diff -aur catfish-1.2.2/catfish/CatfishWindow.py catfish-1.2.2.new/catfish/CatfishWindow.py
--- catfish-1.2.2/catfish/CatfishWindow.py	2014-10-12 13:55:12.152362617 +0300
+++ catfish-1.2.2.new/catfish/CatfishWindow.py	2014-10-12 13:56:16.050600001 +0300
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 import logging
 logger = logging.getLogger('catfish')
 
-from catfish_lib import Window, CatfishSettings, SudoDialog, helpers
+from catfish_lib import catfishconfig, Window, CatfishSettings, SudoDialog, helpers
 from catfish.AboutCatfishDialog import AboutCatfishDialog
 from catfish.CatfishSearchEngine import *
 
@@ -226,7 +226,9 @@
             locate, locate_path, locate_date = self.check_locate()
 
             self.update_index_database.set_label("<tt>%s</tt>" % locate_path)
-            if os.path.isfile(locate_path):
+            if not os.access(os.path.dirname(locate_path), os.R_OK):
+                modified = _("Unknown")
+            elif os.path.isfile(locate_path):
                 modified = locate_date.strftime("%x %X")
             else:
                 modified = _("Never")
@@ -452,8 +454,10 @@
             return None
         path = os.path.realpath(path)
         locate = os.path.basename(path)
-        db = os.path.join('/var/lib', locate, locate + '.db')
-        if os.path.isfile(db):
+        db = catfishconfig.get_locate_db_path()
+        if not os.access(os.path.dirname(db), os.R_OK):
+            modified = time.time()
+        elif os.path.isfile(db):
             modified = os.path.getmtime(db)
         else:
             modified = 0
diff -aur catfish-1.2.2/catfish_lib/catfishconfig.py catfish-1.2.2.new/catfish_lib/catfishconfig.py
--- catfish-1.2.2/catfish_lib/catfishconfig.py	2014-10-12 13:55:12.155696032 +0300
+++ catfish-1.2.2.new/catfish_lib/catfishconfig.py	2014-10-12 13:56:36.334431598 +0300
@@ -20,11 +20,14 @@
     'project_path_not_found',
     'get_data_file',
     'get_data_path',
+    'get_locate_db_path',
 ]
 
 # Where your project will look for your data (for instance, images and ui
 # files). By default, this is ../data, relative your trunk layout
 __catfish_data_directory__ = '../data/'
+# Location of locate.db file
+__locate_db_path__ = '/var/lib/mlocate/mlocate.db'
 __license__ = 'GPL-2'
 __version__ = '1.2.2'
 
@@ -64,6 +67,12 @@
     return abs_data_path
 
 
+def get_locate_db_path():
+    """Return the location of the locate.db file
+    """
+    return __locate_db_path__
+
+
 def get_version():
     """Return the program version number."""
     return __version__