How To Use FSearch To Find Files On Linux
On Linux, many file managers have a search feature built-in. They get the job done, for the most part. However, if you’re not happy with the speed of search through the file manager, it may be a good idea to check out a dedicated searching app. Introducing Fsearch: a blazing fast app that allows users to build and maintain their own file database and find files on Linux more efficiently.
Note: to use Fsearch you must have Ubuntu, Debian, Arch Linux, Fedora, OpenSUSE or the ability to compile the software from source.
Ubuntu
Installing Fsearch on Ubuntu is easy, as the developer has a “daily development PPA” available for use. Using the development PPA may prove to be unstable, but the alternative is compiling it from source (which many Ubuntu users are not fans of). To add the developer PPA, open up a terminal and enter the following command.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:christian-boxdoerfer/fsearch-daily
Adding the PPA is the first step to getting Fsearch on Ubuntu. The next step is to update apt so that it can see the new software source. Updating software sources on Ubuntu is done with the update command.
sudo apt update
Running apt update refreshes all servers that Ubuntu installs software from, and detects any important updates ready for installation. Install the new program updates in Ubuntu with the apt upgrade command.
sudo apt upgrade -y
With Ubuntu up to date, it’s safe to install Fsearch.
sudo apt install fsearch-y
Debian
Debian and Ubuntu share a similar architecture, which means its possible to run the Fsearch Ubuntu packages on any Debian system (with some tinkering). However, considering that Ubuntu is much further ahead than Ubuntu with program versions, it’s not a guarantee that this version of the program will work. Luckily, its quite easy for Debian users to build Fsearch from scratch.
To build Fsearch on Debian, first install the required dependency files:
sudo apt-get install git build-essential automake autoconf libtool pkg-config intltool autoconf-archive libpcre3-dev libglib2.0-dev libgtk-3-dev libxml2-utils
Next, clone the source code from Github with the git command.
git clone https://github.com/cboxdoerfer/fsearch.git cd fsearch
Using the build tools, compile and install Fsearch on Debian.
./autogen.sh ./configure make sudo make install
Arch Linux
Arch Linux doesn’t have a native Fsearch package in a third-party software repository like Debian, but it’s got the next best thing: an official AUR package. To get Fsearch working on Arch via the AUR, follow these steps.
First, use the Pacman packaging tool to sync the latest version of Git to your Arch system.
sudo pacman -S git
Next, clone the latest version of the Fsearch AUR package:
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/fsearch-git.git
Using the CD command, move into the newly cloned fsearch-git folder.
cd fsearch-git
Finally, generate an Arch Linux Fsearch package and install it on your PC.
Note: if any dependencies fail to install during the package generation process, it is up to you to install them manually. Find the Fsearch dependencies here.
makepkg -si
Fedora
The first step to installing Fsearch on Fedora is to install the build dependencies. In a terminal, use the DNF package manager to get everything installed.
sudo dnf install automake autoconf intltool libtool autoconf-archive pkgconfig glib2-devel gtk3-devel git
Now that the Fsearch build dependencies are satisfied, Fedora can build the program correctly. To build, run the following commands:
git clone https://github.com/cboxdoerfer/fsearch.git cd fsearch ./autogen.sh ./configure make sudo make install
OpenSUSE
Thanks to the OpenSUSE build service, the Fsearch app is quite easy to install. To install, head over to the download page, select “show community packages”, and select “1 Click Install” to get it working on your system.
Configuring Fsearch
Before Fsearch can find files on your Linux PC, it needs to build a database. To build a database, open up the program and click “Edit.” In the “Edit” menu, select the “Preferences” button to bring up the app’s configuration area.
Inside of the configuration settings, click the “database” tab. Check the “update database at start” box to automatically update the database. Next, go select “Add” to add a new location to the app.
In the file browser, add /home/, as it’s the primary directory that holds your files.
Need to add more locations to the Fsearch database? Go back to the “database” tab and click the “Add” button to add locations.
Click “File,” then “update database” to finish the setup process.
Using Fsearch
The Fsearch app is blazing fast and dead easy to use for finding just about every type of file. Searching is very simple and doesn’t require any extra clicking. To find something, start typing out the first few letters of it and Fsearch will print out a list of search results almost instantly.
To access a file or folder in the search result, right-click on it in the search results and bring up the right-click menu. Inside the right-click menu, select “open” to show it in the file manager. Alternatively, select “open with” to open the item with a specific program.
File Paths
One useful feature that Fsearch has is its ability to quickly copy the path to a file or folder to the clipboard. It makes search all the more useful if you can quickly find a file and keep the location. Like most actions, the “copy file path” option is located in the right-click menu.
Highlight a file/folder and right-click. Inside the right-click menu, select the “copy file path” option.
Deleting
Often times we search for things to delete them. Amazingly, the Fsearch app can delete files directly from the search results!
To delete a file from your Linux PC through Fsearch, right-click on it and select “Delete.” Alternatively, move the file to the trash by clicking “Move to Trash.”
