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It would be nice if you can share your experience on the pros and cons of each of them. Personally I only know Google Desktop and Beagle, and I haven't really used them. I mainly store my files on Windows (and use its integrated indexed search) but I'm trying to see if I can switch over to Linux.

Also, can any one of the search indexer run without X? Does any of them provide an API for search queries?

Edit: At a minimum I would like to be able to index file metadata for documents (including PDF, MS Office) and music. Would be nice if it can peek into compressed archives too :)

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Tracker is the indexing engine that ships with Gnome (and Ubuntu). I have used it a little bit with some success but haven't used many other engines, so I'm not able to provide a detailed comparison...

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+1 When I need full text indexing, I use tracker. It's lighter weight than beagle, works fairly well in non-gnome environments (I prefer openbox) and has a commandline interface. Like all indexers, it can periodically use lots of resources. – DaveParillo Mar 16 '10 at 21:58
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slocate is the usual suspect.

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Thanks. But to my understanding slocate can only index filenames (correct me if I'm wrong.) I'm looking for software that can at least index file metadata (if not file content.) – netvope Mar 16 '10 at 20:00
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I found a list on Wikipedia under Desktop Search (note: not all of them have a Linux version)

Apple Spotlight
Beagle
Copernic Desktop Search
GNOME Storage
Google Desktop
Google Quick Search Box
Launchy
MetaTracker
Recoll
Strigi
Windows Desktop Search

But this doesn't fully answer my original question. So I'm still looking your answer :)

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An Open Source Search Engine Library, Xapian: xapian.org – netvope Mar 16 '10 at 20:16
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