Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

/opt/freeware/bin/updatedb from findutils rpm checks for the sort binary from the aix toolbox...not sure whats your problem.

excerpt from updatedb shell script:

if truethen    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort -z"    print_option="-print0"    frcode_options="$frcode_options -0"else    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort"    print_option="-print"fi

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

Thank-you for that, I hadn't even realised updatedb was a shell script, I was looking at the C source code on GitHub! Not sure what I have been looking at now.

The script on my system says:

    sort="/usr/bin/sort"

throughout, not sure why it is different. I can try changing it.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

/opt/freeware/bin/updatedb from findutils rpm checks for the sort binary from the aix toolbox...not sure whats your problem.

excerpt from updatedb shell script:

if truethen    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort -z"    print_option="-print0"    frcode_options="$frcode_options -0"else    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort"    print_option="-print"fi

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

concerning your /tmp fillup troubles...updatedb runs mktemp somewhere, which uses whatever $TMPDIR is currently set to. maybe you should run

a cron job to cleanup /tmp regulary.

Thank-you for that, I hadn't even realised updatedb was a shell script, I was looking at the C source code on GitHub! Not sure what I have been looking at now.

The script on my system says:

    sort="/usr/bin/sort"

throughout, not sure why it is different. I can try changing it.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

/opt/freeware/bin/updatedb from findutils rpm checks for the sort binary from the aix toolbox...not sure whats your problem.

excerpt from updatedb shell script:

if truethen    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort -z"    print_option="-print0"    frcode_options="$frcode_options -0"else    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort"    print_option="-print"fi

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

It actually does this:

# Directory to hold intermediate files.
if test -d /var/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/var/tmp}
elif test -d /usr/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/usr/tmp}
else
  : ${TMPDIR=/tmp}
fi
export TMPDIR

I have just tested both, and it makes no difference to filling up the filesystem. I know GNU sort is highly customisable, but it is a compromise between disk space, memory/processor and time.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

concerning your /tmp fillup troubles...updatedb runs mktemp somewhere, which uses whatever $TMPDIR is currently set to. maybe you should run

a cron job to cleanup /tmp regulary.

Thank-you for that, I hadn't even realised updatedb was a shell script, I was looking at the C source code on GitHub! Not sure what I have been looking at now.

The script on my system says:

    sort="/usr/bin/sort"

throughout, not sure why it is different. I can try changing it.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

/opt/freeware/bin/updatedb from findutils rpm checks for the sort binary from the aix toolbox...not sure whats your problem.

excerpt from updatedb shell script:

if truethen    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort -z"    print_option="-print0"    frcode_options="$frcode_options -0"else    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort"    print_option="-print"fi

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

It actually does this:

# Directory to hold intermediate files.
if test -d /var/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/var/tmp}
elif test -d /usr/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/usr/tmp}
else
  : ${TMPDIR=/tmp}
fi
export TMPDIR

I have just tested both, and it makes no difference to filling up the filesystem. I know GNU sort is highly customisable, but it is a compromise between disk space, memory/processor and time.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

concerning your /tmp fillup troubles...updatedb runs mktemp somewhere, which uses whatever $TMPDIR is currently set to. maybe you should run

a cron job to cleanup /tmp regulary.

Thank-you for that, I hadn't even realised updatedb was a shell script, I was looking at the C source code on GitHub! Not sure what I have been looking at now.

The script on my system says:

    sort="/usr/bin/sort"

throughout, not sure why it is different. I can try changing it.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

/opt/freeware/bin/updatedb from findutils rpm checks for the sort binary from the aix toolbox...not sure whats your problem.

excerpt from updatedb shell script:

if truethen    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort -z"    print_option="-print0"    frcode_options="$frcode_options -0"else    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort"    print_option="-print"fi

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

Let's just rewind a bit here. 

My issue is:

"I have used updatedb for 25 years on Linux and have never had this problem. What is the difference to AIX?"

I checked the disk space graphs on my home server (Linux (sadly)) running updatedb every night, and they are completely flat. 

This is the first place I have ever worked where locate on AIX is standard on our builds, which is cool, but there is now talk about scrapping it because of frequent alerting.

