I can confirm this issue in KDE 3.4.0 installed from SUSE RPMs.

I initially though the problem was due to my not having write access to the suggested directory, in the /var/ tree. However, the same problem occurs if I change to a directory under my control.

Additional confirmation of problem. KDE 3.4 installed on top of 3.2.1 from Suse rpms.

I do not get an initial Search Index error but on opening the Help Centre the Search button is grayed out. When I click the Search tab there are no entries under the Scope heading. Clicking the Build Search Index button opens the Build Search Index dialogue, but again there are no entries under the Scope or Status headings.

Additional confirmation of problem. KDE 3.4 updated on top of 3.2 from Suse rpms using YAST. The "Contents" tab works but when you go to the search tab there are no entries in the scope window. When "Build Search Index" is pressed the window shows an empty Search Scope list with the "Build Index" greyed out. 

also can confirm SUSE 9.1 kde 3.4 over 3.2 from SUSE YAST update

for me also; SUSE 9.2 with kde 3.4 from SUSE Yast update

*** This bug has been confirmed by popular vote. ***

Same bug for me... I've updated suse 9.1 (KDE 3.2) to KDE 3.4.1 (last kde release) through suse-apt (from ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/suse/apt/SuSE/9.1-i386/) this morning. The problem exists for me with 3.4.0 too. I've hoped this problem was fixed by suse mans with 3.4.1, but nothing...

You need to add: 
  X-DOC-DocumentType=text/html
to all *.desktop files you want to include in the search.
(Except for non html such as the 'Man Pages' where it should be text/man,
but it is unimportant with the SuSE mods).
With SuSE 9.1, these files are in /usr/share/susehelp/meta.

The SuSEHelp in 9.1 as supplied is broken.  You also need the following patches:

/etc/htdig.conf

    database_dir should point to /var/cache/susehelp instead
    of /var/lib/htdig/db.

/usr/share/susehelp/cgi-bin/manshow.cgi

    Incorrectly removing - (minus), _ (underscore) and . (period) from page
    (part of filename) at line 46.
    This filter works OK:
       $page =~ s/([^a-zA-Z0-9-_\.])//g;

/usr/share/susehelp/cgi-bin/susehelp.pm

    Need to allow parenthesis through in parseQuery.
    Corrected line is:
        $v =~ s/([^\p{IsWord} \.\-\+\/:()])//g;  # remove unwanted special ...  

... forgot to say, must run susehelpindex to rebuild indices after patches applied.

I've applied Brian's patch and work.

For SuSE 9.2, just htdig.conf is in /etc/htdig/ 

Thank Brian

Argh! It doesn't work for me as expected... I've applied Brian's patch, and now search index shows correctly the documents marked in the corresponding .desktop file (X-DOC-DocumentType=text/html), BUT... for almost all documents the search doesn't work, showing the error 'Htdig error: unable to read configuration file'.
At the moment, only the index for release-notes work... For example, the index for suselinux-adminguide (italian version for me) shows the error, and userguide too...
Any hint?

Thanks!

Some news... I've discovered that indexes for suselinux-adminguide and suselinux-userguide show errors because these indexes aren't created by 'susehelpindex' ! Indexes created by 'susehelpindex' work correctly, but those created inside khelpcenter don't work. How can I tell 'susehelpindex' to create indexes for these documents?

N.B.: with the command 'susehelpindex --show' it's possible to view documents for which indexes will be created. In this list, I can view 18 documents, but adminguide and userguide are missing...

NOW IT WORKS!
It's simple, and not all the steps that are in Brian's patch are necessary (tested with SuSE 9.1)
All you must do is:
1) Add 'X-DOC-DocumentType=text/html' to all *.desktop files you want to include
   in the search (these files are in /usr/share/susehelp/meta and in its
   subdirs)
2) run 'susehelpindex': you must be root to execute the command, BUT DON'T
   execute it loggin in with root account! In fact, for PATH reasons, not all
   indexeable documents will be seen by 'susehelpindex'. To maximize the number
   of indexeable documents, you must:
    2.1) Log in as normal user
    2.2) Open a Konsole shell
    2.3) Invoke the 'su' command to become root
    2.4) Run 'susehelpindex'

Doing this I've indexed 22 document (vs. 18 documents I've indexed logging with root account), including suseadminguide and suseuserguide !

