month, M (defined as 30.44 days)
• years, year, y (defined as 365.25 days)

Regards, Dave Hodgins

On 2023-08-02 23:03, David W. Hodgins wrote:
> On Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:46:27 -0400, MarioCPPP
> <NoliMihiFrangereMentulam@libero.it> wrote:
>> On 02/08/23 18:13, David W. Hodgins wrote:
>>> $ cat /lib/systemd/system/plocate-updatedb.timer
>>> [Unit]
>>> Description=Update the plocate database daily
>>>
>>> [Timer]
>>> OnCalendar=daily
>>> RandomizedDelaySec=12h
>>> AccuracySec=20min
>>> Persistent=true
>>>
>>> [Install]
>>> WantedBy=timers.target
>>>
>>> Regards, Dave Hodgins
>>
>> I answer this first since it is the simplest answer (the
>> other ones need more work).
>> I get the identical output here.
>>
>> Must I accept things as they are or possibly update less
>> often, i.g. every 2-3 days ? How so ?
>
> Override the setting by creating a file
> /etc/systemd/system/plocate-updatedb.timer with the setting you want.

Just do:

systemctl edit plocate-updatedb.timer

and it will handle the creation of the override file automatically :-)

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On Thu, 03 Aug 2023 13:26:54 -0400, Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
> Just do:
> systemctl edit plocate-updatedb.timer
> and it will handle the creation of the override file automatically :-)

Thanks for that. I'd forgotten about systemctl edit as I'd never used it.
Time for me to review the whole systemctl man page. :-)

Regards, Dave Hodgins