Move it to a filesystem with more space? We don't just have three servers. We need a standard place for this, /tmp or /var/tmp would be correct, and adding space to lots of servers because of this issue will not go down well.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 11:25 AM
From: Stephen Ulmer
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Original Message:
Sent: 3/28/2023 10:31:00 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: RE: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

It actually does this:

# Directory to hold intermediate files.
if test -d /var/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/var/tmp}
elif test -d /usr/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/usr/tmp}
else
  : ${TMPDIR=/tmp}
fi
export TMPDIR

I have just tested both, and it makes no difference to filling up the filesystem. I know GNU sort is highly customisable, but it is a compromise between disk space, memory/processor and time.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 10:17 AM
From: C- -T
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

concerning your /tmp fillup troubles...updatedb runs mktemp somewhere, which uses whatever $TMPDIR is currently set to. maybe you should run

a cron job to cleanup /tmp regulary.

------------------------------
I regret starting this entire conversation

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 10:14 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Thank-you for that, I hadn't even realised updatedb was a shell script, I was looking at the C source code on GitHub! Not sure what I have been looking at now.

The script on my system says:

    sort="/usr/bin/sort"

throughout, not sure why it is different. I can try changing it.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 10:07 AM
From: C- -T
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

/opt/freeware/bin/updatedb from findutils rpm checks for the sort binary from the aix toolbox...not sure whats your problem.

excerpt from updatedb shell script:

if truethen    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort -z"    print_option="-print0"    frcode_options="$frcode_options -0"else    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort"    print_option="-print"fi

------------------------------
I regret starting this entire conversation

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 03:25 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing
------------------------------

i must confess i never  paid much attention to this locate stuff...but the first obvious difference between the updatedb command between linux and aix is that on linux its not a shell script but a binary. just checked on my ubuntu notbook.

so there might be some hidden "treasures" somewhere,

------------------------------
I regret starting this entire conversation

Original Message:
Sent: Wed March 29, 2023 03:19 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Let's just rewind a bit here. 

My issue is:

"I have used updatedb for 25 years on Linux and have never had this problem. What is the difference to AIX?"

I checked the disk space graphs on my home server (Linux (sadly)) running updatedb every night, and they are completely flat. 

This is the first place I have ever worked where locate on AIX is standard on our builds, which is cool, but there is now talk about scrapping it because of frequent alerting.

Move it to a filesystem with more space? We don't just have three servers. We need a standard place for this, /tmp or /var/tmp would be correct, and adding space to lots of servers because of this issue will not go down well.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 11:25 AM
From: Stephen Ulmer
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Original Message:
Sent: 3/28/2023 10:31:00 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: RE: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

It actually does this:

# Directory to hold intermediate files.
if test -d /var/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/var/tmp}
elif test -d /usr/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/usr/tmp}
else
  : ${TMPDIR=/tmp}
fi
export TMPDIR

I have just tested both, and it makes no difference to filling up the filesystem. I know GNU sort is highly customisable, but it is a compromise between disk space, memory/processor and time.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 10:17 AM
From: C- -T
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

concerning your /tmp fillup troubles...updatedb runs mktemp somewhere, which uses whatever $TMPDIR is currently set to. maybe you should run

a cron job to cleanup /tmp regulary.

------------------------------
I regret starting this entire conversation

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 10:14 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Thank-you for that, I hadn't even realised updatedb was a shell script, I was looking at the C source code on GitHub! Not sure what I have been looking at now.

The script on my system says:

    sort="/usr/bin/sort"

throughout, not sure why it is different. I can try changing it.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 10:07 AM
From: C- -T
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

/opt/freeware/bin/updatedb from findutils rpm checks for the sort binary from the aix toolbox...not sure whats your problem.

excerpt from updatedb shell script:

if truethen    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort -z"    print_option="-print0"    frcode_options="$frcode_options -0"else    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort"    print_option="-print"fi

------------------------------
I regret starting this entire conversation

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 03:25 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing
------------------------------

i guess this is what the linux guys are using...

https://github.com/msekletar/mlocate/blob/master/src/updatedb.c

seems that this is not generating any temporary files unlike the aix script...could not find something related in the code, just direct db creation.

i must confess i never  paid much attention to this locate stuff...but the first obvious difference between the updatedb command between linux and aix is that on linux its not a shell script but a binary. just checked on my ubuntu notbook.

so there might be some hidden "treasures" somewhere,

------------------------------
I regret starting this entire conversation

Original Message:
Sent: Wed March 29, 2023 03:19 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Let's just rewind a bit here. 

