How to disable file indexing in Ubuntu 22.04 (tracker3) [closed]

Question

currently we have problems with our new Ubuntu 22.04 desktops and the tracker3 file indexing. We have a shared home server exporting the user homes, which is under cosntant load due to the file indexing (tracker-miner-fs-3 process). Therefore, I would like to deactivate it completely.

I already tried this: (see LINK)

systemctl --user mask tracker-extract-3.service tracker-miner-fs-3.service tracker-miner-rss-3.service tracker-writeback-3.service tracker-xdg-portal-3.service tracker-miner-fs-control-3.service

and

tracker3 reset -s -r (which gives Found 0 PIDs…)

and creating ~/.config/autostart/tracker-miner-fs-3.desktop with

[Desktop Entry]
Hidden=true

But this does not do the trick.

tracker3 daemon gives:

root@:~# tracker3 daemon
Miners:
01 Jul 2022, 12:04:45:  ✗     File System          - Not running or is a disabled plugin

But the process is still running after reboot and consuming ressources... Does anyone have an idea on how to disable the indexing completely?

Thank you very much!

Answer 1

I was with the same problem on Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS and like you, none of the web stuff using 'systemctl' or 'tracker3 reset' was worked.

I solved making some files non executables with:

sudo chmod -x /usr/libexec/tracker-miner-fs-3
sudo chmod -x /usr/libexec/tracker-extract-3

Then reboot

I know it's a little bit crazy but it's worked for me

Answer 2

To disable Tracker3 on Ubuntu 22.04 and avoid updates:

sudo apt-mark hold tracker
sudo apt-mark hold tracker-extract
sudo apt-mark hold tracker-miner-fs

sudo chmod -x /usr/libexec/tracker-extract-3
sudo chmod -x /usr/libexec/tracker-miner-fs-3

tracker3 reset --filesystem --rss # Clean all database
tracker3 daemon --terminate

To undo:

sudo apt-mark unhold tracker
sudo apt-mark unhold tracker-extract
sudo apt-mark unhold tracker-miner-fs

sudo chmod +x /usr/libexec/tracker-extract-3
sudo chmod +x /usr/libexec/tracker-miner-fs-3

tracker3 daemon --start

This solution is a workaround. But it works.

If you want to check all settings of Tracker3 for the current user, run the command:

gsettings list-recursively | grep Tracker

In this settings it is possible to enable or disable the Tracker3 for specific directories.