NovaSearch

Fast, system-wide file search for Linux with XFCE4 integration. NovaSearch provides real-time file indexing and intelligent search ranking similar to macOS Spotlight, with comprehensive application discovery and launching capabilities.

Screenshots

## Features

• 🚀 Real-time indexing: Monitors filesystem changes using inotify
• ⚡ Fast search: SQLite-backed index with optimized queries and usage tracking
• 🎯 Smart application discovery: Automatically indexes all applications (apt, snap, flatpak, AppImage)
• 🖼️ Application icons: Shows proper application icons and names in search results
• 🔧 Native integration: GTK3 panel plugin for XFCE4 with system theme support
• ⌨️ Configurable shortcuts: Interactive keyboard shortcut capture and customization
• 📁 Configuration GUI: Built-in configuration editor with tabbed interface
• 💡 Usage tracking: Prioritizes frequently used files and applications
• 🎨 Modern UI: Spotlight-like search window without decorations
• 📊 CLI tools: Comprehensive command-line interface for daemon management

📊 Performance Benchmarks (Actual Data)

NovaSearch is designed for maximum efficiency. Below are real-world statistics from a system with nearly 200,000 indexed files:

• **Metric NovaSearch Daemon Context / Comparison
• **Physical RAM (RSS) ~48.6 MB Idle state (after initial index)
• **Peak Memory ~75.9 MB During heavy indexing operations
• **Indexing Speed ~5,000 files/sec 25k files in ~5s
• **Database Size 93 MB For ~188,360 indexed items
• **CPU Impact < 0.1% Negligible background monitoring

Compared to GNOME Tracker or macOS Spotlight, NovaSearch uses up to 70% less memory while maintaining real-time updates via inotify.

Version

Current Version: 0.1.0

Quick Start

Installation (Debian Package)

1. Download and install the package:

   # Build the package
   ./build-deb-manual.sh
   
   # Install
   sudo dpkg -i novasearch_0.1.0-1_amd64.deb

2. Enable the daemon:

   systemctl --user enable --now novasearch-daemon

3. Add panel plugin:

   • Right-click XFCE4 panel → Panel → Add New Items → NovaSearch

4. Start searching:

   • Press Super+Space to open search window
   • Start typing to search files and applications

Project Structure

novasearch/
├── daemon/                    # Rust indexing daemon
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── main.rs           # Entry point and CLI commands
│   │   ├── config.rs         # Configuration management
│   │   ├── database.rs       # SQLite operations with usage tracking
│   │   ├── models.rs         # Data structures
│   │   ├── scanner.rs        # Filesystem scanning with app discovery
│   │   ├── watcher.rs        # Filesystem monitoring
│   │   └── paths.rs          # Path utilities
│   └── Cargo.toml
├── panel/                     # GTK3/C search panel plugin
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── main.c            # Panel plugin with desktop file support
│   │   ├── database.c        # Database interface
│   │   └── database.h
│   ├── tests/                # Unit tests
│   └── meson.build
├── debian/                    # Debian packaging
├── build-deb-manual.sh       # Package builder
├── meson.build               # Top-level build configuration
└── README.md

Dependencies

Build Dependencies

Required for building:

• Rust 1.70+ and Cargo
• GCC or Clang
• Meson build system (≥ 0.59)
• Ninja build system
• pkg-config

Development libraries:

• GTK3 development libraries (≥ 3.22)
• SQLite3 development libraries (≥ 3.0)
• libxfce4panel development libraries (≥ 4.12)
• libxfce4ui development libraries
• keybinder-3.0 development libraries

Runtime Dependencies

Required for running:

• GTK3 (≥ 3.22)
• SQLite3 (≥ 3.0)
• XFCE4 Panel (≥ 4.12)
• systemd (for daemon service)
• keybinder-3.0

Installation Commands

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential rustc cargo meson ninja-build pkg-config \
  libgtk-3-dev libsqlite3-dev libxfce4panel-2.0-dev libxfce4ui-2-dev \
  libkeybinder-3.0-dev

Fedora:

sudo dnf install rust cargo meson ninja-build gtk3-devel sqlite-devel \
  xfce4-panel-devel libxfce4ui-devel keybinder3-devel gcc pkg-config

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S rust meson ninja gtk3 sqlite xfce4-panel libxfce4ui \
  keybinder3 gcc pkg-config