My issue is:

"I have used updatedb for 25 years on Linux and have never had this problem. What is the difference to AIX?"

I checked the disk space graphs on my home server (Linux (sadly)) running updatedb every night, and they are completely flat. 

This is the first place I have ever worked where locate on AIX is standard on our builds, which is cool, but there is now talk about scrapping it because of frequent alerting.

Move it to a filesystem with more space? We don't just have three servers. We need a standard place for this, /tmp or /var/tmp would be correct, and adding space to lots of servers because of this issue will not go down well.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 11:25 AM
From: Stephen Ulmer
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Original Message:
Sent: 3/28/2023 10:31:00 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: RE: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

It actually does this:

# Directory to hold intermediate files.
if test -d /var/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/var/tmp}
elif test -d /usr/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/usr/tmp}
else
  : ${TMPDIR=/tmp}
fi
export TMPDIR

I have just tested both, and it makes no difference to filling up the filesystem. I know GNU sort is highly customisable, but it is a compromise between disk space, memory/processor and time.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 10:17 AM
From: C- -T
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

concerning your /tmp fillup troubles...updatedb runs mktemp somewhere, which uses whatever $TMPDIR is currently set to. maybe you should run

a cron job to cleanup /tmp regulary.

------------------------------
I regret starting this entire conversation

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 10:14 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Thank-you for that, I hadn't even realised updatedb was a shell script, I was looking at the C source code on GitHub! Not sure what I have been looking at now.

The script on my system says:

    sort="/usr/bin/sort"

throughout, not sure why it is different. I can try changing it.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 10:07 AM
From: C- -T
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

/opt/freeware/bin/updatedb from findutils rpm checks for the sort binary from the aix toolbox...not sure whats your problem.

excerpt from updatedb shell script:

if truethen    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort -z"    print_option="-print0"    frcode_options="$frcode_options -0"else    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort"    print_option="-print"fi

------------------------------
I regret starting this entire conversation

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 03:25 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing
------------------------------

i must confess i never  paid much attention to this locate stuff...but the first obvious difference between the updatedb command between linux and aix is that on linux its not a shell script but a binary. just checked on my ubuntu notbook.

so there might be some hidden "treasures" somewhere,

------------------------------
I regret starting this entire conversation

Original Message:
Sent: Wed March 29, 2023 03:19 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Let's just rewind a bit here. 

My issue is:

"I have used updatedb for 25 years on Linux and have never had this problem. What is the difference to AIX?"

I checked the disk space graphs on my home server (Linux (sadly)) running updatedb every night, and they are completely flat. 

This is the first place I have ever worked where locate on AIX is standard on our builds, which is cool, but there is now talk about scrapping it because of frequent alerting.

Move it to a filesystem with more space? We don't just have three servers. We need a standard place for this, /tmp or /var/tmp would be correct, and adding space to lots of servers because of this issue will not go down well.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 11:25 AM
From: Stephen Ulmer
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Original Message:
Sent: 3/28/2023 10:31:00 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: RE: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

It actually does this:

# Directory to hold intermediate files.
if test -d /var/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/var/tmp}
elif test -d /usr/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/usr/tmp}
else
  : ${TMPDIR=/tmp}
fi
export TMPDIR

I have just tested both, and it makes no difference to filling up the filesystem. I know GNU sort is highly customisable, but it is a compromise between disk space, memory/processor and time.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 10:17 AM
From: C- -T
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

concerning your /tmp fillup troubles...updatedb runs mktemp somewhere, which uses whatever $TMPDIR is currently set to. maybe you should run

a cron job to cleanup /tmp regulary.

