5.2. Supporting packages

Recoll uses external applications to index some file types. You need to install them for the file types that you wish to have indexed (these are run-time optional dependencies. None is needed for building or running Recoll except for indexing their specific file type).

After an indexing pass, the commands that were found missing can be displayed from the recoll File menu. The list is stored in the missing text file inside the configuration directory.

A list of common file types which need external commands follows. Many of the filters need the iconv command, which is not always listed as a dependancy.

Please note that, due to the relatively dynamic nature of this information, the most up to date version is now kept on the Recoll helper applications page along with links to the home pages or best source/patches pages, and misc tips. The list below is not updated often and may be quite stale.

For many Linux distributions, most of the commands listed can be installed from the package repositories. However, the packages are sometimes outdated, or not the best version for Recoll, so you should take a look at the Recoll helper applications page if a file type is important to you.

As of Recoll release 1.14, a number of XML-based formats that were handled by ad hoc filter code now use the xsltproc command, which usually comes with libxslt. These are: abiword, fb2 (ebooks), kword, openoffice, svg.

Now for the list:

Text, HTML, email folders, and Scribus files are processed internally. Lyx is used to index Lyx files. Many filters need iconv and the standard sed and awk.