Searchmonkey - power searching without the pain
What is searchmonkey?
A fast real-time search engine for displaying regular expression matches (both file name and content) across multiple directories.
Written in Gtk2+ it is highly portable, and as well as running on Linux, ports are available on FreeBSD, or even Windows and MacOS.
Why searchmonkey?
Linux currently has two leading search methods:
* Beagle – simple to use, but shows too many matches.
* Find/Grep – hard to use, but provides exact matching.
searchmonkey takes the best features from both.
It provides a simple to use interface, but has the power of find and grep combined. In addition, the end search result is an easy to browse list of matching files, and matching lines.
I haven't been able to either see Searchmonkey in action yet. But I was impressed by the features mentioned. I have tried and use free desktop search and none had regular expression search in them. I had mentioned many desktop search applications before but have been searching one which will be based on the Beagle search. Finally I found one which seems to address that. Beagle is a renowned desktop search application in the Linux environment and we don't have a windows port of Beagle yet. It was then that I chanced on Searchmonkey. Since it is in Gtk2+ it is extremely portable and we have instructions of compiling and running it in windows. The entire procedure has been documented well and can be carried out by someone who has some time. I would have liked to do it myself but with even less time these days to post here I am not sure if this will happen soon. But it would be exciting if someone who reads this tries it and provides it for downloading. I am ready to host the executable here if required too. The instructions for compiling Searchmonkey on windows is available here. Lets be hopeful as I have been. At least there is a way to compile Searchmonkey in windows!
A fast real-time search engine for displaying regular expression matches (both file name and content) across multiple directories.
Written in Gtk2+ it is highly portable, and as well as running on Linux, ports are available on FreeBSD, or even Windows and MacOS.
Why searchmonkey?
Linux currently has two leading search methods:
* Beagle – simple to use, but shows too many matches.
* Find/Grep – hard to use, but provides exact matching.
searchmonkey takes the best features from both.
It provides a simple to use interface, but has the power of find and grep combined. In addition, the end search result is an easy to browse list of matching files, and matching lines.
I haven't been able to either see Searchmonkey in action yet. But I was impressed by the features mentioned. I have tried and use free desktop search and none had regular expression search in them. I had mentioned many desktop search applications before but have been searching one which will be based on the Beagle search. Finally I found one which seems to address that. Beagle is a renowned desktop search application in the Linux environment and we don't have a windows port of Beagle yet. It was then that I chanced on Searchmonkey. Since it is in Gtk2+ it is extremely portable and we have instructions of compiling and running it in windows. The entire procedure has been documented well and can be carried out by someone who has some time. I would have liked to do it myself but with even less time these days to post here I am not sure if this will happen soon. But it would be exciting if someone who reads this tries it and provides it for downloading. I am ready to host the executable here if required too. The instructions for compiling Searchmonkey on windows is available here. Lets be hopeful as I have been. At least there is a way to compile Searchmonkey in windows!
Comments
Thanks for the interest in getting searchmonkey up and running on Windows. I am the coder/founder of searchmonkey.
I have already compiled v0.6.3 for Windows, and everything appears alright. Currently, however it doesn't have the same slick look as it does in Linux, and there may be a few compability issues (i.e. I haven't had the time to test it fully).
To see v0.6.3 [alpha] in action, download the following:
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/searchmonkey/searchmonkey_win32_0.6.3.zip?use_mirror=ovh
Make sure you read the readme, and check the website first, as it requires 3 DLLs to be installed, plus the GTK2+ run-time is needed.
You are more than welcome to host this file, but please remember that the Windows port is still in an Alpha state!
I am a bit time consumed at the moment (due to recently becoming a father), but I will try and get a windows compiled zip/exe file available for all versions in the near future.
Watch this space!
Kind regards,
Adam Cottrell - searchmonkey founder