------------------------------
I regret starting this entire conversation

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 10:14 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Thank-you for that, I hadn't even realised updatedb was a shell script, I was looking at the C source code on GitHub! Not sure what I have been looking at now.

The script on my system says:

    sort="/usr/bin/sort"

throughout, not sure why it is different. I can try changing it.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 10:07 AM
From: C- -T
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

/opt/freeware/bin/updatedb from findutils rpm checks for the sort binary from the aix toolbox...not sure whats your problem.

excerpt from updatedb shell script:

if truethen    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort -z"    print_option="-print0"    frcode_options="$frcode_options -0"else    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort"    print_option="-print"fi

------------------------------
I regret starting this entire conversation

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 03:25 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing
------------------------------

Let's just rewind a bit here. 

My issue is:

"I have used updatedb for 25 years on Linux and have never had this problem. What is the difference to AIX?"

I checked the disk space graphs on my home server (Linux (sadly)) running updatedb every night, and they are completely flat. 

This is the first place I have ever worked where locate on AIX is standard on our builds, which is cool, but there is now talk about scrapping it because of frequent alerting.

Move it to a filesystem with more space? We don't just have three servers. We need a standard place for this, /tmp or /var/tmp would be correct, and adding space to lots of servers because of this issue will not go down well.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

It actually does this:

# Directory to hold intermediate files.
if test -d /var/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/var/tmp}
elif test -d /usr/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/usr/tmp}
else
  : ${TMPDIR=/tmp}
fi
export TMPDIR

I have just tested both, and it makes no difference to filling up the filesystem. I know GNU sort is highly customisable, but it is a compromise between disk space, memory/processor and time.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

concerning your /tmp fillup troubles...updatedb runs mktemp somewhere, which uses whatever $TMPDIR is currently set to. maybe you should run

a cron job to cleanup /tmp regulary.

Thank-you for that, I hadn't even realised updatedb was a shell script, I was looking at the C source code on GitHub! Not sure what I have been looking at now.

The script on my system says:

    sort="/usr/bin/sort"

throughout, not sure why it is different. I can try changing it.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

/opt/freeware/bin/updatedb from findutils rpm checks for the sort binary from the aix toolbox...not sure whats your problem.

excerpt from updatedb shell script:

if truethen    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort -z"    print_option="-print0"    frcode_options="$frcode_options -0"else    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort"    print_option="-print"fi

------------------------------
I regret starting this entire conversation

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 03:25 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

let us forgot linux. What is your problem on AIX and what you want to fix. Linux command may not work on AIX. 

if you do find / -name xxx (what ever updateDB) and man pages then there is not a proper command for AIX as it exist for Linux. 

From pure AIX just tell us what is the problem. what you want to fix is it file system space. Then will be able to may be help or some one will have idea.

what kind of database you are using on AIX since you do - updatedb and it is used for database.

Let's just rewind a bit here. 

My issue is:

"I have used updatedb for 25 years on Linux and have never had this problem. What is the difference to AIX?"

I checked the disk space graphs on my home server (Linux (sadly)) running updatedb every night, and they are completely flat. 

This is the first place I have ever worked where locate on AIX is standard on our builds, which is cool, but there is now talk about scrapping it because of frequent alerting.

Move it to a filesystem with more space? We don't just have three servers. We need a standard place for this, /tmp or /var/tmp would be correct, and adding space to lots of servers because of this issue will not go down well.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

It actually does this:

# Directory to hold intermediate files.
if test -d /var/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/var/tmp}
elif test -d /usr/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/usr/tmp}
else
  : ${TMPDIR=/tmp}
fi
export TMPDIR

I have just tested both, and it makes no difference to filling up the filesystem. I know GNU sort is highly customisable, but it is a compromise between disk space, memory/processor and time.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

concerning your /tmp fillup troubles...updatedb runs mktemp somewhere, which uses whatever $TMPDIR is currently set to. maybe you should run

a cron job to cleanup /tmp regulary.

Thank-you for that, I hadn't even realised updatedb was a shell script, I was looking at the C source code on GitHub! Not sure what I have been looking at now.

