How to Desktop Search in Ubuntu Intrepid

Ubuntu 8.10 includes a built-in desktop search utility. If you have difficulty using this desktop search tool, you may need to use an application called KDE 4.2 to get this utility to work properly. This tutorial will show you how to use the desktop search tool in Ubuntu 8.10.

1. You will need to use the Ubuntu RepoGen Tool at http://repogen.simplylinux.ch/ to get the KDE 4.2 repos. After adding KDE 4.2, you can upgrade it by entering the following command in the terminal:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

NOTE: The terminal can be opened by clicking the Applications button followed by Accessories and then Terminal.

2. Obtain the necessary files and packages for compiling soprano. You may have some of the packages already. Enter the following command into the terminal to get the necessary packages:

sudo apt-get install libqt4-dev openjdk-6-jre openjdk-6-jdk build-essential cmake subversion qmake strigi-utils

3. Next, obtain the necessary sources. To do this, run the following command to create a kdesupport folder and fetch needed sources:

svn co svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/tags/kdesupport-for-4.2/kdesupport

4. Now that you have all the needed sources, you will need to compile and install these sources. Enter the following command into the terminal to create a build folder:

cd kdesupport/soprano
mkdir build
cd build

5. After that, enter the following command into the terminal to use OpenJDK to change the path to the JAVA_HOME environment variable:

export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk

6. Enter the following command to check the prerequisites:

cmake ..

7. If you have the right prerequisites, you are ready to compile and install soprano. Do this by entering the following command:

make
sudo make install

8. Now you need to configure Nepomuk. To do this, go into the KDE system settings and open the Advanced tab. Once you open the Advanced tab, select Desktop Search. You will need to deactivate Nepomuk. Enter the following command into the terminal to delete the Nepomuk data files:

rm -Rf ~/.kde/share/apps/nepomuk

Enter the following command to edit the configuration file:

nano ~/.kde/share/config/nepomukserverrc

9. You will need to set the new configuration to this:

[Basic Settings]Configured repositories=mainStart Nepomuk=true[Service-nepomukmigration1]autostart=false[Service-nepomukstrigiservice]autostart=true[main Settings]Storage Dir[$e]=$HOME/.kde/share/apps/nepomuk/repository/main/Used Soprano Backend=sesame2rebuilt index for type indexing=true

This code will start Nepomuk and Strigi whenever your computer boots up.

10. You can now go to the Nepomuk Advanced Settings and select the folders you want to have indexed. To search, open Dolphin and enter the following into the bar:

nepomukcsearch:KEYWORD

You can see the search results. Indexing will take a while and you will be able to see the results immediately. You can use the system settings option to see what folder is currently being indexed.