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    <title>Recoll known bugs</title>






  
  

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    <meta name="Author" content="Jean-Francois Dockes">






  
  

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    <meta name="Description" content=






  
  

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    "recoll is a simple full-text search system for unix and linux






  
  

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    based on the powerful and mature xapian engine">






  
  

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    <meta name="Keywords" content=






  
  

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    "full text search, desktop search, unix, linux">






  
  

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  <body>






  
  

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    <div class="rightlinks">






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li><a href="index.html">Home</a></li>






  
  

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  <li><a href="download.html">Downloads</a></li>






  
  

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  <li><a href="doc.html">Documentation</a></li>






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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    </div>






  
  

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    <div class="content">






  
  

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      <h1>Known bugs in current and older versions</h1>






  
  

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      <p><i>Bugs that are listed in an older version section are






  
  

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    supposedly fixed in later versions. Bugs listed in the






  
  

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    topmost section may also exist in older versions.</i></p>






  
  

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      <h2>Latest (recoll 1.11.0 + xapian 1.0.x)</h2>






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li> When Recoll is built with qt 4.4.0, the icons in the






  
  

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    result list are all displayed at the top of the page and






  
  

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    garbled. This appears to be a qt bug, fixed in 4.4.1. Use






  
  

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    either qt 4.3.x or 4.4.1






  
  

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  <li> If the user-chosen result list entry format results in






  
  

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    several paragraphs (in the qt textedit sense), right clicks






  
  

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    will only work inside the first one for each entry.






  
  

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  <li> When a mime type has an external viewer defined, but the






  
  

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    actual file is compressed (ie: xxx.txt.gz), recoll will try






  
  

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    to start the external viewer on the compressed file, which






  
  

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    will not work in most cases.






  
  

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  <li> NEAR crashes: 1.6 has added NEAR searches. Unlike what






  
  

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    recoll did with PHRASES, stemming expansion is performed on






  
  

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    terms inside NEAR clauses (except if prevented by a






  
  

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    capitalized entry of course). There is a bug in Xapian (all






  
  

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    versions as far as I know), where NEAR does not support






  
  

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    multiple OR subclauses, as would result from a multiple






  
  

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    expansion. This manifests itself by a 'not implemented'






  
  

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    Xapian exception. Workarounds:






  
  

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    <ul>






  
  

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      <li>Prevent expansion of NEAR terms (possibly except one) by






  
  

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              capitalizing them.






  
  

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      <li>Or apply the following patch to xapian, inside the






  
  

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              "api/" directory: 






  
  

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              http://www.recoll.org/xapian/xapNearDistrib-1.0.patch






  
  

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              or fetch the already patched source:






  
  

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        http://www.recoll.org/xapian/xapian-core-1.0.7-recollNEARpatch.tar.gz






  
  

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              then recompile, and install.






  
  

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      </li>






  
  

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    </ul>






  
  

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    I hope that an equivalent fix will make it into xapian at






  
  

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    some point (the current fix is not completely correct but






  
  

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    still handles most useful cases).</li>






  
  

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  <li> If you are seeing a delay of a few seconds before the






  
  

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    result list displays for the first query of a recoll






  
  

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    instance, try changing the result list font in the query






  
  

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    preferences. This is not a recoll problem, I don't know the






  
  

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    exact cause (I've seen it happen with "Sans Serif" and go






  
  

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    away with Helvetica or Arial).






  
  

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  <li> Under some versions of KDE (ie: Fedora FC5 KDE






  
  

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    3.5.4-0.5.fc5), there is a problem with the window stacking






  
  

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    order. Opening the "browse" file selection dialog from the






  
  

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    advanced search dialog will stack the latter under the main






  
  

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    window, possibly making it invisible. This is quite probably






  
  

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    a Kwin bug, possibly related to






  
  

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    http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=79183 or a correction






  
  

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    thereof.






