[Bug 927028] Re: 'apropos' maxes out CPU when run with '/bin/*' as argument

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

This bug was fixed in the package man-db - 2.6.2-1

---------------
man-db (2.6.2-1) unstable; urgency=low


  * New upstream release:
    - Optimise apropos when given many arguments (LP: #927028).
    - apropos prints an error message and returns non-zero when it finds no
      matches (closes: #672661).
    - Avoid fatal errors when opening a 64-bit GDBM database from a 32-bit
      process (LP: #1001189).
  * Configure with --with-xz=xz --with-lzip=lzip.
  * Adjust debian/watch to track .tar.xz releases.
  * Convert debian/copyright to copyright-format 1.0.
  * Override hardening-no-fortify-functions Lintian warning for
    /usr/bin/manpath, as a false positive.

 -- Colin Watson <cjwatson at debian.org>  Mon, 18 Jun 2012 22:56:56 +0100

** Changed in: man-db (Ubuntu)
       Status: Fix Committed => Fix Released

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/927028

Title:
  'apropos' maxes out CPU when run with '/bin/*' as argument

Status in “man-db” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  When 'apropos' is executed with an argument containing a list of files
  in a directory (e.g., '/bin/*'), it maxes out the CPU for a good long
  while (~40 seconds for /bin/*, about 9.5 minutes for /usr/bin/[a-z]*).

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  ben at feynman:~$ apropos ~/bin/* & sleep 2; top -b -p $! -d 1 -n 3
  [2] 9671

    PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND                                             
   9671 ben       20   0  7080 2224  928 R   100  0.2   0:02.46 apropos                                             

  
    PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND                                             
   9671 ben       20   0  7012 2160  928 R   101  0.2   0:03.45 apropos                                             

  
    PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND                                             
   9671 ben       20   0  7012 2164  928 R   100  0.2   0:04.44 apropos                                             
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  ben at feynman:~$ dpkg -S /usr/bin/apropos
  man-db: /usr/bin/apropos

  ben at feynman:~$ lsb_release -rd
  Description:    Ubuntu 11.10
  Release:        11.10

  ben at feynman:~$ apt-cache policy man-db
  man-db:
    Installed: 2.6.0.2-2
    Candidate: 2.6.0.2-2
    Version table:
   *** 2.6.0.2-2 0
          500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric/main i386 Packages
          100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

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