diff --git a/usr.bin/locate/locate/mklocatedb.sh b/usr.bin/locate/locate/mklocatedb.sh
index e838c9795820..fd4a1ff7f03b 100644
--- a/usr.bin/locate/locate/mklocatedb.sh
+++ b/usr.bin/locate/locate/mklocatedb.sh
@@ -1,94 +1,79 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-2-Clause-FreeBSD
 #
-# Copyright (c) September 1995 Wolfram Schneider <wosch@FreeBSD.org>. Berlin.
+# Copyright (c) September 1995-2022 Wolfram Schneider <wosch@FreeBSD.org>
 # All rights reserved.
 #
 # Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 # modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
 # are met:
 # 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
 #    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
 # 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
 #    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
 #    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
 #
 # THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
 # ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
 # IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
 # ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
 # FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
 # DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
 # OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
 # HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
 # LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
 # OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
 # SUCH DAMAGE.
 #
 # mklocatedb - build locate database
 # 
 # usage: mklocatedb [-presort] < filelist > database
 #
 # $FreeBSD$
 
+# stop on first error
+set -e
+set -o pipefail
+
 # The directory containing locate subprograms
 : ${LIBEXECDIR:=/usr/libexec}; export LIBEXECDIR
+: ${TMPDIR:=/var/tmp}; export TMPDIR
 
 PATH=$LIBEXECDIR:/bin:/usr/bin:$PATH; export PATH
 
-umask 077			# protect temp files
-
-: ${TMPDIR:=/tmp}; export TMPDIR
-test -d "$TMPDIR" || TMPDIR=/tmp
-if ! TMPDIR=`mktemp -d $TMPDIR/mklocateXXXXXXXXXX`; then
-	exit 1
-fi
-
-
 # utilities to built locate database
 : ${bigram:=locate.bigram}
 : ${code:=locate.code}
 : ${sort:=sort}
 
+sort_opt="-u -T $TMPDIR -S 20%"
 
-sortopt="-u -T $TMPDIR -S 20%"
-sortcmd=$sort
-
-
-bigrams=$TMPDIR/_mklocatedb$$.bigrams
-filelist=$TMPDIR/_mklocatedb$$.list
-
-trap 'rm -f $bigrams $filelist; rmdir $TMPDIR' 0 1 2 3 5 10 15
+bigrams=$(mktemp -t mklocatedb.bigrams)
+filelist=$(mktemp -t mklocatedb.filelist)
 
+trap 'rm -f $bigrams $filelist' 0 1 2 3 5 10 15
 
 # Input already sorted
 if [ X"$1" = "X-presort" ]; then
     shift; 
 
-    # create an empty file
-    true > $bigrams
-    
     # Locate database bootstrapping
     # 1. first build a temp database without bigram compression
     # 2. create the bigram from the temp database
     # 3. create the real locate database with bigram compression.
     #
     # This scheme avoid large temporary files in /tmp
 
-    $code $bigrams > $filelist || exit 1
-    locate -d $filelist / | $bigram | $sort -nr | head -128 |
-    awk '{if (/^[ 	]*[0-9]+[ 	]+..$/) {printf("%s",$2)} else {exit 1}}' > $bigrams || exit 1
-    locate -d $filelist / | $code $bigrams || exit 1
-    exit 	
-
+    $code $bigrams > $filelist
+    locate -d $filelist / | $bigram | $sort -nr | \
+      awk 'NR <= 128 && /^[ \t]*[1-9][0-9]*[ \t]+..$/ { printf("%s", substr($0, length($0)-1, 2)) }' > $bigrams
+    locate -d $filelist / | $code $bigrams
 else
-    if $sortcmd $sortopt > $filelist; then
-        $bigram < $filelist | $sort -nr | 
-	awk '{if (/^[ 	]*[0-9]+[ 	]+..$/) {printf("%s",$2)} else {exit 1}}' > $bigrams || exit 1
-        $code $bigrams < $filelist || exit 1
-    else
-        echo "`basename $0`: cannot build locate database" >&2
-        exit 1
-    fi
+    $sort $sort_opt > $filelist
+    $bigram < $filelist | $sort -nr | \
+      awk 'NR <= 128 && /^[ \t]*[1-9][0-9]*[ \t]+..$/ { printf("%s", substr($0, length($0)-1, 2)) }' > $bigrams
+    $code $bigrams < $filelist
 fi
+
+#EOF