diff --git a/src/locate/mod.rs b/src/locate/mod.rs
index c4afd42a..06dbb00b 100644
--- a/src/locate/mod.rs
+++ b/src/locate/mod.rs
@@ -591,6 +591,15 @@ fn match_entry(entry: &CStr, config: &Config, patterns: &Patterns) -> bool {
     patterns_match && existence_matches
 }
 
+/// Whether a database of the given `age` is older than `max_age` days.
+/// A `max_age` too large for `i64`/`chrono` to represent can never be exceeded.
+fn is_db_too_old(age: TimeDelta, max_age: usize) -> bool {
+    match i64::try_from(max_age).ok().and_then(TimeDelta::try_days) {
+        Some(limit) => age > limit,
+        None => false,
+    }
+}
+
 fn do_locate(args: &[&str]) -> LocateResult<()> {
     let matches = uu_app().try_get_matches_from(args);
     match matches {
@@ -626,7 +635,7 @@ fn do_locate(args: &[&str]) -> LocateResult<()> {
                         let modified: DateTime<Local> = time.into();
                         let now = Local::now();
                         let delta = now - modified;
-                        if delta > TimeDelta::days(config.max_age as i64) {
+                        if is_db_too_old(delta, config.max_age) {
                             eprintln!(
                                 "{}: warning: database ‘{}’ is more than {} days old (actual age is {:.1} days)",
                                 args[0],
@@ -710,7 +719,9 @@ mod tests {
     use std::io::{self, Write};
     use std::path::Path;
 
-    use super::{path_exists, DbReader, Statistics};
+    use chrono::TimeDelta;
+
+    use super::{is_db_too_old, path_exists, DbReader, Statistics};
 
     /// A writer that always fails, to emulate stdout with no space left
     /// (`> /dev/full`) or a closed pipe.
@@ -739,6 +750,24 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(stats.print(&mut FailWriter, &dbreader).is_err());
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn db_too_old_compares_ordinary_ages() {
+        let day = TimeDelta::days(1);
+        assert!(is_db_too_old(day, 0));
+        assert!(!is_db_too_old(day, 8));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn db_too_old_ignores_max_age_beyond_i64() {
+        assert!(!is_db_too_old(TimeDelta::days(1), usize::MAX));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    #[cfg(target_pointer_width = "64")]
+    fn db_too_old_ignores_max_age_beyond_chrono_range() {
+        assert!(!is_db_too_old(TimeDelta::days(1), 1_000_000_000_000));
+    }
+
     /// Create a symlink at `link` pointing at `target`, cross-platform.
     #[cfg(unix)]
     fn make_symlink(target: &Path, link: &Path) -> io::Result<()> {
diff --git a/tests/db_tests.rs b/tests/db_tests.rs
index 609071ec..d6c5cb5f 100644
--- a/tests/db_tests.rs
+++ b/tests/db_tests.rs
@@ -130,6 +130,19 @@ fn test_locate_outdated_db() {
         .success();
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn test_locate_large_max_database_age() {
+    for age in ["1000000000000", "18446744073709551615"] {
+        Command::cargo_bin("locate")
+            .expect("couldn't find locate binary")
+            .arg("test_data")
+            .arg(format!("--max-database-age={age}"))
+            .arg(OLD_DB_FLAG)
+            .assert()
+            .success();
+    }
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn test_locate_print_help() {
     Command::cargo_bin("locate")