[osxrules]

I've tried to search for some header files in my /usr folder where my developer incudes etc. are but none of the search facilities in Tiger look in invisible folders. Even if I add search invisible files and explicitly add the /usr folder to the list of search places, it still doesn't find anything in /usr. I can't search the System folder either even if I add it to the list.

I read that Spotlight has some built-in private folder and I'm guessing these reside in /.Spotlight-V100/ possibly in the exclusions.plist file. I don't really want to edit files like these. Isn't there an easier way to be able to find files like these? Even though I know where it is, I can't even find the Finder application using Spotlight.

I like Spotlight but if I can't find files on my disk then it's partly redundant. I'm having to rely on the unix locate database at the moment and it is as fast as spotlight. It also waits until you finish typing before searching. The only difference is it doesn't update on the fly.

[rant]Seems to me that Spotlight is another example of Apple treating users like children and more advanced users suffering as a result. It's the same with Finder preferences. There are lots of preferences that could be set for the Finder but advanced users have to get 3rd party tools like Tinkertool or edit plist files instead of just being able to use the Finder. Ok it's to protect dumb users from messing up their system. So why not put these advanced features in an advanced preferences section?[/rant]

[TETENAL]

You should be content with what Apple delivers to you. Developer documentation can be searched from within Xcode.

[osxrules]

Are you kidding? Why should I be content when I'm paying for it? As it happens, for the most part I am very content with Tiger but Apple constantly n00bify their OS. This would be fine if it didn't affect functionality but this is one example of where it has. It's not the developer docs I was searching for, it was a file that is installed by the developer tools that resides in /usr/include. I can search it if I put the usr folder in the dock on the left hand side of the Finder and then add it to my search folders in XCode though so I guess it's not all bad. It's just that I had to waste time finding a way round Apple's n00bification as usual.

I'm still not sure what I'd use to search the System Folder though or all the other folders that have been excluded from Spotlight that I don't know about. One of the dangers here is that some app could put a malicious file into one of these folders and you'd never find it. If you did a search for files that were recently modified or changed, Spotlight wouldn't show them up.

[mAxximo]

Good points. Don't mind the drones.
I'm hoping for 10.4.2 to fix some of these stupid mistakes and bugs too.

[Detrius]

Originally Posted by TETENAL

You should be content with what Apple delivers to you. Developer documentation can be searched from within Xcode.

Okay, this was a bad way to say it, but he's right. Xcode has most everything you need to find info, including header files. If you are looking for Cocoa specific info, you need AppKiDo. If you are looking for info on other APIs, you should probably find a good reference and bookmark it in Safari (or whatever you use).

If you are looking for a header file, you can use shift-command-D (or open quickly in the File menu) and type in the header file name. The file opens up. If there are more locations you need, you can add it in the Xcode preferences.

If you are looking for the definition of a function, you can highlight it, right click, and select jump to definition. If there is more than one possible definition, the come up in a traditional Xcode popup menu.

Personally, I don't care that Spotlight doesn't search in different places. It's slow. I don't use it. I use a combination of find, locate, and grep at the command line. Maybe this comes from the fact that I used exclusively Unix through college, but if you expect to program, you should expect to understand how it works. Therefore, you should expect to understand the underlying tools, and as a result, you should expect to use the command line.

[osxrules]

Originally Posted by Detrius

Xcode has most everything you need to find info, including header files. If you are looking for Cocoa specific info, you need AppKiDo.

The header files were one example. I wouldn't launch xcode to find files in the other folders hidden from Spotlight because it takes longer to launch XCode and search than Panther would take with the old style search.

Originally Posted by Detrius

Personally, I don't care that Spotlight doesn't search in different places. It's slow. I don't use it. I use a combination of find, locate, and grep at the command line. Maybe this comes from the fact that I used exclusively Unix through college, but if you expect to program, you should expect to understand how it works. Therefore, you should expect to understand the underlying tools, and as a result, you should expect to use the command line.

Sure but the locate database doesn't update on the fly and doesn't categorize the found items. Find is ok but no categories and just as slow as Panther find. Grep is very slow because it iteratively searches through loads of file contents. The whole idea of the Spotlight program is to eliminate the worst parts of all these. Otherwise Apple would surely have just put a graphical front end onto them.

Anyway, there are two 3rd party apps that might solve the problems. On is called highlight (check macupdate.com) that forces Spotlight to index folders. Then there's laserlight that is supposed to give you a search box that waits for you to finish typing instead of Spotlight searching as you type.

Some other things:
To reindex a drive or folder, just drag it into your privacy pane in system prefs and out again. That one's fairly obvious. You can do this with command line utils too.

If you want to search the system folder or the like, it works if you are in the finder window, hit command-f and add that folder to the others list then enter the query. What is odd is that if you add say the system folder and the drive, it won't search the system folder. It only works if you search the system folder by itself.

I wonder if Spotlight ignoring certain folders is to keep the index file size down. Some people report that their indexes are 200MB or so without indexing the hidden folders. There are tons more files in /usr and the system folder so indexing would probably take ages and the indexes would be huge.

I guess I'll stick to the Finder search on those folders instead of force indexing but I think I'll be using the 3rd party search box. That find as you type is just plain dumb IMO.