locate and updatedb do nothing in Linux Mint

Question

I run Linux Mint 21.

Currently the locate command always returns no results, and updatedb always returns immediately. The database is sized no more than a few kilobytes.

I have verified that the package mlocate is installed. The updatedb command is a cascading symbolic link that ultimately resolves to /usr/sbin/updatedb.plocate, a native binary executable.

The problem appears on two separate systems having no particular commonality other than both being x86 64-bit machines running the same distribution.

Answer 1

After investigation, I discovered the following option:

sudo updatedb --debug-pruning

The output is lengthy, but ends with the following line:

Skipping `/': bind mount

In fact, the root file system is a subvolume on a Btrfs partition.

Apparently, plocate, as well as mlocate, not playing well with Btrfs subvolumes is a known issue.