The script on my system says:

    sort="/usr/bin/sort"

throughout, not sure why it is different. I can try changing it.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

/opt/freeware/bin/updatedb from findutils rpm checks for the sort binary from the aix toolbox...not sure whats your problem.

excerpt from updatedb shell script:

if truethen    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort -z"    print_option="-print0"    frcode_options="$frcode_options -0"else    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort"    print_option="-print"fi

------------------------------
I regret starting this entire conversation

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 03:25 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

Let's just rewind a bit here. 

My issue is:

"I have used updatedb for 25 years on Linux and have never had this problem. What is the difference to AIX?"

I checked the disk space graphs on my home server (Linux (sadly)) running updatedb every night, and they are completely flat. 

This is the first place I have ever worked where locate on AIX is standard on our builds, which is cool, but there is now talk about scrapping it because of frequent alerting.

Move it to a filesystem with more space? We don't just have three servers. We need a standard place for this, /tmp or /var/tmp would be correct, and adding space to lots of servers because of this issue will not go down well.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

It actually does this:

# Directory to hold intermediate files.
if test -d /var/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/var/tmp}
elif test -d /usr/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/usr/tmp}
else
  : ${TMPDIR=/tmp}
fi
export TMPDIR

I have just tested both, and it makes no difference to filling up the filesystem. I know GNU sort is highly customisable, but it is a compromise between disk space, memory/processor and time.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

concerning your /tmp fillup troubles...updatedb runs mktemp somewhere, which uses whatever $TMPDIR is currently set to. maybe you should run

a cron job to cleanup /tmp regulary.

Thank-you for that, I hadn't even realised updatedb was a shell script, I was looking at the C source code on GitHub! Not sure what I have been looking at now.

The script on my system says:

    sort="/usr/bin/sort"

throughout, not sure why it is different. I can try changing it.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

/opt/freeware/bin/updatedb from findutils rpm checks for the sort binary from the aix toolbox...not sure whats your problem.

excerpt from updatedb shell script:

if truethen    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort -z"    print_option="-print0"    frcode_options="$frcode_options -0"else    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort"    print_option="-print"fi

------------------------------
I regret starting this entire conversation

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 03:25 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

Hi Henrik,

What is the AIX version and findutils version you have ?

While you tried to use GNU sort it was creating tmp files with the name something like sort* ?

------------------------------
SANGAMESH

Original Message:
Sent: Wed March 29, 2023 03:19 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Let's just rewind a bit here. 

My issue is:

"I have used updatedb for 25 years on Linux and have never had this problem. What is the difference to AIX?"

I checked the disk space graphs on my home server (Linux (sadly)) running updatedb every night, and they are completely flat. 

This is the first place I have ever worked where locate on AIX is standard on our builds, which is cool, but there is now talk about scrapping it because of frequent alerting.

Move it to a filesystem with more space? We don't just have three servers. We need a standard place for this, /tmp or /var/tmp would be correct, and adding space to lots of servers because of this issue will not go down well.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

It actually does this:

# Directory to hold intermediate files.
if test -d /var/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/var/tmp}
elif test -d /usr/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/usr/tmp}
else
  : ${TMPDIR=/tmp}
fi
export TMPDIR

I have just tested both, and it makes no difference to filling up the filesystem. I know GNU sort is highly customisable, but it is a compromise between disk space, memory/processor and time.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

concerning your /tmp fillup troubles...updatedb runs mktemp somewhere, which uses whatever $TMPDIR is currently set to. maybe you should run

a cron job to cleanup /tmp regulary.

Thank-you for that, I hadn't even realised updatedb was a shell script, I was looking at the C source code on GitHub! Not sure what I have been looking at now.

The script on my system says:

    sort="/usr/bin/sort"

throughout, not sure why it is different. I can try changing it.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

/opt/freeware/bin/updatedb from findutils rpm checks for the sort binary from the aix toolbox...not sure whats your problem.

excerpt from updatedb shell script:

if truethen    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort -z"    print_option="-print0"    frcode_options="$frcode_options -0"else    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort"    print_option="-print"fi

------------------------------
I regret starting this entire conversation

Original Message:
Sent: Tue March 28, 2023 03:25 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: updatedb & sort filling up /tmp

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

Let's just rewind a bit here. 

