mlocate Explorer is a high-performance Flutter application built for system administrators, developers, and power users who need to analyze and search through mlocate databases efficiently.

The mlocate.db file is typically used by the locate command-line utility on Unix-like systems to quickly find files. This application reads the raw binary format directly, allowing you to visually browse the filesystem snapshot, perform instant global searches, and analyze directory compositions—all without needing command-line tools.

• ⚡ Native Binary Parsing: The core MlocateDBParser interprets the mlocate.db binary format directly, verifying magic numbers and decoding raw filesystem bytes (including full support for malformed UTF-8/legacy encodings).
• 🗂️ Intuitive File Browser: Navigate the parsed database as a hierarchical tree. View detailed file and folder counts (both shallow and deep) for any directory instantly.
• 🔍 High-Speed Locate Mode: Perform global searches across the entire database. The app uses an optimized, non-blocking queue-based DFS to ensure the UI remains buttery smooth even with massive databases.
• 📱 Cross-Platform & Responsive: Built with Flutter, it works seamlessly as a Desktop application (Linux/macOS/Windows) and scales perfectly to mobile viewports.
• 🐞 Detailed Error Diagnostics: Built-in error reporting with hex dumps to help diagnose corrupted or incompatible database files.
• 🔀 Advanced Sorting & Filtering: Group directories first, sort by name or modification time, or instantly filter the current view using the fast local search.
• 📤 Export Capabilities: Export directory listings or full directory trees directly to text files for external analysis.

Exploring Directories

Filtering Files

The application is fully responsive and supports mobile viewports perfectly.

Pre-compiled binaries will be automatically uploaded to GitHub Releases for each platform.

1. Navigate to the Releases page.
2. Download the appropriate bundle for your operating system.
3. Extract and run the executable.

(To build from source, ensure you have Flutter installed and run flutter run or flutter build <platform> from the repository root).

• Asynchronous Parsing: Uses Dart Isolates to offload the heavy lifting of reading and interpreting the binary database, preventing any UI stutter.
• Smart Rendering: Utilizes Flutter's standard ListView.builder for highly efficient, lazy-rendered dynamic lists.
• State Management: Decouples navigation state (_navigationStack) from view state, paired with robust scroll memory to retain your exact position when navigating back and forth through deep directory trees.