slocate in the default desktop install

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Mon, Feb 11, 2008 at 02:10:30PM +0200, Jonathan Carter wrote:
> Matt Zimmerman wrote:
> > On servers, I expect that administrators would not want to have to enable
> > indexing every time.  It's problematic for us to provide different defaults
> > on desktops and servers for the same package, so I was thinking about
> > options which might work for everyone.
> 
> What about disabling running updatedb by default on both? I disable it
> on some of my machines for performance reasons, and then if my database
> gets old I'll just run updatedb myself. Maybe the cron job should stay,
> and there could just be a setting that enables/disables it in
> /etc/default/updatedb.
> 
> I know many people who use slocate on their desktops on a daily basis.
> Then again, perhaps it's time they get used to the newer tools. slocate
> is also so simple to install, that if somone really wants it, it's not a
> big deal.

I think that on servers (which generally stay powered on 24x7) it's
desirable to have an up-to-date index for locate out of the box, and this is
consistent with what has traditionally happened on Linux servers.  I don't
think things have changed substantially there.

It's because life has changed on the desktop that I think we should
reconsider our defaults there, but preferably without disrupting life for
server administrators.

> Would it still remain in main if it's removed?

I don't see any reason to withdraw maintenance for it, so no.  This is only
about usability.

-- 
 - mdz