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# dictd

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The official website describes dictd as:

  Client/server software, human language dictionary databases, and tools supporting the DICT protocol (RFC 2229).

## Installation

Install the dictd package.

### Graphical front ends

There are various graphical applications that can access `dictd` through the DICT protocol. One of which is: GoldenDict.

## Usage

Dictionaries can be queried by:

    $ dict <word>

To query a specific dictionary database, you can use the `-d` flag. To query the English-Spanish database, for example, you can use:

    $ dict -d eng-spa <word>

Without further configuration, it is likely that dictd will query online databases. See below to set up offline dictionaries.

## Configuration

By default, dictd tries to query offline databases first, then online databases. However, offline databases will not be available unless `dictd.service` is enabled, with locale properly set up and offline dictionaries installed (see below).

The online mode can be disabled by commenting `server dict.org` out in `/etc/dict/dict.conf`. Conversely, the offline mode can be disabled by commenting `server localhost` out.

### Locale

By default, dictd comes configured to use the en_US.UTF-8 locale. If your system does not have this locale compiled, `dictd.service` will fail to start without a helpful error message.

It is likely that you want to configure it to use another locale in `/etc/conf.d/dictd`:

    /etc/conf.d/dictd

    DICTD_ARGS="--locale <your locale>"

### Hosting Offline Dictionaries

Dictd can be configured to host offline dictionaries using `localhost` as the server by enabling `dictd.service`.

First, offline dictionaries need to be installed. Dictionaries are available through the Arch User Repository with the search term `dictd`. Some popular English dictionaries include:

- dict-gcideAUR - GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- dict-wnAUR - WordNet
- dict-moby-thesaurusAUR - Moby Thesaurus

The FreeDict project also provides many bilingual dictionaries compatible with dictd, which are usually available on AUR.

After installation, restart `dictd.service` if needed to access the newly available dictionary. Afterwards, dictionaries can be queried as described above.

Tip:

- A list of all the available dictionaries can be queried by executing:

    $ dict -I

## Troubleshooting

### Parse Error

The following error:

    /etc/dict/dictd.conf:25: syntax error, unexpected $end
    /etc/dict/dictd.conf:25: #LASTLINE
    /etc/dict/dictd.conf:25:          ^
    dictd (yyerror): parse error
    parse error

Means that `dictd` cannot find a dictionary database. These can be added manually to `/etc/dict/dictd.conf`. For example:

    database eng-spa {
    	data /usr/share/dictd/eng-spa.dict.dz
    	index /usr/share/dictd/eng-spa.index
    }

Adds the English-Spanish dictionary installed by dict-freedict-eng-spaAUR. For other dictionaries, copy and paste the above database declaration but make sure to change the database name, i.e. `eng-spa`, and also change the `data` and `index` paths above to specify the right files.

Category:

- Dictionaries