---
name: "searchdeb"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "searchscripts"
version: "0.11"
release: "Debian 3.0 (Woody)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/searchdeb"
---

# searchdeb(1)

query the Debian mailing lists search engine

## NAME

searchdeb - query the Debian mailing lists search engine

## DESCRIPTION

searchdeb is a commandline script to query the Debian mailing list archives at http://www.debian.org/Lists-Archives/.

## SYNOPSIS

searchdeb -H

searchdeb \[ -l list1 \[list2\] \] \[ -o \] \[ -d ..\] \[ -k \] \\\
     \-p pattern

## OPTIONS

- **-b**

  \- download message bodies too

- **-D**

  \- download and save the list names to a config file in ~/.searchscripts/. This allows for quicker startup as the list name page doesn't have to be pulled from lists.d.o each time.  If you've used -D, you should run it once in a while to make sure the lists are up-to-date.

- **-d \[Xq\] \| \[Xy\] \| all**

  \- search back X quarters or X years.  E.g.\
   ´-d 0q' will search just this quarter and\
   ´-d 1y' will go back 1 year (this is the default)\
   ´-d all' will search the whole archive

- **-e**

  \- spelling errors allowed - 0,1,2; default 0

- **-H**

  \- pull the mailing list home page into the browser

- **-k**

  \- don't delete the hits file on exit.  It will be in /tmp and start with deb\_\_. It is always kept if the browser is Netscape.

- **-l \<lists\>**

  \- default devel, all="devel mentors user". You can leave the "debian-" off for all lists that begin with that, except debian-lcs-eng (to differentiate it from lcs-eng.)

- **-L pattern**

  \- print the lists that match the string **pattern** and exit.  '\*' for all.

- **-o**

  \- lineonly; semicolon-separated words must be on the same line

- **-p**

  \- search pattern.  The -p is optional if it is the only switch. '-p \\?' to view the Glimpse help at lists.debian.org.

- **-t \<seconds\>**

  \- socket timeout, default 60

### Patterns:

´this,that´\
     \- comma finds either term in the file

´pgp;gpg;signing´\
     \- semicolon wants all terms in the file

´some phrase´\
     \- space wants terms adjacent, as if quoted

http://lists.debian.org/glimpse.html#sect7 has the complete pattern description

## BROWSERS

If you use Netscape as your browser, the temp files will be left in /tmp and you'll have delete them occasionally.  These files are automatically deleted if you use a different browser.

## ENVIRONMENT

- **SSBROWSER**

  If this variable is set in the environment (e.g. export SSBROWSER=lynx) it is used.

- **X11BROWSER**

  Else if DISPLAY is set then the X11BROWSER environment variable is checked for the preferred browser.  If unset it defaults to lynx.

- **CONSOLEBROWSER**

  Else the CONSOLEBROWSER environment variable is checked for the preferred console browser.  If unset it defaults to lynx.

## EXAMPLES

searchdeb -l devel user -d 2q -p 'sound modules;oss'\
 searchdeb -l policy -o -p 'burned out' -b\
 searchdeb -l policy devel -p 'autoconf;automake' -k\
 searchdeb 'python;gpl'

## NOTES

\- ^C stops the search and attempts to show the hits to that point

## AUTHOR

Copyright (C) 2000 Rick Younie \<younie@debian.org\>, GPL version 2 or later. See /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL.

## SEE ALSO

**[searchgeo(1)](/searchgeo/1.md),** **[searchgoo(1)](/searchgoo/1.md)**