Re: [Tracker] Incomplete search results in Gnome Shell

[Sam Thursfield <ssssam gmail com>]

Hi Dimitrij,

On 1/5/17, Dimitrij Lisov <dmt lsv gmail com> wrote:
> When searching for filenames in the Gnome Shell (normally triggered by the
> "windows" key) the results differ from the Files (Nautilus) ones.
> Let's assume, that we want to find a file called "Honorarnote.odt" (that's
> German for an invoice).
> So entering "honorar" in Gnome Shell finds nothing, but Files instantly
> finds "Honorarnote.odt" or the like. Curiously, Gnome Shell only shows some
> results when fully typing "Honorarnote".
>
> Is this by design or a bug?
>
> Wouldn't it be better, if the search results in Files and Gnome Shell would
> be the same?

There are several moving parts here, and I think the differences are
not really by design.

The way Shell works is by aggregating results from different search
providers. The API is documented here:
https://developer.gnome.org/SearchProvider/   Different apps can each
provide search results using that API. It's not directly connected
with Tracker, although a single search provider may get its results
from Tracker.

Nautilus searches in 2 ways as well, either just through filenames or
using Tracker to find files in the contents. I'm not sure about the
details which is used when, the nautilus-list would be a good place to
ask. And then Nautilus functions as shell-search provider, so perhaps
the different results you're seeing are a factor of how Nautilus
provides search results to the Shell?

Sam