Just moved to Ubuntu 12.04 from Windows 7.Under Win 7 I use Everything to search files and directories, it can build the index database and update it once any file or directory changes. I'm very used to it so I want know if there is something similar under Ubuntu 12.04.Now my workaround is updatedb and locate, but I have to updatedb every time I want to search something. Also, the results are the absolute file paths, what if I want to know the details of the files?Say, what should I do if I want to sort the results by created_time?Is there any way that updatedb is automatically executed once I added a file on my disk? If not, are there any tools that can function like Everything?
How to monitor directory/file changes to rebuild index?
ubuntu;search;locate;updatedb
There are 3 choices that I'm familiar with.trackerrecollBeagleThis tutorial titled, The best Linux desktop search tools discusses these and a couple of others.TrackerInstallation is a snap.$ apt-get install tracker tracker-utilsAfter installation it should start indexing your drive automatically. You can peek inside to see what it's up to using tracker-control:$ tracker-control Found 288 PIDsFound process ID 2611 for 'tracker-store'Store:17 Aug 2013, 11:57:51:       Store                 - Idle Miners:17 Aug 2013, 11:57:51:       Applications          - Not running or is a disabled plugin17 Aug 2013, 11:57:51:       File System           - Not running or is a disabled pluginOr you can use track-stats:$ tracker-stats | head -10Statistics:  mfo:Action = 1  mlo:LandmarkCategory = 15  mto:State = 6  mto:TransferMethod = 2  mtp:ScanType = 6  nao:Tag = 1  nco:AuthorizationStatus = 3  nco:Contact = 1  nco:Gender = 3You can reconfigure its preferences like so:$ tracker-preferences                  You can manually start up the miners like so:$ tracker-control -sStarting miners   Applications   File SystemAnd then see what its up to:$ tracker-control -FStore:17 Aug 2013, 12:13:29:       Store                 - Idle Miners:17 Aug 2013, 12:13:29:    0%  Applications          - Initializing 17 Aug 2013, 12:13:29:    0%  File System           - Initializing Press Ctrl+C to end follow of Tracker state17 Aug 2013, 12:13:29:       Store                 - Idle 17 Aug 2013, 12:13:39:    1%  Applications          - Crawling recursively directory 'file:///usr/share/applications' 17 Aug 2013, 12:13:39:    1%  Applications          - Crawling recursively directory 'file:///usr/share/desktop-directories' 17 Aug 2013, 12:13:39:    1%  Applications          - Crawling recursively directory 'file:///home/tammy/.local/share/applications' 17 Aug 2013, 12:13:39:    1%  Applications          - Crawling recursively directory 'file:///home/tammy/.local/share/desktop-directories' After content on the disk has been indexed you can search for it using either the GUI or the integrated search into Nautilus (Ctrl + f). It also provides a command line tool, tracker-search:$ tracker-search artResults:  file:///home/tammy/Documents/ArtEdCurriculumElemFRS.odtA little more details:$ tracker-search -d artResults:cols:3  file:///home/tammy/Documents/ArtEdCurriculumElemFRS.odt    application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text    http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ontologies/2007/03/22/nfo#PaginatedTextDocumentYou can also invoke the GUI search tool, tracker-needle:              RecollI don't have an active setup of this one currently but there are screenshots on the website that show it in action. You can also peruse the online documentation for more information.