[Bug 1190696] Re: updatedb.mlocate uses 100% of the hdd IO. The OS is completely unusable.

[NoOp]

3.11.0-19-generic #33~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Mar 12 21:16:27 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
linux-generic-lts-saucy

$ apt-cache policy mlocate
mlocate:
  Installed: 0.23.1-1ubuntu2
  Candidate: 0.23.1-1ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 0.23.1-1ubuntu2 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

98% disk usage during updatedb.mlocate rendering the system useless until the process is killed or finished.
>From atop:
DSK 98%
RDDDK 10100K
WRDSK 1052K

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1190696

Title:
  updatedb.mlocate uses 100% of the hdd IO.  The OS is completely
  unusable.

Status in “mlocate” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  updatedb.mlocate uses 100% of the hdd IO.  The OS is completely
  unusable.  This can go on for an hour.  I have been fighting with this
  on 3 separate computers for at least a month.

  A very old related bug:
  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/findutils/+bug/332790
  That bug was marked as fix released for Hardy.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
  Package: mlocate 0.25-0ubuntu2
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-23.34-generic 3.8.11
  Uname: Linux 3.8.0-23-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu8.1
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Thu Jun 13 08:11:38 2013
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-05-09 (34 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-GNOME 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
  MarkForUpload: True
  ProcEnviron:
   TERM=screen
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: mlocate
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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