  
  

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  <li> Under Solaris, it is necessary to perform initial indexing with the






  
  

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    recollindex program (the recoll index thread doesn't work for creating






  
  

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    the database). Don't know the reason. Only idea I have is problem with






  
  

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    exception handling (recoll catches an exception while trying the






  
  

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    yet inexistant db).</li>






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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      <h2>1.10.6</h2>






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li> If the locale is not utf-8, non-ascii command line






  
  

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    arguments to recoll and recollq are not converted to utf-8,






  
  

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    which may prevent, for example, the kde applet from






  
  

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    working. The workaround is to apply the following one-line






  
  

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    fix to qtgui/main.cpp, recompile and install recoll:






  
  

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    <pre>






  
  

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      386c386






  
  

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      &lt;        sSearch->setSearchString(QString::fromUtf8(qstring.c_str()));






  
  

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      ---






  
  

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      &gt;        sSearch->setSearchString(QString::fromLocal8Bit(qstring.c_str()));






  
  

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    </pre>






  
  

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  </li>






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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      <h2>1.10.1</h2>






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li> A relatively simple error case can cause the indexer to






  
  

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    stop processing an mbox file (forgetting all subsequent






  
  

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    messages). More specifically, this happens when encountering






  
  

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    more than than a few dozen errors while handling






  
  

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    attachments. This is relatively common: for exemple if an






  
  

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    external helper application is missing and multiple






  
  

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    attachments of the affected type are found (ie: multiple






  
  

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    images and no exiftool). Workaround: install the helper






  
  

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    application.






  
  

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  <li> The decoding of base-64 data in emails fails in a relatively uncommon 






  
  

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    but sometimes encountered case.






  
  

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  <li> In a preview window, when walking the search term hits with the






  
  

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    Previous/Next buttons, 'Previous' actually acts as 'Next' (it does work






  
  

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    normally for the local search).






  
  

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  <li> Problems in detecting message separators inside Thunderbird mailboxes






  
  

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    (quite probably mainly for messages imported from outlook?). Can lead to






  
  

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    unindexed messages, and even apparently indexer crashes in some cases.






  
  

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  <li> File names indexed as terms can sometimes overflow the maximum term






  
  

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    size, halting the indexing.






  
  

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  <li> For Phrase/Near searches, only the first term group is highlighted in






  
  

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    preview. 






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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      <h2>1.10.0</h2>






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li> If a filter fails while trying to extract the data from a file, the file






  
  

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    will not be indexed at all (not even the file name). The file






  
  

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    name should be indexed in this case. This happens in particular in the






  
  

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    very common case where the helper application is not installed (ie:






  
  

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    missing Exiftool -> no *.jpg names in the index).






  
  

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  <li> If several query language "ext:" qualifiers are specified, they will be






  
  

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    joined by an AND instead of OR, resulting in no results. Using an






  
  

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    explicit OR doesn't work (actually OR + field names is generally






  
  

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    broken). In some cases, you can use a "type:" qualifier as a workaround.






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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      <h2>1.9.x</h2>






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li> Problems have been reported indexing big mailstores (several hundreds of






  
  

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    thousands of messages): resulting in a very big database and even






  
  

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    crashes.






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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      <h2>1.8.2</h2>






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li> Under ubuntu (at least, maybe debian too), the default awk interpreter






  
  

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    (mawk) is ancient, and the recoll pdf input filter does not






  
  

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    work (removes all space characters). This can be solved by installing the






  
  

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    gawk package. 






  
  

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        $ apt-get install gawk






  
  

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    $ update-alternatives --set awk /usr/bin/gawk






  
  

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  <li> There are sometimes problems with document deletions: the index can






  
  

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    get in a state where deleted or moved documents are not purged from the






  
  

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    index (the log file says that the doc are deleted, but they aren't






  
  

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    actually). When this happens, the only solution currently is to reindex






  
  

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    from scratch (recollindex -z). This is due to a xapian bug, which is






  
  

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    fixed in xapian 1.0.2, or you can apply the following patch to xapian






  
  

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    1.0.1 to fix it:






  
  

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    http://www.lesbonscomptes.com/recoll/xapian/xapian-delete-document.patch 






  
  

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  <li> The dates shown for email attachments in a result list are the email






  
  

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    folder modification date. This should be inherited from the parent






  
  

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    message instead.






  
  

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  <li> There are a few problems in the qt4 version of recoll: 






  
  

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  <li> Some accelerators (esc-spc, ctl-arrow) do not work, neither do






  
  

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    copy/paste between the result list and preview windows and x11






  
  

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    applications. 






  
  

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  <li> The qt4 q3textedit::find() method is extremely slow, so that






  
  

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    positionning to first search term in Recoll preview has been disabled,






  
  

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    and the application will sometimes appear to be looping when using the






  
  

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    find feature in the preview window (it's not looping, it's searching...)






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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      <h2>1.8.1</h2>






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li> This is not really a bug but .beagle really should be included in






  
  

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    "skippedNames", or you end up indexing the beagle text cache, which is






  
  

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    not really desirable.






