Mlocate

mlocate is a merging locate and database package. "Merging" means reuses the existing database to avoid re-reading most of the file system. This makes the database update faster and does not tax the system caches. can index several file systems including network file systems for network shares. This package is essential when attempting to quickly find documents in a terminal.

Emerge
Emerge via:

Once installed mlocate can be invoked with the command.

Files
To have network file systems included when mlocate's index is populated edit the pruning of the file system variable ( PRUNEFS ) in the file. Remove the,  , and  ,   entries:

Initial database indexing
Upon installation, the command will automatically be added as a scheduled cron job. To index the files immediately run:

Searching can be performed as soon as this step is complete.

Invocation
See more options from the command-line by asking for help:

To find all Firefox executables:

Cannot find a file
When having trouble finding a newly installed file, be sure the database has been manually rebuilt before the search. The default cron job will index on a daily basis, however the chances of it running directly after new files have been added to the system is slim.

More information concerning the default cron job can be found in the file.

External resources

 * mlocate at Freecode.com