.\" This manpage is copyright (C) 1999-2000 Kirk Hilliard <kirk@debian.org>.
.\" This is free software, published under version 2 or (at your option)
.\" any later version of the GNU General Public License.  You should
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.\" $Id: dictdconfig.8 25 2008-01-20 10:57:18Z robert $
.\"
.TH DICTDCONFIG 8 "January 20, 2008" "DEBIAN" "Debian User's Manual"
.SH NAME
dictdconfig \- write dictd database configuration section
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B dictdconfig
[\-hlovw]
[\-\-help]
[\-\-list]
[\-\-order]
[\-\-version]
[\-\-write]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B dictdconfig
generates a complete
.B dictd
database configuration section for
available dictionary databases found in
.I /usr/share/dictd/
(or possibly elsewhere if an optional order override file is present).
If a dictionary database contains a <basename>.suffix and/or a
<basename>.word file, appropriate index_suffix and index_word entries
are created.
.PP
Its output file
.I /var/lib/dictd/db.list
may then be included from the
.B dictd
configuration file
.I /etc/dictd/dictd.conf
with an
``include /var/lib/dictd/db.list''
line.
See
.BR dictd (8)
for an explanation of
.B dictd
configuration.
.PP
In Debian, 
.B dictdconfig
is automatically invoked upon installation or removal of
dictionary database packages,
so most users will never need to invoke it by hand.
.SS DATABASE ORDER
The default order in which database entries are written is hard coded
into
.BR dictdconfig ,
but it may be overridden via the optional order override file
.IR /etc/dictd/dictd.order .
This may be desired because
.B dictd
returns definitions from dictionary databases in the order in which
they are listed in its configuration file.
The order override file may also be used to include local dictionary
databases which may not necessarily reside in
.IR /usr/share/dictd/ .
.PP
.IR /etc/dictd/dictd.order ,
if present, should be a whitespace separated list of basenames and
directories.  It may also include comments starting with # and
extending to the end of the line.  Virtual dictionaries and the directive 
.B database_exit 
may be included in the order override file.  (If virtual dictionaries
are used, it is necessary to use this directive after the default set
of dictionaries to avoid returning duplicate entries.  See 
.IR dictd(8) .)
.PP
Dictionary database entries will be generated only for those databases
found via basename and directory entries in the default order (or the
order override file, if present), and they will be generated in the
order in which these entries appear.  No more than one dictionary
database entry of any given name will be generated.
.PP
Entries without a leading / are relative to
.IR /usr/share/dictd/ .
.PP
Entries without a trailing / are basenames.
A dictionary database entry is generated if
.I <basename>.index
and
.I <basename>.dict.dz
or
.I <basename>.dict
are present.
.PP
Entries with a trailing / are directories.
A dictionary database entry is generated for each <name> where
.I <directory>/<name>.index
and
.I <directory>/<name>.dict.dz
or
.I <directory>/<name>.dict
are present.
.PP
The default order includes the directory
.I /usr/share/dictd/
as its final entry so that if a previously unknown dictionary database
(one not explicitly mentioned in the default order)
is installed, its dictionary database entry will still be generated.
An order override file should also use this technique, both for
.I /usr/share/dictd/
and for any other directory where local dictionary database might be
installed.
.PP
The \-o option may be used to make
.B dictdconfig
display the default order information along with the order override
information if
.I /etc/dictd/dictd.order
is present.
.SS DUMMY ENTRY
If no dictionary databases are found (via basename or directory
entries in the default order or the order override file), a dummy
dictionary database entry will be generated with
.I /dev/null
for both data and index.  This allows dictd to start without error.
.SS DATABASE ALIASES
If an executable script named 
.I /etc/dictd/dictdconfig.alias 
exists, dictdconfig will filter database names through it.  The script
can be bash, sed, perl, or whatever.  Although 
.I dict \-D 
will display database names of any length, names longer than 16
characters are displayed in a ragged format.  Appropriate entries in
this alias file can be used to cause 
.I dict \-D 
to display the database names in a reasonable format.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.I \-w, \-\-write
Write database section to
.IR /var/lib/dictd/db.list .
.TP
.I \-l, \-\-list
List database section to standard out.
.TP
.I \-o, \-\-order
Display database order information.
.TP
.I \-h, \-\-help
Display a usage message and exit.
.TP
.I \-v, \-\-version
Display version information and exit.
.SH FILES
.TP
.I /var/lib/dictd/db.list
Output of
.BR dictdconfig .
.TP
.I /etc/dictd/dictd.config
.B dictd
configuration file which "includes"
.IR /var/lib/dictd/db.list .
.TP
.I /etc/dictd/dictd.order
Optional
.B dictdconfig
order override file.
.SH SEE ALSO
dictd(8)
.SH BUGS
Older dictionary database packages did not automatically invoke
.B dictdconfig
upon installation and removal, so you may need to do so
manually (after which, you should restart dictd).
.SH AUTHOR
Kirk Hilliard <kirk@debian.org>.