After an evaluation, GNOME has moved from Bugzilla to GitLab. Learn more about GitLab.
No new issues can be reported in GNOME Bugzilla anymore.
To report an issue in a GNOME project, go to GNOME GitLab.
Do not go to GNOME Gitlab for: Bluefish, Doxygen, GnuCash, GStreamer, java-gnome, LDTP, NetworkManager, Tomboy.
Bug 309119 - Off-line dictionary
Off-line dictionary
Status: RESOLVED OBSOLETE
Product: gnome-dictionary
Classification: Core
Component: general
git master
Other Linux
: Normal enhancement
: ---
Assigned To: gnome-dictionary-maint
gnome-dictionary-maint
: 309120 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2005-06-27 11:18 UTC by Bastien Nocera
Modified: 2021-06-10 11:22 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: ---



Description Bastien Nocera 2005-06-27 11:18:35 UTC
The current gnome-dictionary can't be used when off-line. Using the Wiktionary
would allow it to use an offline database: http://wiktionary.org/
Comment 1 Vincent Noel 2005-06-27 17:22:34 UTC
I've looked at the wiktionary web site, but I cannot find a way to download the
thing (which would be mandatory for offline browsing). Also, when online, I
cannot find a way to access the wiktionary without screenscraping...
Are such tools available for remote dictionary access ?
Comment 2 Glenn J. Mason 2005-06-28 01:18:06 UTC
It looks like Wikimedia is planning an API for Wikipedia and Wiktionary.  There
is interest in this for some other GNOME apps/components, I hear.

Announcement:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/KDE_and_Wikipedia
Comment 3 Bastien Nocera 2005-06-28 10:42:49 UTC
All the data is downloadable at:
http://download.wikimedia.org/
in database dumps format.

However, this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Database_download#Static_HTML_tree_dumps_for_mirroring_or_CD_distribution
seems to fit in with the use that we could do of the dictionaries.
Comment 4 Emmanuele Bassi (:ebassi) 2006-01-13 11:36:20 UTC
*** Bug 309120 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 5 Daniel Holbach 2006-12-22 15:42:27 UTC
Ubuntu bug about that: https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/gnome-utils/+bug/19227
Comment 6 Mathieu Comandon 2009-12-29 23:21:00 UTC
As Gabriele Monti, it's possible to use offline dictionnaries by installing the dictd package. But a real bug remains, if no internet connection is present and someone makes a word search with gnome-dictionnary, then the program just hangs (This is easily noticeable with Compiz, the window becomes gray). 
The internet connectivity should be tested when the first launch is made with a timeout of 5 seconds for example. If no internet connection is possible, then show a message box warning the user about the issue (it's not very clear that Gnome Dictionnary should be used online in the first place)

Also, the offline method using dictd should be described in the documentation and in the manpage (there is a hint in the manpage in the "see also" section, but I couldn't explore in this direction because ... you know ... no internet connectivity)
Comment 7 Asif Ali Rizvan 2012-04-16 07:30:33 UTC
better still support text based dictionary format, which would be easier for users to create custom dictionaries.

for example, the DSL format:

http://informationworker.ru/lingvo.en/dslcompiler/dsl_examples.htm
http://informationworker.ru/lingvo.en/dslcompiler/entrystructure.htm

Goldendict uses it too. 

dictd is older technology, and making databases for dictd server is a big hassle.

Perhaps a simple HTML based dictionary format would solve the need for offline dictionary.

thanks.
Comment 8 André Klapper 2021-06-10 11:22:27 UTC
GNOME is going to shut down bugzilla.gnome.org in favor of gitlab.gnome.org.
As part of that, we are mass-closing older open tickets in bugzilla.gnome.org
which have not seen updates for a longer time (resources are unfortunately
quite limited so not every ticket can get handled).

If you can still reproduce the situation described in this ticket in a recent
and supported software version of gnome-dictionary, then please follow
  https://wiki.gnome.org/GettingInTouch/BugReportingGuidelines
and create a ticket at
  https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-dictionary/-/issues/

Thank you for your understanding and your help.