Under several Linux distributions, including Debian and Ubuntu, we have the service command to controll daemons, e.g. service apache2 restart. In this article, we learn how to create a service-command for the standalone version of the SearX meta search engine. We build upon the default installation as prescribed within the quick start guide of the project documentation. We include both, searX and filtron.
Introduction
First we need a possibility to start SearX as a daemon, so we install the daemonize command:
sudo apt-get install daemonizeWith daemonize, we can have an error-log, a std-out log and some pid that takes care about having only one instance running. With SearX installed at the default destination /opt/searx, we can execute the following command to start a SearX daemon:
daemonize -a -e /var/log/searx.error.log -o /var/log/searx.log -p /var/run/searx.pid -l /var/lock/subsys/searx /opt/searx/searx-ve/bin/python /opt/searx/searx/webapp.pyIn a similar way, we can start a filtron instance (assuming the filter rules at /etc/filtron/rules.json):
daemonize -a -e /var/log/filtron.error.log -o /var/log/filtron.log -p /var/run/filtron.pid -l /var/lock/subsys/filtron /root/go/bin/filtron -rules /etc/filtron/rules.jsonUsually, we will start filtron first and then start SearX.
We furthermore need some kill commands to stop filtron and SearX. We use ps, grep, awk and kill.
Stopping filtron:
kill $(ps -aux | grep filtron | awk '{print $2}')Stopping SearX:
kill $(ps -aux | grep /opt/searx/searx/webapp.py | awk '{print $2}')Realizing the service commands
We usually have three options following the service command: service searx start, service searx stop and service searx restart. This results in the following code snippet for the searx.sh file stored at /etc/init.d/searx.sh:
#! /bin/sh
sleep 3
case "$1" in
start)
daemonize -a -e /var/log/filtron.error.log -o /var/log/filtron.log -p /var/run/filtron.pid -l /var/lock/subsys/filtron /root/go/bin/filtron -rules /etc/filtron/rules.json
daemonize -a -e /var/log/searx.error.log -o /var/log/searx.log -p /var/run/searx.pid -l /var/lock/subsys/searx /opt/searx/searx-ve/bin/python /opt/searx/searx/webapp.py
;;
stop)
kill $(ps -aux | grep filtron | awk '{print $2}')
kill $(ps -aux | grep /opt/searx/searx/webapp.py | awk '{print $2}')
;;
restart)
kill $(ps -aux | grep filtron | awk '{print $2}')
kill $(ps -aux | grep /opt/searx/searx/webapp.py | awk '{print $2}')
daemonize -a -e /var/log/filtron.error.log -o /var/log/filtron.log -p /var/run/filtron.pid -l /var/lock/subsys/filtron /root/go/bin/filtron -rules /etc/filtron/rules.json
daemonize -a -e /var/log/searx.error.log -o /var/log/searx.log -p /var/run/searx.pid -l /var/lock/subsys/searx /opt/searx/searx-ve/bin/python /opt/searx/searx/webapp.py
;;
*)
;;
esac
exit 0In some cases we have issues with uswgi. Therefore, consider to uninstall uswgi.
sudo apt-get remove uswgiNow, reinitialize the service command with the following command:
systemctl daemon-reloadNow it is possible to controll filtron and SearX in a comfortable way. Try the following:
service searx start
service searx stop
service seary restartYou will see SearX and filtron starting, stopping or restarting.
Final Remarks
Have some fun with this comfortable solution!
Do it! Build your own search engine! Go go go!
For an example instance, have a look at https://occusearch.net. Feel free to use and recommend this instance to your family, friends and colleagues.
