as of 2018:
Looking for one simple command:
gsettings set org.freedesktop.Tracker.Miner.Files enable-monitors false
+1 for describing Gnome's GUI method described by @samtuke above/below.
this is the true answer
but please add to it
gsettings set org.freedesktop.Tracker.Miner.Files crawling-interval -2
according to source code should crawl would return false
For me on Cinnamon enable-monitors false wasn't enough and I managed to pacify it (back when tracker was endlessly rescanning and crashing on some files) with org.freedesktop.Tracker.Miner.Files ignored-files ['*']. After setting it there was one spike of cpu usage and then... peace ;)
as of 2014, try command:
tracker-preferences
a gui pops up and you can uncheck anything you like
tracker-control is also handy in a session .. kill and remove the databases with:
tracker-control -r
then check the status
tracker-control -S
With tracker-preferences you can change, when tracker is started. Best idea is to start it only, when the computer is idle. See this guide http://www.putorius.net/2014/12/disable-tracker-on-fedora-21-fedora-20.html
In GNOME 3.2 there was no user interface so the only way was to copy the following files
/etc/xdg/autostart/tracker-miner-flickr.desktop
/etc/xdg/autostart/tracker-miner-fs.desktop
/etc/xdg/autostart/tracker-store.desktop
to your .config/autostart directory and edit all of them setting this value to false:
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=false
You can also delete .cache/tracker directory - this is where Tracker stores the index. It can be quite huge (1 GiG for me). Then kill all tracker processes or restart your computer.
Newer GNOME 3 version support that.
None of the existing answers work on Fedora 27, Gnome 3.26.2 (the tracker-related GUI tools are not available in repositories).
It appears that tracker can be disabled by simply going to Settings -> Search -> [Window bar] Switch Off.
There is an interface: gnome-session-properties Just run it in disable unneeded services
[See my Post Script at the bottom if you have read this before.] First of all, I am running Fedora 20 on a desktop system with the development features and gnome 3. It wasn't long after I began that I noticed lack of keyboard response bordering on no keyboard at all so I looked and found that my disk light was on continuously. Realizing from past experience that this is the tracker-miner, I looked for it and found it in the system monitor.
I haven't seen any disadvantage to simply (as root) removing permissions from the executables in /bin/track* and /usr/libexec/track* but a subsequent update did reverse my actions. That does not mean that there were or are disadvantages although all the applications I used (Firefox, Thunderbird, Libre Office and a vew utilities) don't seem to suffer. YMMV.
Recently I decided to try another tactic and apparently I have succeeded in reducing the hold on my system. I used several changes and then restored the correct permissions to the executables.
(1.) I ran "gnome-session-properties" from a terminal which did not show tracker and so was dismissed. No help there.
(2.) I ran "tracker-preferences" from a terminal which is more helpful, but after a trial with my mods, went back to the defaults. See the Post Script. **
(3.) I also changed these files: ~/.config/autostart/tracker* but primarily tracker-miner-fs.desktop and tracker-store.desktop: In tracker-miner-fs.desktop, I removed the foreign language names and added some options to the executable line:
Exec="/usr/libexec/tracker-miner-fs --no-daemon --disable-miner=Applications --disable-miner=Userguides"
In tracker-store.desktop, I also removed the foreign language names and added an option to the executable:
Exec="/usr/libexec/tracker-store --low-memory"
It should not matter how much memory I actually have (2GB) or if I add more.
(4.) Finally, I needed to do a hard-reset of tracker and restart it as root which went like this:
sudo tracker-control -t # properly terminates tracker processes without damaging any data (hopefully)
sudo tracker-control -r # kills any remaining processes and removes the databases
sudo tracker-control --start # starts miner processes and tracker-store
Perhaps not all of #4 needs to be run as root, but it's better to be safe.
So far, (just a few hours) I'm quite pleased again have control of my computer!
Please, if you try this, post here if it does not work for you. Remember, this is for a gnome (3) system. If you favor kde, there's a different path for you to follow.
**Post Script: I did have a problem with yumex for some reason and I could not remove it. Except for telling tracker that I have low memory - which seems to help considerably, by the way - I went back to the defaults in tracker-preferences. Rebooting seems to have helped with not being able to use yumex - I also removed and re-installed yumex. Tracker seems to behave now with the "low memory" option per above. There is one tracker-childtask, tracker-store is ...
If your running Fedora 27 and above, this ran proper for me :-)
[user@thunderbolt ~]$ tracker reset -r CAUTION: This process may irreversibly delete data. Although most content indexed by Tracker can be safely reindexed, it can’t be assured that this is the case for all data. Be aware that you may be incurring in a data loss situation, proceed at your own risk. Are you sure you want to proceed? [y|N]: y Found 3 PIDs… Killed process 14676 — “tracker-miner-apps” Killed process 14694 — “tracker-store” Killed process 14712 — “tracker-miner-fs” Setting database locations Checking database directories exist Checking database version Checking whether database files exist Removing all database/storage files Removing database:'/home/user/.cache/tracker/meta.db' Removing db-locale file:'/home/user/.cache/tracker/db-locale.txt' Removing journal:'/home/user/.local/share/tracker/data/tracker-store.journal' Removing db-version file:'/home/user/.cache/tracker/db-version.txt' [user@thunderbolt ~]$
You can go ahead and uninstall tracker, but the only issue is that gnome-documents uses this library and expects the tracker deamon to run on the background. So via uninstalling tracker you will loose gnome-documents. (at least)
You can take a look at below command output, if u can do some good -
# tracker-preferences
Also searching about tracker I like to point you to below link -
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=613256">Bug 613256
Above bug if you notice the last comment it states
See $HOME/.config/tracker/tracker-miner-fs.cfg and the key CrawlingInterval. If set to -1 crawling is disabled entirely.
Hopefully the above details help you.
I see Mlocate is installed along side this tracker stuff. The locate command is all I need. I read that tracker mines my Email and personal files? sheesh.. no thanks. Some of it is sensitive.
Tried this on one of my Test Laptops: rpm -e gnome-online-miners tracker gnome-online-miners --nodeps
..... (Yeah .. I hate doing that, but this is ridiculous ).
Will report back if anyone is interested.
Why do I want all my personal data mined in the foreground, and shared with Whoever taps in? I mean it starts as soon as I log in .. even at low priority, it makes my laptop very sluggish.
Asked: 2011-11-09 19:42:22 -0600
Seen: 139,065 times
Last updated: Jan 22 '19
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