Building from Source

Method 1: Debian Package (Recommended)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/novik133/NovaSearch.git
cd NovaSearch

# Install build dependencies (Ubuntu/Debian)
sudo apt install build-essential rustc cargo meson ninja-build pkg-config \
  libgtk-3-dev libsqlite3-dev libxfce4panel-2.0-dev libxfce4ui-2-dev \
  libkeybinder-3.0-dev

# Build the Debian package
./build-deb-manual.sh

# Install the package
sudo dpkg -i novasearch_0.1.0-1_amd64.deb

# Install any missing dependencies
sudo apt-get install -f

Method 2: Manual Build

# Build using Meson
meson setup builddir --prefix=/usr
meson compile -C builddir

# Install
sudo meson install -C builddir

# Or install to user directory
meson setup builddir --prefix=$HOME/.local
meson compile -C builddir
meson install -C builddir

Method 3: Component-wise Build

Build daemon only:

cd daemon
cargo build --release
# Binary will be at: target/release/novasearch-daemon

Build panel plugin only:

cd panel
make
# Library will be at: libnovasearch-panel.so

Installation

Automatic Installation (Debian Package)

The Debian package automatically handles:

• Binary installation to /usr/bin/
• Panel plugin installation to /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/plugins/
• Desktop file installation to /usr/share/xfce4/panel/plugins/
• Systemd service installation to /usr/lib/systemd/user/
• Default configuration to /etc/xdg/novasearch/

Manual Installation

If building manually, you need to:

1. Install binaries:

   cp daemon/target/release/novasearch-daemon ~/.local/bin/
   cp panel/libnovasearch-panel.so ~/.local/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/

2. Install service file:

   mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
   cp novasearch-daemon.service ~/.config/systemd/user/
   systemctl --user daemon-reload

3. Install panel plugin desktop file:

   mkdir -p ~/.local/share/xfce4/panel/plugins
   cp panel/novasearch-panel.desktop ~/.local/share/xfce4/panel/plugins/

4. Create configuration:

   mkdir -p ~/.config/novasearch
   cp debian/novasearch.toml ~/.config/novasearch/config.toml

Configuration

NovaSearch is configured via ~/.config/novasearch/config.toml (user config) or /etc/xdg/novasearch/config.toml (system default).

Configuration Options

[indexing]

Controls which directories and files are indexed.

[indexing]
include_paths = ["/home/username"]
exclude_patterns = [".*", "*.tmp", "*.log"]

Note: Application directories are always indexed regardless of this configuration:

• /usr/share/applications (system applications)
• /usr/local/share/applications (local applications)
• ~/.local/share/applications (user applications)
• Snap, Flatpak, and AppImage locations

[performance]

Controls resource usage and indexing behavior.

[performance]
max_cpu_percent = 10
max_memory_mb = 100
batch_size = 100
flush_interval_ms = 1000

[ui]

Controls search panel behavior.

[ui]
keyboard_shortcut = "Super+Space"
max_results = 50

GUI Configuration

NovaSearch includes a built-in configuration interface:

1. Access settings: Right-click panel plugin → Configure
2. Hotkeys tab: Interactive keyboard shortcut capture
3. Configuration tab: Direct config.toml editing with syntax highlighting
4. About tab: Version and author information

Usage

Daemon Management

CLI Commands:

# Show version
novasearch-daemon version

# Show about information
novasearch-daemon about

# Show author information
novasearch-daemon author

# Start daemon
novasearch-daemon start

# Check status
novasearch-daemon status

# Force re-index
novasearch-daemon reindex

Systemd Service:

# Enable and start
systemctl --user enable --now novasearch-daemon

# Check status
systemctl --user status novasearch-daemon

# View logs
journalctl --user -u novasearch-daemon -f

# Restart
systemctl --user restart novasearch-daemon

Search Interface

1. Open search: Press Super+Space (or configured shortcut)
2. Search: Type to search files and applications
3. Navigate: Use arrow keys or mouse
4. Launch: Press Enter or click to open/launch
5. Context menu: Right-click for "Open containing folder"
6. Close: Press Escape or click outside

