Feature suggestion: full-text index support

Feature suggestion: full-text index support

[Michael Alan Dorman]

It would be nice if there were some way gnus could support searching
full-text indices from within the summary buffer of a mail group.  I
used to do it with a custom script back when I was using mh.  It's the
only thing I miss any more.

Just a thought.

Mike.

Re: Feature suggestion: full-text index support

[Kai Grossjohann]

>>>>> Michael Alan Dorman writes:

  Mike> It would be nice if there were some way gnus could support
  Mike> searching full-text indices from within the summary buffer of
  Mike> a mail group.  I used to do it with a custom script back when
  Mike> I was using mh.  It's the only thing I miss any more.

There is nndb, available from ftp.fuentez.com if I'm not mistaken.  It
is what you might call a "personal NNTP server", with some added
features (to copy, move, edit and delete messages).

If started with the --index option, all the mails are indexed.  You
can search this index by creating a group nndb:=foo=bar which searches
all mails for foo and bar and presents a group with the results.  The
current restriction of only the From and Subject headers being indexed
can easily be removed to index everything.

Last time I tried this, though, it produced a core dump, but I don't
know why.  I know that several other people have been using this
successfully.

Sadly, it doesn't seem to be worked on any more, because the author
has changed jobs and now has to use MS Mail or somesuch I believe.
Somehow, I always think I should be doing something about this but
then can't find the time :-(

kai
-- 
Life is hard and then you die.

Re: Feature suggestion: full-text index support

[David Blacka]

>>>>> "Kai" == Kai Grossjohann <grossjohann@charly.informatik.uni-dortmund.de> writes:

>>>>> Michael Alan Dorman writes:
 Mike> It would be nice if there were some way gnus could support
 Mike> searching full-text indices from within the summary buffer of
 Mike> a mail group.  I used to do it with a custom script back when
 Mike> I was using mh.  It's the only thing I miss any more.

 Kai> There is nndb, available from ftp.fuentez.com if I'm not mistaken.  It
 Kai> is what you might call a "personal NNTP server", with some added
 Kai> features (to copy, move, edit and delete messages).

 Kai> If started with the --index option, all the mails are indexed.  You
 Kai> can search this index by creating a group nndb:=foo=bar which searches
 Kai> all mails for foo and bar and presents a group with the results.  The
 Kai> current restriction of only the From and Subject headers being indexed
 Kai> can easily be removed to index everything.

 Kai> Last time I tried this, though, it produced a core dump, but I don't
 Kai> know why.  I know that several other people have been using this
 Kai> successfully.

 Kai> Sadly, it doesn't seem to be worked on any more, because the author
 Kai> has changed jobs and now has to use MS Mail or somesuch I believe.
 Kai> Somehow, I always think I should be doing something about this but
 Kai> then can't find the time :-(

Well, I as one of the other primary authors, at least still *use*
nndb.  Joe Hildebrand, the main author, is indeed languishing under
CC:Mail, I think.  Neither of us seems to have a great deal of time to
devote to it.  I am hoping that this will change in the near future as
I set up Linux at home.

The nndb mailing list is gone, but you can still get nndb at 

URL:ftp://ftp.fuentez.com/pub/nndb.tar.gz

To use it you should also have perl 5.002 or later, and these perl
modules:

URL:ftp://ftp.fuentez.com:/pub/nndb/MailTools-1.04.tar.gz
URL:ftp://ftp.fuentez.com:/pub/nndb/Net-Domain-1.06.tar.gz
URL:ftp://ftp.fuentez.com:/pub/nndb/Net-SMTP-1.07.tar.gz

You could also get these modules from CPAN.

Also, you should probably use the nndb.el that comes with the package,
rather than the one currently being distributed with GNUS.

 Kai> kai
 Kai> -- 
 Kai> Life is hard and then you die.


-- 
David Blacka                                    Network Solutions, Inc.
Software Engineer                               Rwhois Development Team
davidb@internic.net                             Voice: (703) 742-4897

Re: Feature suggestion: full-text index support

[Joe Wells]

>>>>> "Michael" == Michael Alan Dorman <mdorman@calder.med.miami.edu> writes:

  Michael> It would be nice if there were some way gnus could support
  Michael> searching full-text indices from within the summary buffer of a
  Michael> mail group.

Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!

-- 
Joe Wells <jbw@cs.bu.edu>