Comment 12 for bug 189462

It also affects updatedb , because updatedb and slocate -u have the same behavior.

An interesting thing to notice, however, is that even if a so-called fatal error is raised, the [ms]?locate database is still updated:
> locate bochs
> sudo updatedb
[sudo] password for [snip]:
updatedb: fatal error: load_file: Could not open file: /etc/updatedb.conf: No such file or directory
> locate bochs
/var/cache/apt/archives/bochs-x_2.3.7-1ubuntu1_i386.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/bochsbios_2.3.7-1ubuntu1_all.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/bochs-wx_2.3.7-1ubuntu1_i386.deb
/var/cache/apt/archives/bochs_2.3.7-1ubuntu1_i386.deb
[snip, lot of results]
>

I do not exactly know how the default behavior differs from the "custom" behavior intended with a correct /etc/updateconf.db but I would still state that the troubles caused by this bug seem to be minor...