Thanks Brian for the main hint! I hope this will help...

Francesco

ANOTHER METHOD, EVEN BETTER THAN THE PREVIOUS!!!

If you use 'susehelpindex', you will create a lot of indexes, with a lot of hd space consuption... And you could have problems in the future... 

Do this instead:

1) Add 'X-DOC-DocumentType=text/html' to all *.desktop files you want to include
   in the search (these files are in /usr/share/susehelp/meta and in its
   subdirs)
2) Create indexes normally in khelpcenter (NOT with 'susehelpindex' !) You must
   select /var/cache/susehelp as indexes directory (it's the default...).
   You will see only documents that you have 'signed' with
   'X-DOC-DocumentType=text/html' as indexeable documents.
3) Rename .conf files in /var/cache/susehelp that contain characters as '-'
   or '.' deleting this characters (for example, 'suselinux-adminguide.it.conf'
   will be renamed in 'suselinuxadminguideit.conf', or 'release-notes.conf'
   in 'releasenotes.conf'). Make attention!! ONLY .conf files must be renamed!

For me is perfect. Also, khelpcenter will show only the first 10 results if the search contains more than 10 results. If you wanna change this behavior, you can edit .conf files in /var/cahce/susehelp, and change the line
'matches_per_page:       10'
in
'matches_per_page:       20'
if you want for example 20 results (max).

I hope this will help...

Francesco

Forgot to say: have a look at the string 'DocPath' in .desktop files for the documents you want include in the search. While adding 'X-DOC-DocumentType=text/html' check that 'DocPath' string points to the correct path! For me (suse 9.1), suselinux-adminguide.it.desktop for example pointed to a non correct path (/usr/share/doc/packages/[...] instead of the correct path /usr/share/doc/manual/[...]

Francesco

I followed Brian's patch and Fancesco's posts still to no avail. I run susehelpindex as an su to root and still susehelp does not have any search. When This is what I get on Suse 9.2.

#susehelpindex
Creating index files...
.....................
Created index for 21 documents.
# susehelpindex --show
Show index state:

missing: Release Notes
missing: User Guide
missing: SUSE Tour
missing: Grokking the Gimp
missing: Gimp user manual
missing: PostgreSQL
missing: TaskJuggler Users Manual
missing: Administration Guide
missing: HOWTOs english
missing: cups
missing: Samba
missing: PHP documentation
missing: Python
missing: Selfhtml
missing: Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide (Pt. 1)
missing: Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide (Pt. 2)
missing: Gtk+ reference
missing: KDE API developer information
missing: KDE 3 API reference
missing: Documentation for Linux-PAM
missing: QT 3 developer information
21 indexable documents.

A directory listing shows:

