---
name: "medusa-searchd"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "medusa"
version: "0.5.1-4"
release: "Debian 3.0 (Woody)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/medusa-searchd"
---

# medusa-searchd(8)

daemon to perform medusa file system searches

## NAME

medusa-searchd - daemon to perform medusa file system searches

## SYNOPSIS

**medusa-searchd** \[ **-d** ⎪ **--debug** \] \[ **-n** *indexname* ⎪ **--named-index** *indexname* \]

## DESCRIPTION

**medusa-searchd**, which is normally run automatically from an init script or crontab, puts itself into the background and begins listening on the local socket **/tmp/medusa-search-server**. It must be run as root.

This seems to be the protocol:

- C:

  **gimme cookie** \\t *uid* \\t *pid* \\n

- S:

  **writing new cookie** \\n

If the response for the server is, instead, \`\`**Index Error**'' or \`\`**timeout error**'' (with that capitalization), then the session has failed and is closed.

Otherwise the client then tries to open the file **/tmp/medusa-cookies/***uid\_pid* and reads a single **int**, encoded in the local binary format, from it. The ASCII representation of that **int** is the *cookie*.

- C:

  *uid* space *pid* space *cookie* \\t *search-uri*

where *search-uri* is as documented in [**medusa-search-uri**(7)](/medusa-search-uri/7.md). It does not seem to be terminated by a newline.

- S:

  **Search URI OK** \\n

If the server instead responds, \`\`**Whole Database Matches**'', \`\`**Query returned no results**'', \`\`**Search URI obsoletes index**'', or \`\`**Search URI syntax error**'' then the session is over.

Otherwise, the server sends a series of matching patchnames, each terminated by a newline. After the last the server sends

- S:

  **End** \\n

and closes the connection.

## OPTIONS

- **--named-index** *indexname*

  Use socket **/tmp/medusa-search-server-***indexname* and index files **/var/lib/medusa-***indextype-indexname* rather than the normal versions without the \`\`**-***indexname*'' suffix.

- **--debug**

  Stops **medusa-searchd** from going into the background, and causes it to send a SIGINT signal to itself when printing warning messages.

## SEE ALSO

[**medusa-search-uri**(7)](/medusa-search-uri/7.md), **medusa-indexd**(8)