Beyond Linux® From Scratch (systemd Edition) - Version r12.4-426

Chapter 9. General Libraries

Aspell-0.60.8.1

Introduction to Aspell

The Aspell package contains an interactive spell checking program and the Aspell libraries. Aspell can either be used as a library or as an independent spell checker.

[Note]

Note

Development versions of BLFS may not build or run some packages properly if LFS or dependencies have been updated since the most recent stable versions of the books.

Package Information

Additional Downloads

You'll need to download at least one dictionary. The English dictionary is given as an example below. Dictionaries in many other languages can be found at https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/aspell/dict.

Aspell Dependencies

Required

Which-2.23 (for the dictionaries)

Installation of Aspell

First, fix a problem when building with gcc-15: 

sed -e 's/; i.*size)/, e = end(); i != e; ++i, ++size_)/' \
    -i modules/speller/default/vector_hash-t.hpp

Install Aspell by running the following commands: 

./configure --prefix=/usr &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user: 

make install &&
ln -svfn aspell-0.60 /usr/lib/aspell &&

install -v -m755 -d /usr/share/doc/aspell-0.60.8.1/aspell{,-dev}.html &&

install -v -m644 manual/aspell.html/* \
    /usr/share/doc/aspell-0.60.8.1/aspell.html &&

install -v -m644 manual/aspell-dev.html/* \
    /usr/share/doc/aspell-0.60.8.1/aspell-dev.html

If you do not plan to install Ispell, then copy the wrapper script ispell: 

install -v -m 755 scripts/ispell /usr/bin/

If you do not plan to install Spell, then copy the wrapper script spell: 

install -v -m 755 scripts/spell /usr/bin/

Command Explanations

ln -svfn aspell-0.60 /usr/lib/aspell: This command is useful for configuration of other applications, such as enchant-2.8.12.

Configuring Aspell

Configuration Information

After Aspell is installed, you must set up at least one dictionary. Install the English dictionary by running the following commands: 

tar xf ../aspell6-en-2020.12.07-0.tar.bz2 &&
cd aspell6-en-2020.12.07-0                &&

./configure &&
make

Now, as the root user: 

make install

Other dictionaries can be installed with the same instructions.

Contents

Installed Programs: aspell, aspell-import, precat, preunzip, prezip, prezip-bin, pspell-config, run-with-aspell, word-list-compress and optionally, ispell and spell.
Installed Libraries: libaspell.so and libpspell.so
Installed Directories: /usr/include/pspell and /usr/lib/aspell-0.60

Short Descriptions

aspell

is a utility that can function as an ispell -a replacement, as an independent spell checker, as a test utility to test out Aspell features, and as a utility for managing dictionaries

ispell

is a wrapper around aspell to invoke it in ispell compatible mode

spell

is a wrapper around aspell to invoke it in spell compatible mode

aspell-import

imports old personal dictionaries into Aspell

precat

decompresses a prezipped file to stdout

preunzip

decompresses a prezipped file

prezip

is a prefix delta compressor, used to compress sorted word lists or other similar text files

prezip-bin

is called by the various wrapper scripts to perform the actual compressing and decompressing

pspell-config

displays information about the libpspell installation, mostly for use in build scripts

run-with-aspell

is a script to help use Aspell as an ispell replacement

word-list-compress

compresses or decompresses sorted word lists for use with the Aspell spell checker

libaspell.so

contains spell checking API functions

libpspell.so

is an interface to the libaspell library. All the spell checking functionality is now in libaspell but this library is included for backward compatibility