Baloo: Difference between revisions

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(Removed all of the migration to Nepomuk part. We no longer care about that, and it is now no longer completely accurate.)
(Add note on `balooctl checkDb`)
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[https://projects.kde.org/projects/kde/kdelibs/baloo Baloo] is the file indexing and file search framework for KDE.
[[File:Mascot konqi-support-search.png|thumbnail|right|Help [[Konqi]] find what he wants!]]
[https://projects.kde.org/projects/frameworks/baloo Baloo] is the file indexing and file search framework for KDE Plasma.


:Mailing List: [email protected] ([https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-devel info page])
:Mailing List: [email protected] ([https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-devel info page])
:IRC Channel: #kde-baloo on freenode
:IRC Channel: #kde-baloo on freenode


Baloo focuses on providing a very small memory footprint along with with extremely fast searching. It internally uses a mixture of sqlite along with Xapian to store the file index.
Baloo focuses on providing a very small memory footprint along with with extremely fast searching.


== Contributing to Baloo ==
== Useful pages ==
* [[Baloo/Architecture | Architecture]]
* [[Baloo/Configuration]]
* [[Baloo/Debugging]]
* [[Baloo/NepomukPort]]
* [[Baloo/Tasks]]
* [[Baloo/XapianAlternatives]]
* [[Baloo/XapianProblems]]


The Baloo developers maintain a list of currently active tasks over [https://todo.kde.org/?controller=board&action=show&project_id=12 here]. Additionally there is also the bug tracker.
== Using Baloo ==


== What about Nepomuk? ==
Baloo is not an application, but a daemon to index files.  Applications can use the Baloo framework to provide file search results.


The Nepomuk project in KDE aimed at implementing the vision of "The Semantic Desktop" using RDF. After years of trying the developers felt that while many of the ideas behind "The Semantic Desktop" were great. Implementing them using RDF and classical semantics was not the way to go.
An [http://vhanda.in/blog/2014/04/desktop-search-configuration/ intentionally limited number of settings] are provided via the KDE System Settings "Desktop Search" icon. Other adjustments can be made directly to the [[Baloo/Configuration | configuration file]].


The Baloo project is just a file indexing solution for KDE. Everything that Nepomuk provided is now handled by other software which are part of the KDE Umbrella.
== balooctl ==
 
<code>balooctl</code> is a CLI command to perform certain operations on Baloo. The operations are indicated by '''arguments'''. All available arguments can be listed by issuing <code>balooctl --help</code> in terminal app, such as [[userbase:Konsole]].
 
To be noted, argument <code>checkDb</code> is only meant to be used by developers for debugging. All it does is to print some messages but not to sanitize the database. And the execution time grows exponentially with the number of indexed files (see [https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=380465#c5 Comment 5 under bug #380465]).

Revision as of 19:37, 23 February 2018

Help Konqi find what he wants!

Baloo is the file indexing and file search framework for KDE Plasma.

Mailing List: [email protected] (info page)
IRC Channel: #kde-baloo on freenode

Baloo focuses on providing a very small memory footprint along with with extremely fast searching.

Useful pages

Using Baloo

Baloo is not an application, but a daemon to index files. Applications can use the Baloo framework to provide file search results.

An intentionally limited number of settings are provided via the KDE System Settings "Desktop Search" icon. Other adjustments can be made directly to the configuration file.

balooctl

balooctl is a CLI command to perform certain operations on Baloo. The operations are indicated by arguments. All available arguments can be listed by issuing balooctl --help in terminal app, such as userbase:Konsole.

To be noted, argument checkDb is only meant to be used by developers for debugging. All it does is to print some messages but not to sanitize the database. And the execution time grows exponentially with the number of indexed files (see Comment 5 under bug #380465).