/var/cache/susehelp> l
total 128959
drwxrwxr-x   2 root man      6024 2005-06-13 14:21 ./
drwxr-xr-x  10 root root      240 2005-04-19 11:16 ../
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1044 2005-06-13 14:21 bookslkmpg2.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 books-lkmpg2.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 books-lkmpg2.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    57344 2005-06-13 14:21 books-lkmpg2.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       69 2005-06-13 14:21 books-lkmpg2.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    44076 2004-08-23 13:56 books-lkmpg2.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    83968 2005-06-13 14:21 books-lkmpg2.words.db
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    16384 2005-06-13 14:21 books-lkmpg2.words.db_weakcmpr
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1041 2005-06-13 14:21 bookslkmpg.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 books-lkmpg.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 books-lkmpg.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    49152 2005-06-13 14:21 books-lkmpg.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       68 2005-06-13 14:21 books-lkmpg.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    33337 2004-08-23 13:56 books-lkmpg.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    68608 2005-06-13 14:21 books-lkmpg.words.db
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    16384 2005-06-13 14:21 books-lkmpg.words.db_weakcmpr
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1021 2005-06-13 14:20 cups.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    40960 2005-06-13 14:20 cups.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:20 cups.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   262144 2005-06-13 14:20 cups.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       63 2005-06-13 14:20 cups.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   870261 2004-08-23 13:57 cups.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  1779712 2005-06-13 14:20 cups.words.db
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    16384 2005-06-13 14:20 cups.words.db_weakcmpr
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1043 2005-06-13 14:12 gimpbook.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 gimpbook.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 gimpbook.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 gimpbook.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       64 2005-06-13 14:12 gimpbook.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       17 2004-07-26 10:22 gimpbook.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1034 2005-06-13 14:12 gimphelp.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 gimphelp.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 gimphelp.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 gimphelp.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       64 2005-06-13 14:12 gimphelp.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       17 2004-07-26 10:22 gimphelp.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1026 2005-06-13 14:21 gtkref.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 gtkref.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 gtkref.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 gtkref.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       63 2005-06-13 14:21 gtkref.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       17 2004-07-26 10:23 gtkref.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1039 2005-06-13 14:12 howtoen.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  2678784 2005-06-13 14:20 howto.en.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   679936 2005-06-13 14:20 howto.en.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  5062656 2005-06-13 14:20 howto.en.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       64 2005-06-13 14:20 howto.en.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root 44865542 2004-08-23 13:56 howto.en.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root 42774528 2005-06-13 14:20 howto.en.words.db
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    16384 2005-06-13 14:20 howto.en.words.db_weakcmpr
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1028 2005-06-13 14:21 kdelibs3.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 kdelibs3.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 kdelibs3.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 kdelibs3.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       65 2005-06-13 14:21 kdelibs3.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       17 2004-07-26 10:23 kdelibs3.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1024 2005-06-13 14:21 kdelibs.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 kdelibs.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 kdelibs.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 kdelibs.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       64 2005-06-13 14:21 kdelibs.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       17 2004-07-26 10:23 kdelibs.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1022 2005-06-13 14:21 pam.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 pam.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 pam.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 pam.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       60 2005-06-13 14:21 pam.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   300648 2004-08-23 13:55 pam.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   400384 2005-06-13 14:21 pam.words.db
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    16384 2005-06-13 14:21 pam.words.db_weakcmpr
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1036 2005-06-13 14:20 phpdoc.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  1335296 2005-06-13 14:21 phpdoc.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   663552 2005-06-13 14:21 phpdoc.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  1327104 2005-06-13 14:21 phpdoc.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       63 2005-06-13 14:21 phpdoc.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  7458805 2004-08-23 13:57 phpdoc.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  6953984 2005-06-13 14:21 phpdoc.words.db
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    16384 2005-06-13 14:21 phpdoc.words.db_weakcmpr
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1045 2005-06-13 14:12 postgresql.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 postgresql.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 postgresql.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 postgresql.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       66 2005-06-13 14:12 postgresql.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       17 2004-07-26 10:22 postgresql.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1046 2005-06-13 14:21 pythonhtml.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 pythonhtml.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 pythonhtml.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 pythonhtml.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       67 2005-06-13 14:21 pythonhtml.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       17 2004-07-26 10:23 pythonhtml.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1022 2005-06-13 14:21 qt3.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 qt3.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 qt3.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 qt3.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       60 2005-06-13 14:21 qt3.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       17 2004-07-26 10:23 qt3.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1059 2005-06-13 14:12 releasenotes.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 release-notes.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 release-notes.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 release-notes.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       48 2005-06-13 14:12 release-notes.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    14773 2004-08-23 13:57 release-notes.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    14336 2005-06-13 14:12 release-notes.words.db
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    16384 2005-06-13 14:12 release-notes.words.db_weakcmpr
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1034 2005-06-13 14:20 Samba.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   286720 2005-06-13 14:20 Samba.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:20 Samba.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    90112 2005-06-13 14:20 Samba.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       62 2005-06-13 14:20 Samba.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  3521784 2004-08-23 13:57 Samba.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  6048768 2005-06-13 14:20 Samba.words.db
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    16384 2005-06-13 14:20 Samba.words.db_weakcmpr
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1027 2005-06-13 14:21 selfhtml.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 selfhtml.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 selfhtml.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:21 selfhtml.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       65 2005-06-13 14:21 selfhtml.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       17 2004-07-26 10:23 selfhtml.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1081 2005-06-13 14:12 suselinuxadminguideen.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 suselinux-adminguide.en.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   172032 2005-01-11 06:57 suselinux-adminguideen.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 suselinux-adminguide.en.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    49152 2005-01-11 06:57 suselinux-adminguideen.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 suselinux-adminguide.en.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   172032 2005-01-11 06:57 suselinux-adminguideen.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       73 2005-06-13 14:12 suselinux-adminguide.en.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       60 2005-01-11 06:57 suselinux-adminguideen.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       17 2004-07-26 10:22 suselinux-adminguide.en.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  1388560 2004-08-23 13:57 suselinux-adminguideen.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  1994752 2005-01-11 06:57 suselinux-adminguideen.words.db
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    16384 2005-01-11 06:57 suselinux-adminguideen.words.db_weakcmpr
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1078 2005-06-13 14:12 suselinuxuserguideen.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 suselinux-userguide.en.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    90112 2005-01-11 06:57 suselinux-userguideen.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 suselinux-userguide.en.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-01-11 06:57 suselinux-userguideen.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 suselinux-userguide.en.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    90112 2005-01-11 06:57 suselinux-userguideen.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       57 2005-06-13 14:12 suselinux-userguide.en.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       59 2005-01-11 06:57 suselinux-userguideen.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       17 2004-07-26 10:22 suselinux-userguide.en.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  1012516 2004-08-23 13:57 suselinux-userguideen.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   741376 2005-01-11 06:57 suselinux-userguideen.words.db
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    16384 2005-01-11 06:57 suselinux-userguideen.words.db_weakcmpr
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1031 2005-06-13 14:12 susetouren.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 susetour.en.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 susetour.en.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 susetour.en.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       54 2005-06-13 14:12 susetour.en.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       17 2004-07-26 10:22 susetour.en.wordlist
-rw-r--r--   1 root root     1049 2005-06-13 14:12 taskjuggler.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 taskjuggler.docdb
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 taskjuggler.docs.index
-rw-r--r--   1 root root    24576 2005-06-13 14:12 taskjuggler.excerpts
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       67 2005-06-13 14:12 taskjuggler.exists
-rw-r--r--   1 root root       17 2004-07-26 10:22 taskjuggler.wordlist


