db bloat

Description of problem:

I noticed various RPM options seemed kind of slow. So, I decided to run rpm --rebuilddb.

Before:
total 179484
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 0 2009-11-06 23:48 __db.000
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 12288 2009-11-06 23:49 Triggername
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 12288 2009-11-05 22:54 Pubkeys
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 12288 2009-11-06 23:49 Conflictname
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 24576 2009-11-06 16:20 Obsoletename
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 24576 2009-11-06 23:50 __db.001
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 40960 2009-11-06 23:49 Group
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 45056 2009-11-06 23:49 Installtid
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 167936 2009-11-06 23:49 Name
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 180224 2009-11-06 23:49 Sigmd5
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 229376 2009-11-06 23:50 __db.002
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 331776 2009-11-06 23:49 Sha1header
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 417792 2009-11-06 23:49 Provideversion
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 684032 2009-11-06 23:49 Requireversion
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 753664 2009-11-06 23:50 __db.004
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 1060864 2009-11-06 23:49 Requirename
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 1318912 2009-11-06 23:49 Providename
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1318912 2009-11-06 23:50 __db.003
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 5238784 2009-11-06 23:49 Dirnames
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 10354688 2008-07-15 14:18 Filemd5s
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 20557824 2009-11-06 23:49 Basenames
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 21094400 2009-11-06 23:49 Filedigests
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 132726784 2009-11-06 23:49 Packages

After:

total 97740
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 12288 2009-11-06 23:49 Triggername
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 12288 2009-11-05 22:54 Pubkeys
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 12288 2009-11-06 23:49 Conflictname
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 24576 2009-11-06 16:20 Obsoletename
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 24576 2009-11-10 11:56 __db.001
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 40960 2009-11-06 23:49 Installtid
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 40960 2009-11-06 23:49 Group
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 86016 2009-11-06 23:49 Name
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 98304 2009-11-06 23:49 Sigmd5
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 167936 2009-11-06 23:49 Sha1header
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 217088 2009-11-06 23:49 Provideversion
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 229376 2009-11-10 11:56 __db.002
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 389120 2009-11-06 23:49 Requireversion
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 573440 2009-11-06 23:49 Requirename
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 753664 2009-11-10 11:56 __db.004
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 1249280 2009-11-06 23:49 Providename
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1318912 2009-11-10 11:56 __db.003
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 2031616 2009-11-06 23:49 Dirnames
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 10354688 2008-07-15 14:18 Filemd5s
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 10739712 2009-11-06 23:49 Basenames
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 10801152 2009-11-06 23:49 Filedigests
-rw-r--r--. 1 rpm rpm 66125824 2009-11-06 23:49 Packages

So, what happened to the DB?

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

rpm-4.7.1-6.fc12.x86_64

You've claimed allocated (but free) space from hash buckets. *shrug*

db-4.8.24 has methods to do that dynamically.

This message is a reminder that Fedora 12 is nearing its end of life.
Approximately 30 (thirty) days from now Fedora will stop maintaining
and issuing updates for Fedora 12. It is Fedora's policy to close all
bug reports from releases that are no longer maintained. At that time
this bug will be closed as WONTFIX if it remains open with a Fedora
'version' of '12'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version'
to a later Fedora version prior to Fedora 12's end of life.

Bug Reporter: Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that
we may not be able to fix it before Fedora 12 is end of life. If you
would still like to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it
against a later version of Fedora please change the 'version' of this
bug to the applicable version. If you are unable to change the version,
please add a comment here and someone will do it for you.

Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's
lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events. Often a
more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes
bugs or makes them obsolete.

The process we are following is described here:
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers/HouseKeeping

Yep - db - as inefficient as always. Regular rebuild is needed to get decent performance - again unsure why this is not being resolved....

Fedora 12 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2010-12-02. Fedora 12 is
no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further
security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug.

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of
Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version.

Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.