dictdconfig (8)

Leading comments

This manpage is copyright (C) 1999-2000 Kirk Hilliard <kirk@debian.org>.
This is free software, published under version 2 or (at your option)
any later version of the GNU General Public License.  You should
have received a copy of the GNU General Public License with your
Debian GNU/Linux system as /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL.
$Id: dictdconfig.8 25 2008-01-20 10:57:18Z robert $

(The comments found at the beginning of the groff file "man8/dictdconfig.8".)

NAME

dictdconfig - write dictd database configuration section

SYNOPSIS

dictdconfig [-hlovw] [--help] [--list] [--order] [--version] [--write]

DESCRIPTION

dictdconfig generates a complete dictd database configuration section for available dictionary databases found in /usr/share/dictd/ (or possibly elsewhere if an optional order override file is present). If a dictionary database contains a <basename>.suffix and/or a <basename>.word file, appropriate index_suffix and index_word entries are created.

Its output file /var/lib/dictd/db.list may then be included from the dictd configuration file /etc/dictd/dictd.conf with an ``include /var/lib/dictd/db.list'' line. See dictd(8) for an explanation of dictd configuration.

In Debian, dictdconfig is automatically invoked upon installation or removal of dictionary database packages, so most users will never need to invoke it by hand.

DATABASE ORDER

The default order in which database entries are written is hard coded into dictdconfig, but it may be overridden via the optional order override file /etc/dictd/dictd.order. This may be desired because dictd returns definitions from dictionary databases in the order in which they are listed in its configuration file. The order override file may also be used to include local dictionary databases which may not necessarily reside in /usr/share/dictd/.

/etc/dictd/dictd.order, if present, should be a whitespace separated list of basenames and directories. It may also include comments starting with # and extending to the end of the line. Virtual dictionaries and the directive database_exit may be included in the order override file. (If virtual dictionaries are used, it is necessary to use this directive after the default set of dictionaries to avoid returning duplicate entries. See dictd(8).)

Dictionary database entries will be generated only for those databases found via basename and directory entries in the default order (or the order override file, if present), and they will be generated in the order in which these entries appear. No more than one dictionary database entry of any given name will be generated.

Entries without a leading / are relative to /usr/share/dictd/.

Entries without a trailing / are basenames. A dictionary database entry is generated if <basename>.index and <basename>.dict.dz or <basename>.dict are present.

Entries with a trailing / are directories. A dictionary database entry is generated for each <name> where <directory>/<name>.index and <directory>/<name>.dict.dz or <directory>/<name>.dict are present.

The default order includes the directory /usr/share/dictd/ as its final entry so that if a previously unknown dictionary database (one not explicitly mentioned in the default order) is installed, its dictionary database entry will still be generated. An order override file should also use this technique, both for /usr/share/dictd/ and for any other directory where local dictionary database might be installed.

The -o option may be used to make dictdconfig display the default order information along with the order override information if /etc/dictd/dictd.order is present.

DUMMY ENTRY

If no dictionary databases are found (via basename or directory entries in the default order or the order override file), a dummy dictionary database entry will be generated with /dev/null for both data and index. This allows dictd to start without error.

DATABASE ALIASES

If an executable script named /etc/dictd/dictdconfig.alias exists, dictdconfig will filter database names through it. The script can be bash, sed, perl, or whatever. Although dict -D will display database names of any length, names longer than 16 characters are displayed in a ragged format. Appropriate entries in this alias file can be used to cause dict -D to display the database names in a reasonable format.

OPTIONS

-w, --write

Write database section to /var/lib/dictd/db.list.

-l, --list

List database section to standard out.

-o, --order

Display database order information.

-h, --help

Display a usage message and exit.

-v, --version

Display version information and exit.

FILES

/var/lib/dictd/db.list

Output of dictdconfig.

/etc/dictd/dictd.config

dictd configuration file which "includes" /var/lib/dictd/db.list.

/etc/dictd/dictd.order

Optional dictdconfig order override file.

SEE ALSO

dictd(8)

BUGS

Older dictionary database packages did not automatically invoke dictdconfig upon installation and removal, so you may need to do so manually (after which, you should restart dictd).

AUTHOR

Kirk Hilliard <kirk@debian.org>.