Any ideas?

Mmmh, strange... with suse 9.1 it works...
Where htdig is installed in suse 9.2? In suse 9.1 (htdig 3.1.6) it's in /srv/www/htdig (and the 'htsearch cgi in /srv/www/cgi-bin). Check this and report :)
Try this:
1) Delete all the content of /var/cache/susehelp and try again the method
   explained in my post (#14 and #15)
2) run '/sbin/SuSEConfig --module susehelp' (obviously you must be su-ed as
   root)

If it doesn't work, try to downgrade susehelp rpm packages to suse 9.1 susehelp version. Suse 9.1 version is:
  susehelp-2004.04.05-2.noarch.rpm
Additionally, if it still doesn't work, try also to downgrade (in addition to susehelp rpm) the locale package to
  susehelp-XX-2004.04.05-2.noarch.rpm
where XX is your language (for me XX = it)
You can download this rpm for example from http://rpm.pbone.net or ftp://ftp.suse.com

Finger crossed...

Francesco

htdig is where expected as are the cgi scripts for htdig. I deleted the contents of /var/cache/susehelp and regenerated the indexes. The files are there. susehelp just does not find them.

I could down grade, but susehelp worked correctly before upgrading kde. This is the same on two systems. Maybe I should downgrade the kde.

Very very strange....
Surely the problem is in the integration of susehelp with khelpcenter 3.4 (shipped unoficially by suse men). If you downgrade kde to the original shipped by suse it will work... but with the method explained, for me (and other people) the integration was fixed (I tested my method, explained in posts #14 and #15, with suse 9.1, but someone told me that it works in suse 9.2 too).
Two question: 
- after deleting the content of /var/cache/susehelp and applying my patch (#14 and #15), you stop at step 2) ? (after adding X-DOC-DocumentType=text/html to .desktop files of interest, you still see empty scope list in khelpcenter's 'Build search index' window? Or you can build indexes but have problems later?)
- Have you applied my last patch after applied Brian's patch? If yes, try to restore the files you changed (htdig.conf, manshow.cgi and susehelp.pm) with the original version, and then delete the content of /var/cache/susehelp and apply my last patch (#14 and #15). 
Note: not all documents are indexeable correctly: in first instance, try do modify .desktop files of document as 'suselinux-adminguide' or 'release-notes', they surely will be indexed.
Ah, for a last try, don't worry to downgrade the susehelp rpm, it's only one package, and you can restore suse 9.2 version whenever you want with YaST without problems.

I wait for a response :)

Francesco

I found the problem. All the .desktop files in /usr/share/susehelp/meta had the wrong permissions. They were 600 with ownership of root.root . I changed all of them to have perms of 644 and now they appear in the scope to be selected for indexing.

