source: vendor/findutils/4.3.2/README@ 3170

Last change on this file since 3170 was 3170, checked in by bird, 18 years ago

findutils 4.3.2

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1This package contains the GNU find, xargs, and locate programs. find
2and xargs comply with POSIX 1003.2, as far as I know (with the
3exception of the "+" modifier for the "-exec" action, which isn't
4implemented yet). They also support a large number of additional
5options, some borrowed from Unix and some unique to GNU.
6
7See the file NEWS for a list of major changes in the current release.
8
9See the file INSTALL for compilation and installation instructions.
10
11To verify the GPG signature of the release, you will need the public
12key of the findutils maintainer. You can download this from
13ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-keyring.gpg. Alternatively, you could query
14a PGP keyserver, but you will need to use one that can cope with
15subkeys containing photos. Many older key servers cannot do this. I
16use subkeys.pgp.net. I think that one works. See also the
17"Downloading" section of http://www.gnu.org/software/findutils/.
18
19Special configure options:
20
21--with-afs
22 Make find support "-fstype afs". Requires /afs, /usr/afsws/lib, and
23/usr/afsws/include. configure doesn't add AFS support
24automatically because it adds considerably to find's size, and the
25AFS libraries need -lucb on Solaris, which breaks find.
26
27--enable-id-cache
28 Make tables of used UIDs and GIDs at startup instead of using
29getpwuid or getgrgid when needed. Speeds up -nouser and -nogroup
30unless you are running NIS or Hesiod, which make password and group
31calls very expensive.
32
33--enable-debug
34 Produce output on the standard error output indicating what find is
35doing. This information includes details about how the command line
36has been parsed and what files have been stat()ed. This output is
37normally interesting only to the maintainer, and so is off by default.
38
39
40To gain speed, GNU find avoids statting files whenever possible.
41It does this by:
421. Checking the number of links to directories and not statting files
43that it knows aren't directories until it encounters a test or action
44that needs the stat info.
452. Rearranging the command line, where possible, so that it can do tests
46that don't require a stat before tests that do, in hopes that the
47latter will be skipped because of an OR or AND. (But it only does
48this where it will leave the output unchanged.)
49
50The locate program and its helper programs are derived (heavily
51modified) from James Woods' public domain fast-find code, which is
52also distributed with the 4.3BSD find. Because POSIX.2 requires `find
53foo' to have the same effect as `find foo -print', the fast-find
54searching has been moved to a separate program, `locate'; the same
55thing has been done in 4.4BSD. If you use locate, you should run the
56included `updatedb' script from cron periodically (typically nightly).
57
58Mail suggestions and bug reports for these programs to
59bug-findutils@gnu.org.
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