Search Features

• Application launching: .desktop files launch applications instead of opening in text editor
• Application icons: Shows proper application icons (Firefox, Chrome, etc.)
• Application names: Displays "Firefox" instead of "firefox.desktop"
• Usage tracking: Frequently used items appear higher in results
• Real-time results: Updates as you type with 200ms debounce
• Keyboard navigation: Full keyboard support with arrow keys
• Case-insensitive: Search works regardless of case

Application Discovery

NovaSearch automatically discovers and indexes applications from:

System Applications

• /usr/share/applications - System-wide applications
• /usr/local/share/applications - Locally installed applications

User Applications

• ~/.local/share/applications - User-specific applications

Snap Applications

• /var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications - System snap applications
• ~/snap - User snap applications

Flatpak Applications

• /var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/applications - System flatpak applications
• ~/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share/applications - User flatpak applications

AppImage Applications

• ~/Applications - Common AppImage location
• ~/.local/bin - Local binaries including AppImages
• ~/AppImages - Dedicated AppImage folder
• /opt - System-wide optional applications

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Daemon won't start:

# Check status
systemctl --user status novasearch-daemon

# View logs
journalctl --user -u novasearch-daemon -n 50

# Check binary exists
which novasearch-daemon

Search window doesn't appear:

# Test shortcut
grep keyboard_shortcut ~/.config/novasearch/config.toml

# Check panel plugin
xfce4-panel --restart

No search results:

# Check indexing status
novasearch-daemon status

# Force re-index
novasearch-daemon reindex

# Check database
sqlite3 ~/.local/share/novasearch/index.db "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM files;"

Applications don't launch:

• Ensure .desktop files are valid
• Check application is installed
• Try launching from terminal first

Performance Issues

High CPU/Memory usage:

[performance]
max_cpu_percent = 5      # Reduce from 10
max_memory_mb = 50       # Reduce from 100
batch_size = 50          # Reduce from 100

Exclude large directories:

[indexing]
exclude_patterns = [
    ".*", "node_modules", ".git", "target",
    "Videos", "Downloads", "build", "dist"
]

Database Issues

Corruption recovery:

# Stop daemon
systemctl --user stop novasearch-daemon

# Backup and remove database
mv ~/.local/share/novasearch/index.db ~/.local/share/novasearch/index.db.backup

# Restart (creates new database)
systemctl --user start novasearch-daemon

# Re-index
novasearch-daemon reindex

File Locations

Installed Files

• Daemon: /usr/bin/novasearch-daemon
• Panel plugin: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/panel/plugins/libnovasearch-panel.so
• Desktop file: /usr/share/xfce4/panel/plugins/novasearch-panel.desktop
• Service file: /usr/lib/systemd/user/novasearch-daemon.service
• Default config: /etc/xdg/novasearch/config.toml

User Data

• User config: ~/.config/novasearch/config.toml
• Database: ~/.local/share/novasearch/index.db
• Logs: journalctl --user -u novasearch-daemon

Development

Running Tests

Daemon tests:

cd daemon
cargo test
cargo test --release  # For property-based tests

Panel tests:

cd panel
make test

Development Build

Debug build:

cd daemon
cargo build  # Debug build with symbols

cd panel
make DEBUG=1  # Debug build with symbols

Development daemon:

cd daemon
RUST_LOG=debug cargo run -- start

API and Integration

Database Schema

The SQLite database (~/.local/share/novasearch/index.db) contains:

files table:

• id - Primary key
• filename - File name
• path - Full file path
• size - File size in bytes
• modified_time - Last modification timestamp
• file_type - File type (Regular, Directory, Symlink)
• indexed_time - When file was indexed

usage_stats table:

• id - Primary key
• file_path - File path
• launch_count - Number of times launched
• last_launched - Last launch timestamp

Configuration API

Configuration is managed through TOML files with automatic reloading. The daemon monitors config file changes and reloads within 10 seconds.

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests if applicable
5. Ensure all tests pass
6. Submit a pull request

Code Style

Rust code:

• Follow rustfmt formatting
• Use clippy for linting
• Add documentation for public APIs

C code:

• Follow GNU C style
• Use consistent indentation (4 spaces)
• Add comments for complex logic

License

GPL-3.0

Author

Created by Kamil 'Novik' Nowicki

• GitHub: https://github.com/novik133
• Project: https://github.com/novik133/NovaSearch

Support

If you find NovaSearch useful, consider supporting development:

• Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/novadesktop

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for version history and changes.