apt-xapian-index now comes with a query tool
I've just uploaded a new version of
apt-xapian-index to unstable. Now it
comes with a little query tool called
axi-cache.
You can search this way:
axi-cache search foo bar baz facet::tag sec:section
In fact, you can use most of the things described
here.
You can then say
axi-cache more to get more results, or
axi-cache again to
retry a search, or
axi-cache again wibble wabble to add keywords to the
last search.
This allows to start with a search and tweak it. In order to work it needs to
save the last search so
again or
more can amend it. Searches are saved in
~/.cache/axi-cache.state.
You can search tags instead of packages by adding
--tags.
It will suggest extra terms for the search, and also suggest extra tags.
It can even correct spelling mistakes in the query terms once the index has
been rebuilt with this new version of
update-apt-xapian-index.
I need to thank
Carl Worth who, with
notmuch, reminded me that if I just build a nice
interface on top of Xapian's
query parser
I go quite a long way towards making a
Xapian database
extremely useful indeed.
axi-cache also integrates with bash-completion so that tab completion is
context-sensitive to the command line
being typed:
$ axi-cache search image pro
probability process processors programmability provides
problem processing production pronounced proving
$ axi-cache search kernel pro
problems processor production proved provided
processing processors programming provide provides
Thanks to David Paleino who wrote the bash completion script.
Just for reference, this is the command line help:
$ axi-cache help
Usage: axi-cache [options] command [args]
Query the Apt Xapian index.
Commands:
axi-cache help show a summary of commands
axi-cache search [terms] start a new search
axi-cache again [query] repeat the last search, possibly adding query terms
axi-cache more [count] show more terms from the last search
Options:
--version show program's version number and exit
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-s SORT, --sort=SORT sort by the given value, as listed in /var/lib/apt-
xapian-index/values
--tags show matching tags, rather than packages
--tabcomplete=TYPE suggest words for tab completion of the current
command line (type is 'plain' or 'partial')
If you install the package for the first time, you may need to rebuild the
index by running
update-apt-xapian-index as root before using axi-cache.
Version 0.1 of gmtkbabel has just been released! 
It consists of a set of shell scripts, which use zenity to give a nice GUI
over mtkbabel.
Future improvements might include providing a Qt alternative (and the "g"
in the name might just mean "GUI" instead of "GTK" then), and whatever users
need. It might also become something more serious, written in a more complex
language, who knows 
Looking at it now, that it's all done, it doesn't seem that long.
However, I had to face the infamous 
Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Yeah, it's that time of year again, I am writing a blog post 
. As some of you have probably already noticed I managed to get 
Anyhow, here's what I have:
If you want to participate in this great game too, and improve our loved distribution, you can have a look at this list of 