GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 606993
Gnome search tool fails if searching File System
Last modified: 2019-02-23 02:43:21 UTC
this report has been filed here: https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-utils/+bug/506219 "The Gnome search tool fails to find a newly created file in the home directory, if you search in "File System". Steps to duplicate: 1. Create a text file 'sqw.txt' in your home directory. (The name is not essential, but simplifies finding the problem.) 2. Places > Computer > Filesystem. Navigate to the file to prove that it is there. 2. Places > Search for Files... Search in File System. (Ubuntu default ext file system) Results 1. Displays the message "No files found". Other information 1. The file is found if you search in the home directory instead of "File System". 2. The file is found after restarting the computer. 3. There is a report ( https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/96802 ) that the file is also found if the "locate" command database is updated."
I'm the one who filed the original report. The gnome-search-tool was used in the Ubuntu default configuration. It appears that the locate tool is being executed but probably not the find tool, even though the default disable_quick_search_second_scan is checked in gconf-editor.
I just found a clear report of the same problem from 2005: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=23909 . Not to seem impatient, but there's been not a single reply after a month. Isn't this kind of urgent if the Gnome search tool is giving false negatives? :-)
(In reply to comment #1) > ...even though the default > disable_quick_search_second_scan is checked in gconf-editor. Oops, an error. This should have stated that disable_quick_search_second_scan was NOT checked. Also, please ignore Comment 2. It turns out that they were searching the root directory, which is excluded from the search. Now, I think I found the problem. In gconf-editor, quick_search_second_scan_excluded_paths is set by default to / , which excludes the entire disk from the "find" scan. But the manual states that locate is run first, followed by find, which implies that if the file is there it will be found--which is not the case.
This bug is very annoying and makes the gnome-search-tool almost useless as far as I'm concerned. I have removed the / in quick_search_second_scan_excluded_paths as VanillaMozilla suggested and thankfully that seems to fix it for me. Please issue a proper fix asap. For newbie users, having the search return nothing when choosing "File System" is going to confuse the hell out of them. It's a major usability issue.
This bug appears to be fixed in recent versions of gnome-fallback under Ubuntu.
gnome-search-tool is not under active development anymore. Its codebase has been archived: https://gitlab.gnome.org/Archive/gnome-search-tool/commits/master Closing this report as WONTFIX as part of Bugzilla Housekeeping to reflect reality. Please feel free to reopen this ticket (or rather reactivate the project to GNOME Gitlab, as GNOME Bugzilla is deprecated) if anyone takes the responsibility for active development again.