  
  

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  <li> Doc bug: the manual states that the query language supports a "mime:"






  
  

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    switch to filter mime types. There is currently no such thing.






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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      <h2>1.7.5</h2>






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li> Debian and Ubuntu: the rclsoff Openoffice filter doesn't work,






  
  

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    because of an incorrect shell syntax (understood by bash but not sh). To






  
  

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    fix, you edit /usr[/local]/share/recoll/filters/rclsoff and can change






  
  

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    the line:






  
  

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    trap cleanup EXIT SIGHUP SIGQUIT SIGINT SIGTERM






  
  

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    into:






  
  

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    trap cleanup EXIT HUP QUIT INT TERM






  
  

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    or download the updated filter from the filters page: 






  
  

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    http://www.recoll.org/filters/filters.html






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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      <h2>1.7.3</h2>






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li> Processing will stop on first error while indexing an mbox file. This






  
  

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    could happen just because an attachment could not be decoded, and can






  
  

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    cause non-indexing of many messages. The most probable cause of error is






  
  

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    a missing filter (ie for ms-word files), so the temporary workaround






  
  

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    would be to install the missing filters. This bug is specific to 1.7 and






  
  

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    1.6 users need not worry. A correction will be issued very soon.






  
  

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  <li> Messages of type multipart/signed are not indexed. 






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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      <h2>1.6.2</h2>






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li> Relatively unfrequent issue with message boundary detection in mbox






  
  

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    files, could cause miscellaneous problems.






  
  

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  <li> Executing an external viewer for a file with single-quotes in the name






  
  

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    would not work.






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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      <h2>1.5.10</h2>






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li> If a defaultcharset was set in the configuration file for a subdirectory,






  
  

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    it would stay in effect for all subsequent files/directories (except if






  
  

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    explicitely overridden), potentially causing many transcoding errors.






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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      <h2>1.5.[1-7]</h2>






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li> Dates in result list come from the file's ctimes, which may be confusing






  
  

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  <li> Some rare MIME messages with null boundaries can crash the indexer.






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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      <h2>1.5.0</h2>






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li> Under some conditions, recoll startup and exit could be very slow: the






  
  

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    simple search history list had serious problems with non-ascii strings,






  
  

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    whose size sometimes doubled at each program startup/stop.






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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      <h2>1.3.3</h2>






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li> Several of the external filters did not handle path names with embedded






  
  

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    spaces (rcluncomp rclsoff rclps rclmedia rcldjvu). This is fixed in 1.4.






  
  

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  <li> If your QT installation is built with the QT_NO_STL flag, Recoll will not






  
  

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    compile. I have a patch for this (will be fixed in the next release),






  
  

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    contact me if you get the problem. Typical error message:






  
  

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    main.cpp:160: error: no match for 'operator+=' in 'msg += reason'






  
  

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  <li> The 'None of these words' field in the complex search does not work if






  
  

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    there are no other filled fields (it transforms into an ordinary






  
  

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    search). Workaround: enter very common term(s) in the 'any of these






  
  

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    words' field.






  
  

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  <li> Indexing cannot currently be conveniently and cleanly






  
  

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    stopped when it's started. You can kill the process, and






  
  

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    keyboard interrupt might work, but this may leave the






  
  

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    database in a bad state. This is fixed in the upcoming






  
  

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    release, there is no current workaround.






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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      <h2>1.2.2</h2>






  
  

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      <ul>






  
  

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  <li> The preview window is supposed to scroll after loading the document so






  
  

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    that the first search term is visible. This does not work in many cases.






  
  

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  <li> The result list title is not shown for sorted lists






  
  

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    Notes on older versions:






  
  

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  <li> Trouble compiling on some linux systems (Gentoo and Slackware?). There






  
  

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    existed a quite common issue where the Recoll link will fail trying to






  
  

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    use a libstdc++.la file. This was due to a problem with the xapian-config






  
  

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    program. A workaround has been included in the configure script for






  
  

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    recoll 1.2.2, and the problem should not occur any more.






  
  

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  <li> Case-insensitive search should now work in most cases






  
  

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  (used to not work except for accented ascii).






  
  

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  <li> All directories and files with names beginning with a dot were ignored






  
  

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    by the skippedNames directive in the default recoll.conf file from






  
  

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    older versions (no indexation of mozilla or thunderbird email !). An






  
  

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    upgrade will not fix this (it will not modify an existing






  
  

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    configuration). You need to edit recoll.conf by hand and remove the .*






  
  

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    from skippedNames.</li>






  
  

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      </ul>






  
  

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