locate and updatedb do nothing in Linux Mint

I run Linux Mint 21. Currently the locate command always returns no results, and updatedb always returns immediately. The database is sized no more than a few kilobytes. I have verified that the package mlocate is installed. The updatedb command is a cascading symbolic link that ultimately resolves to /usr/sbin/updatedb.plocate, a native binary executable. The problem appears on two separate systems having no particular commonality other than both being x86 64-bit machines running the same distribution.