In my case all the permissions were correct. Also I have taken some time to work through all the suggested fixes above. Nothing doing fella's, still doesn't work. (Suse 9.1 and KDE 3.4.1)

Have the same problem after upgrading two different machines with Suse 9.2 to KDE 3.4.1 using Yast. Have not tried the suggested fixes yet.

Have tried #14 and #15 on suse 9.2 and it works. Almost on html. It's important to check the installpath of te manpages too.  I think to remember me that it was possible to make indices on manpages too. Some one have an idea? Thanks to Francesco for the good work.  

*** Bug 108298 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

I can vote that this bug occurs in Linux Kubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) + KDE 4.0 (I think)

quoted from above:

"Launching SuSE Help Center immediately results in a error pop-up window indicating "A search index does not yet exist. Do you want to create the index now?"  Clicking "Yes" button, results in a Build Search Index window; but the window shows an empty Search Scope list and Build Index button is grey-ed out.  Unable to search help documents because of missing search index and inability to create one."

Created attachment 26529 [details]
Snapshot of 'Build Search Index' window with the bug.

Hi,

Further to my last message, this is a snapshot of the window with the bug. I
hope that this helps.

Regards,
      PEW
from Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Created attachment 26779 [details]
It is a snapshot of the window showing the bug WITH a drawing of a proposed new BUTTON to be added to the window.

Hello KDE people,

The attachment is a snapshot of the window, showing the bug -- which I have
edited with GNU Paint, to add a "button".

What I'm proposing is that a new button with the caption of "Recreate Missing
Index" be added to the form -- please refer to the attached PNG file.

I'm only a newbie at Linux and Kubuntu (& KDE 4.0)... However, I thought that
this bug called for some lateral thinking. If the index file is missing, then
to my way of thinking, why not have a button to click on to recreate it. The
way I see it the software needs to have enough 'SMARTS' to know: 

(a) what the filename of the missing index file should be.
(b) the path to recreate the missing index file.
& (c) what needs to written to the new index file (e.g. what it should include)


I don't have enough understanding of how Kubuntu or KDE works... but maybe
someone else does.

Description of PNG image:
It is a snapshot of the window showing the bug WITH a drawing (created with GNU
Paint) of a proposed new BUTTON to be added to the window.

Best Regards & Good Luck,
PEW
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
email: pewtas(at)gmail(dot)com

Git commit 02c218083bebd581e8a33741cd101fcc0ac2cfef by Pino Toscano.
Committed on 12/03/2016 at 23:01.
Pushed by pino into branch 'master'.

Automatically update indexes at startup

Currently the user is asked to manually update the search index, which
is not a friendly solution. Instead, start the indexing update right
after the startup, with a indefinite progress bar showing the on-going
process. Considering the Xapian indexing is generally fast, this won't
cause a big delay between the startup and when the user can start
searching.

Move the queue-based index logic from IndexBuilder to Navigator
directly, getting rid of the separate khc_indexbuilder tool (no need to
have an helper tool to spawn the actual indexing/searcing tools) and
the D-Bus interface to support it, and removing the indexing dialog
(now everything that can be indexed is updated).

This also removes the need for indexers to create <identifier>.exists
files in the index directories.
Related: bug 164308, bug 205126, bug 222494, bug 269260

M  +0    -16   CMakeLists.txt
D  +0    -1    config-khelpcenter.h.cmake
M  +1    -16   docentry.cpp
M  +0    -2    docentry.h
D  +0    -691  kcmhelpcenter.cpp
D  +0    -251  kcmhelpcenter.desktop
D  +0    -166  kcmhelpcenter.h
D  +0    -204  khc_indexbuilder.cpp
D  +0    -58   khc_indexbuilder.h
M  +2    -0    mainwindow.cpp
M  +121  -44   navigator.cpp
M  +15   -6    navigator.h
D  +0    -14   org.kde.khelpcenter.kcmhelpcenter.xml
M  +1    -4    searchhandlers/README.searchhandlers
M  +0    -9    searchhandlers/xapianindexer.cpp
M  +1    -10   searchwidget.cpp
M  +2    -6    searchwidget.h

http://commits.kde.org/khelpcenter/02c218083bebd581e8a33741cd101fcc0ac2cfef