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author | Corentin Noël <corentin@elementary.io> | 2019-03-26 22:12:30 +0000 |
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committer | Sam Thursfield <sam@afuera.me.uk> | 2019-03-26 22:12:30 +0000 |
commit | ae8dc506c467ca943a226ca3b94ddcfa6bda9356 (patch) | |
tree | 2843fc40e1e54311407338b26041eb7d7e30f592 /README.md | |
parent | 6f9a55a4d52f6fc3fee2b7a5ee313098fc512ee4 (diff) | |
download | tracker-ae8dc506c467ca943a226ca3b94ddcfa6bda9356.tar.gz |
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diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..ebbd2b0db --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,189 @@ +# Tracker + +Tracker is a search engine and that allows the user to find their +data as fast as possible. Users can search for their files and +search for content in their files too. + +Tracker is a semantic data storage for desktop and mobile devices. +Tracker uses W3C standards for RDF ontologies using Nepomuk with +SPARQL to query and update the data. + +Tracker is a central repository of user information, that provides +two big benefits for the desktop; shared data between applications +and information which is relational to other information (for +example: mixing contacts with files, locations, activities and +etc.). + +This central repository works with a well defined data model that +applications can rely on to store and recover their information. +That data model is defined using a semantic web artifact called +ontology. An ontology defines the relationships between the +information stored in the repository. + +An EU-funded project called Nepomuk was started to define some of +the core ontologies to be modeled on the Desktop. Tracker uses this +to define the data's relationships in a database. + +All discussion related to tracker happens on the Tracker +mailing list + + https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/tracker-list + +IRC channel #tracker on: + + irc.gimp.net + +Bugs and feature requests should be filed at: + + https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/tracker/issues + +More infomation on Tracker can be found at: + + https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Tracker + +Repository can be found at: + + https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/tracker + +The official RoadMap (aka TODO) can be found at: + + https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Tracker/Roadmap + + +## Use Cases + +Tracker is the most powerful open source metadata database and +indexer framework currently available and because it is built +around a combination indexer and SQL database and not a +dedicated indexer, it has much more powerful use cases: + + * Provide search and indexing facilities similar to those on + other systems (Windows Vista and Mac OS X). + + * Common database storage for all first class objects (e.g. a + common music/photo/contacts/email/bookmarks/history database) + complete with additional metadata and tags/keywords. + + * Comprehensive one stop solution for all applications needing + an object database, powerful search (via RDF Query), first class + methods, related metadata and user-definable metadata/tags. + + * Can provide a full semantic desktop with metadata everywhere. + + * Can provide powerful criteria-based searching suitable for + creating smart file dialogs and vfolder systems. + + * Can provide a more intelligent desktop using statistical + metadata. + +## Features + + * Desktop-neutral design (it's a freedesktop product built + around other freedesktop technologies like D-Bus and XDGMime + but contains no GNOME-specific dependencies besides GLib). + + * Very memory efficient. Unlike some other indexers, Tracker is + designed and built to run well on mobile and desktop systems with + lower memory (256MB or less). + + * Non-bloated and written in C for maximum efficiency. + + * Small size and minimal dependencies makes it easy to bundle + into various distros, including live CDs. + + * Provides option to disable indexing when running on battery. + + * Provides option to index removable devices. + + * Implements the freedesktop specification for metadata + (https://freedesktop.org/wiki/Standards/shared-filemetadata-spec/). + + * Extracts embedded File, Image, Document and Audio type + metadata from files. + + * Supports the WC3's RDF Query syntax for querying metadata. + + * Provides support for both free text search (like Beagle/Google) + as well as structured searches using RDF Query. + + * Responds in real time to file system changes to keep its + metadata database up to date and in sync. + + * Fully extensible with custom metadata - you can store, + retrieve, register and search via RDF Query all your own custom + metadata. + + * Can extract a file's contents as plain text and index them. + + * Can provide thumbnailing on the fly. + + * It auto-pauses indexing when running low on diskspace. + +## Compilation + +To setup the project for compilation after checking it out from +the git repository, use: + + meson build --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc + +To start compiling the project use: + + ninja -C build + ninja install + +If you install using any other prefix, you might have problems +with files not being installed correctly. (You may need to copy +and amend the dbus service file to the correct directory and/or +might need to update ld_conf if you install into non-standard +directories.) + +## Running Tracker + +### Usage + +Tracker normally starts itself when users log in. You can indexing by running: + + $prefix/libexec/tracker-miner-fs + +You can configure how this works using: + + $prefix/bin/tracker-preferences + +You can monitor data miners using: + + $prefix/bin/tracker-status-icon + +You can do simple searching using an applet: + + $prefix/libexec/tracker-search-bar + +You can do more extensive searching using: + + $prefix/bin/tracker-search-tool + +### Setting Inotify Watch Limit + +When watching large numbers of folders, its possible to exceed +the default number of inotify watches. In order to get real time +updates when this value is exceeded it is necessary to increase +the number of allowed watches. This can be done as follows: + + 1. Add this line to /etc/sysctl.conf: + "fs.inotify.max_user_watches = (number of folders to be + watched; default used to be 8192 and now is 524288)" + + 2. Reboot the system OR (on a Debian-like system) run + "sudo /etc/init.d/procps restart" + +## Further Help + +### Man pages + +Every config file and every binary has a man page. If you start with +tracker-store, you should be able to find out about most other +commands on the SEE ALSO section. + +### Utilities + +There are a range of tracker utilities that help you query for data. + |