2.2. The General tab

If set to true, this option allows you to check every search or update command line that is sent to slocate. You'll then be given the opportunity to edit or cancel the command. Deselect the Spare listing box in the pattern zone of the main window in case you also want the raw output from slocate. The unnecessary warnings about the read-only databases getting old will still be filtered out.

Set this to true if you want a confirmation message when you cancel an action.

If set to true, the main command widgets will give you basic info on their purpose when pointed to by the mouse. You might want to disable the tooltips when you get used to XLocate.

Check this if you use slocate and you want file permissions to be stored in the databases. This is meaningful only for file systems with a complete permission scheme, like ext2. If you don't need it, don't use it since it will make database larger and slocate operations slower.

From version 0.50 XLocate can make use of the secure option of slocate when updating databases. Still the default is not to use it. This is because building or updating databases with the secure option does not make much sense if done without root privileges. slocate is not setuid, only setgid. It is then preferible to update via cron or at databases for drives with a complete users/permissions scheme, like ext2. The system administrator will choose if this updating should be done with or without security on (i.e. file permissions stored in the database). For other file systems (vfat, iso9600, etc), the updating can as well be done by any user, possibly through XLocate However, if you use the security scheme of slocate and want to quickly update your ext2 partitions, you can run XLocate as root with the Secure locate box checked to do so.

Starting with versions 0.50.x, the default installation stores index files in a directory /var/lib/xlocate with 775 permissions. Adding group write access (775) on this directory allows you to create new index files in this directory while running XLocate as a simple user. You are also able to update existing index files provided the individual file permissions are set accordingly. Managing (deleting, renaming) the files in this directory from XLocate remains impossible, though, unless you own or give universal write access to the directory and files (not recommended). To handle this problem, from versions 0.50.x, XLocate can manage databases from several directories. The default scheme is then to keep automatically updated database files in /var/lib/xlocate and use personal dirs (e.g. ~/.qt/xlocate) for other volumes. Those directories are specified in your xlocaterc file. On the contrary, you might prefer setting /var/lib/xlocate permissions to 755 for more security. This directory will then have to be updated through cron/at or by running slocate (or xlocate) as root.

Set this to true if you want XLocate to remember your 8 last searches between sessions.

Set this to true if you want XLocate to remember your 8 last textual searches in the file list between sessions.

Set this to true if you want the 8 last applications you launched from XLocate to be remembered accross sessions.

Set this to true if you want the 8 last commands you launched from XLocate to be remembered accross sessions.

Where your main HTML help file for XLocate is stored.

The path of the browser application you use for HTML help.

This entry gives the location of the locate database files used by XLocate. By default, slocate uses a single huge database for all the accessible drives and stores it under /var/lib/slocate/slocate.db. On the other hand, XLocate uses several distinct database files to allow you a targetted search on any specific drive or removable medium you have access to. The installation creates a directory /var/lib/xlocate/, but you might have to manually edit your config file to give instead a subdirectory of your home directory in case of permissions issues. You can also use /var/lib/slocate if you wish, but remember that XLocate will only consider database files with extensions ".rw" or ".ro". Note that you need write permission to any database directory in order to update or create database files without running XLocate as root.