My issue is:

"I have used updatedb for 25 years on Linux and have never had this problem. What is the difference to AIX?"

I checked the disk space graphs on my home server (Linux (sadly)) running updatedb every night, and they are completely flat. 

This is the first place I have ever worked where locate on AIX is standard on our builds, which is cool, but there is now talk about scrapping it because of frequent alerting.

Move it to a filesystem with more space? We don't just have three servers. We need a standard place for this, /tmp or /var/tmp would be correct, and adding space to lots of servers because of this issue will not go down well.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

It actually does this:

# Directory to hold intermediate files.
if test -d /var/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/var/tmp}
elif test -d /usr/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/usr/tmp}
else
  : ${TMPDIR=/tmp}
fi
export TMPDIR

I have just tested both, and it makes no difference to filling up the filesystem. I know GNU sort is highly customisable, but it is a compromise between disk space, memory/processor and time.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

concerning your /tmp fillup troubles...updatedb runs mktemp somewhere, which uses whatever $TMPDIR is currently set to. maybe you should run

a cron job to cleanup /tmp regulary.

Thank-you for that, I hadn't even realised updatedb was a shell script, I was looking at the C source code on GitHub! Not sure what I have been looking at now.

The script on my system says:

    sort="/usr/bin/sort"

throughout, not sure why it is different. I can try changing it.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

/opt/freeware/bin/updatedb from findutils rpm checks for the sort binary from the aix toolbox...not sure whats your problem.

excerpt from updatedb shell script:

if truethen    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort -z"    print_option="-print0"    frcode_options="$frcode_options -0"else    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort"    print_option="-print"fi

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

In 20+ years of running different *nix systems, I've never seen a Linux machine the size of some of the AIX ones that I've been running.  Working space for these things matters when scale comes into it.  It's unlikely that your home Linux machine anywhere near as large your work AIX boxes.

Let's just rewind a bit here. 

My issue is:

"I have used updatedb for 25 years on Linux and have never had this problem. What is the difference to AIX?"

I checked the disk space graphs on my home server (Linux (sadly)) running updatedb every night, and they are completely flat. 

This is the first place I have ever worked where locate on AIX is standard on our builds, which is cool, but there is now talk about scrapping it because of frequent alerting.

Move it to a filesystem with more space? We don't just have three servers. We need a standard place for this, /tmp or /var/tmp would be correct, and adding space to lots of servers because of this issue will not go down well.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

It actually does this:

# Directory to hold intermediate files.
if test -d /var/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/var/tmp}
elif test -d /usr/tmp; then
  : ${TMPDIR=/usr/tmp}
else
  : ${TMPDIR=/tmp}
fi
export TMPDIR

I have just tested both, and it makes no difference to filling up the filesystem. I know GNU sort is highly customisable, but it is a compromise between disk space, memory/processor and time.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

concerning your /tmp fillup troubles...updatedb runs mktemp somewhere, which uses whatever $TMPDIR is currently set to. maybe you should run

a cron job to cleanup /tmp regulary.

Thank-you for that, I hadn't even realised updatedb was a shell script, I was looking at the C source code on GitHub! Not sure what I have been looking at now.

The script on my system says:

    sort="/usr/bin/sort"

throughout, not sure why it is different. I can try changing it.

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

/opt/freeware/bin/updatedb from findutils rpm checks for the sort binary from the aix toolbox...not sure whats your problem.

excerpt from updatedb shell script:

if truethen    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort -z"    print_option="-print0"    frcode_options="$frcode_options -0"else    sort="/opt/freeware/bin/sort"    print_option="-print"fi

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing

Good morning,

We have a problem with updatedb, when running sort, fills up /tmp/ with stm-files.

 I realised that updatedb on AIX, due to the search path, runs AIX' sort instead of GNU sort, so tried to run it using GNU sort instead. Helped a little bit but didn't go away.

Why have I not come across this problem in 25 years of Linux use? The man page for sort on Linux says it puts files in /tmp/ as well, what's the difference?

Does anyone here run updatedb on AIX? Do you have the same issue? What's the fix?

Regards,

Henrik Morsing