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Why is this a binary multi-megabyte blob /etc/udev/hwdb.bin and why under /etc?

Should I store it with etckeeper?

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  • I suspect, it could be same binary cache for the udev. If it is, it should be below /var/lib. I hope somebody gives a good answer, also I am curious. :-)
    – peterh
    Sep 22, 2017 at 20:30

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man hwdb:

Hardware Database Files

-- snipping unnecessary documentation details for this answer ---

The content of all hwdb files is read by systemd-hwdb(8) and compiled to a binary database located at /etc/udev/hwdb.bin, or alternatively /usr/lib/udev/hwdb.bin if you want ship the compiled database in an immutable image. During runtime, only the binary database is used.

man systemd-hwdb:

systemd-hwdb [options] update

Update the binary database.

You don't need to put this file in any /etc/ version control, as long as you figure out when your specific distro runs systemd-hwdb. Search for any systemd units that could be generating this file at boot or at specific runtime trigger/action.

And, it's up to the distribution to choose if it will store this binary at /etc/udev or /usr/lib/udev under the name hwdb.bin.

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  • 1
    Thanks. /usr/bin/systemd-hwdb --version works, and these files exist and contain valid definitions, so my system is "good" and I can omit this file from etckeeper versioning: /usr/lib/systemd/system/sysinit.target.wants/systemd-hwdb-update.service and /usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-hwdb-update.service
    – Jeroen Wiert Pluimers
    Sep 23, 2017 at 15:24

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