Strigidaemon

[Peter Penz]

> Here is another idea:
> 
> During initial indexing (this is the heavy cpu-loading one) show a
> progress dialog with a short explanation of what is happening
> (in the upper left or whatever).
[...]
> Anyway, what do you think of the progress info for the initial run?

+1

I'm not sure whether it is technically possible for strigi to show the real progress without parsing the whole directory structure of 'home' first; but even in this case it would be possible to show a "busy indicator" until the number of directories is known.

> 
> Cheers,
> Sebastian
> 
> On Tuesday 01 April 2008 23:25:53 Robert Knight wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > > Can't "we" make a popup that is relatively self-explanatory
> > > and "gentle"?
> >
> > I think that suggestion is a band-aid to patch over technical problems
> > with Strigi.
> >
> > As a general purpose search tool it has a number of problems.  I think
> > distributions would be hard push to ship it out of the box until they
> > are fixed.
> > These are based on the last time I looked at the code a few months ago
> > so please, correct me if I am wrong on any of these points.
> >
> > - It is designed for fast indexing over low system impact.
> > - Designed for manual configuration (instead of Spotlight, Vista's
> > indexer, Beagle, Tracker etc. which are all configurable to some extent
> > but are designed to work well with no/minimal setup)
> > - 3rd party plugins are implemented in native code and correct me if I
> > am wrong but they run in the strigidaemon process so the daemon cannot
> > easily control them if they run amok.  Some examples are KOffice Strigi
> > plugins which tried to parse all XML files they encountered into
> > QDomDocuments (using vast amounts of memory in the process) and the diff
> > analyser which is not very efficient.
> > - Strigi doesn't log its activities so it cannot remember to ignore
> > files which cause problems or disable plugins which aren't working well.
> > - The kernel's inotify doesn't really meet the needs of system-wide
> > indexers.  I know that Apple had to make kernel-level changes to support
> > Spotlight and I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft did as well.
> >
> > If you see Strigi not as a general purpose search tool but a replacement
> > for lucene/updatedb then some of these points don't apply.  The last
> > point is outside of Strigi as a project but the first few items are very
> > much in its remit.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Robert.
> >
> > On Tue, 2008-04-01 at 10:58 -0400, Randy Kramer wrote:
> > > On Tuesday 01 April 2008 03:48 am, Louai Al-Khanji wrote:
> > > > Having dialogs pop up at unsuspecting users is not very nice. :)  I
> > > > think
> > >
> > > most
> > >
> > > > users will not know what they are configuring, and especially not
> _why_
> > > > they are configuring it. IMHO it would be better to have a default
> > > > configuration that suits most people, and provide a (convenient) way
> to
> > > > tailor strigi settings for power users.
> > >
> > > IMHO, having some program start running, using lots of my cpu and
> memory
> > > (I'm thinking back to kat, but is any indexing program much better?),
> is
> > > worse than a one-time (unless you request to be reminded) popup that
> > > tells me there is an application named strigi whicht will be started
> by
> > > default (at each boot?)  and will index such and such directories by
> > > default unless I change the configuration now (or later, by asking to
> be
> > > reminded).
> > >
> > > Aside: Have the usability people weighed in on this?  (Or been asked?)
> > >
> > > This popup occurs either during installation or the first time a user
> > > logs in (or something along those lines), not every time the user logs
> > > in.
> > >
> > > Can't "we" make a popup that is relatively self-explanatory and
> "gentle"?
> > >
> > > Trying a first draft (for the first time it pops up).
> > >
> > > '
> > > Hi!
> > >
> > > This popup explains something you might want to know about how search
> can
> > > be speeded up on this machine.  If you don't have the time or interest
> > > for this, click "Continue" or "Let's discuss this later" (maybe giving
> > > the user choices of:
> > >    * next time I boot up
> > >    * when I get ready for shut down
> > >    * an hour (or x hours, allowing reasonable fractions, like 1/4,
> 1/2,
> > > 3/4) from now
> > > )
> > >
> > > This installation of KDE includes a program named Strigi(daemon) which
> > > will index selected directories on your computer so that searches can
> be
> > > much faster.  ("can be" trying to imply (assuming that it is true)
> that
> > > ordinary greps and finds are not speeded up by the Strigi
> indexes--maybe
> > > we [can | have to] say "searches using the Strigi search tool are much
> > > faster"?)
> > >
> > > If you click on "Continue" (best word?--Hmm, maybe "Enable Strigi" is
> > > better, and can be "highlighted" as the default), Strigi will index
> your
> > > home directory immediately and each time you log in (if this is true,
> or
> > > each night, or whatever is true), but (if this is true) with a lowered
> > > priority (using the Linux "nice" system) to minimize the impact to
> your
> > > system.
> > >
> > > Note that any indexing program does use system resources and can slow
> > > down your machine at times--we've designed Strigi to be as unobtrusive
> as
> > > possible (if true, or some other line that is true).
> > >
> > > If you want to review (and possibly change) the options available for
> > > Strigi, click on "Configure".
> > >
> > > If you don't want Strigi to run on this computer, click on "Disable
> > > Strigi" (with an option to "Remind me Later", and again with the
> options
> > > for in one hour (or x hours), at shutdown, at next boot).
> > >
> > > If you want Strigi to run in its default configuration, click
> "Continue"
> > > (or "Enable Strigi") (again, maybe giving an option to "Remind me (or
> > > "Let's discuss this) Later", and again with the options for in one
> hour
> > > (or x hours?), at shutdown, at next boot).
> > > '
> > > Randy Kramer
>