Re: [Tracker] following progress - no info for long time?

[Rainer M Krug <r m krug gmail com>]

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On 27/09/11 20:28, Martyn Russell wrote:
> On 27/09/11 14:04, Rainer M Krug wrote:
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> >
> > On 27/09/11 14:52, JÃrg Billeter wrote:
> > > On Tue, 2011-09-27 at 12:37 +0200, Rainer M Krug wrote:
> > > > On 27/09/11 12:07, Martyn Russell wrote:
> > > > > The crawling stage can take some time depending on what 
> > > > > locations you index and how many directories you have
> > > > > there.
> > > >
> > > > What is "some time"? I have started tracker thias morning,
> > > > and it is still crawling recursively "/" (I know, it is not
> > > > recommended, but it should not cause any problems, I guess.
> > >
> > > It makes no sense at all trying to index directories such as
> > > /dev, /proc, and /sys (and more).
> >
> > Agreed - exactly for this reason, I exclude the following
> > directories from indexing:
> >
> > /root /dev /var /sys /tmp /proc
>
> Just so you know. The larger the list of ignored directories, the
> longer and less efficient we are. Usually because each directory is
> checked against an ignore list and ignore glob patterns.
>
> I would simply remove all places which are not interesting and
> only include those which are.

That is an option, but adding "/" and adding "misbehaving" directories
to the filter list, is the easier approach - but I will remember your
suggestion.

> > > I don't consider it worthwhile debugging anything like this.
> > > Kernel filesystems may have slightly different behavior and you
> > > really don't want to index files such as /proc/self/mem.
> >
> >
> > The reason why I am keen on indexing / as well is
> > documentation.There
>
> Documentation is usually in /usr/share somewhere. Again, I would
> heavily advise you only add locations of specific directories
> you're interested in, not entire top level locations like /.
>
> > are several programs which install documentation in pdf and html 
> > format, which I want to have included in the index. In addition, 
> > indexing config files makes it easier to find certain
> > configuration files, even if the actual name is not known. The
> > same applies for documentation in man format. To use a central
> > indexing tool which gives me all documentation based on a certain
> > search, let them be in /local or /home, makes much more sense for
> > me then having to search in man, tracker, locate and others to
> > get this information. Effectively, not being able to index /
> > (with exclusion of the above mentioned directories) makes an
> > indexing service for me much less useful.
> >
> > > I suggest you to fix your configuration and try again.
> >
> > If you really think that / should not be indexed, then I would 
> > *strongly* suggest to make it impossible to add / to the to be
> > indexed directories.
>
> I think that's the wrong approach. We don't know what embedded
> devices or distributions Tracker may be used on and an ignore on /
> like that feels like the wrong way to deal with the issue.
>
> We could of course add some sort of warning.

Yes - a warning that this is not supported use of tracker which might
work or might not work.

> > To reiterate - I really like tracker so far, but I think not to
> > be able to add / to the directories to be indexed, will criple
> > its usability (at least for me).
>
> I am not sure how many people would actually attempt to do this. I
> don't expect it to be a regular approach.

Well - under google desktop, the inclusion of several directories
outside the $HOME directory was standard behaviour.

To make it unlikely that users add / I would suggest to add a button
to the GUI to add "standard documentation directories" to the
directories to be indexed.


Cheers,

Rainer

>


- -- 
Rainer M. Krug, PhD (Conservation Ecology, SUN), MSc (Conservation
Biology, UCT), Dipl. Phys. (Germany)

Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology
Stellenbosch University
South Africa

Tel :       +33 - (0)9 53 10 27 44
Cell:       +33 - (0)6 85 62 59 98
Fax :       +33 - (0)9 58 10 27 44

Fax (D):    +49 - (0)3 21 21 25 22 44

email:      Rainer krugs de

Skype:      RMkrug
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