Install¶
wudict is one executable per platform. Needs no runtime, no database
server, just some minimal configuration. Download the file, make it executable, start it,
set your dictionary folders and your are done.
For macOS you can also download a macOS bundle, for Windows a traditional setup wizard is available.
Pick your system¶
Apple Silicon Macs (M1 to M4) use arm64. Older Intel Macs use amd64.
# Assuming file was downloaded to ~/Downloads
chmod +x ~/Downloads/wudict-darwin-arm64-cgo
mv ~/Downloads/wudict-darwin-arm64-cgo /usr/local/bin/wudict
wudict
chmod +x ~/Downloads/wudict-darwin-amd64-cgo
mv ~/Downloads/wudict-darwin-amd64-cgo /usr/local/bin/wudict
wudict
macOS shows a Gatekeeper warning the first time. Click Open once.
Looking for a macOS app bundle?
The same release contains wudict-macos-app.zip. It unzips to
wuDict.app: the identical server, built universal, with a menu-bar
icon instead of a terminal. See the macOS app.
Prefer an installer?
The release includes wudict-windows-x64-setup-<version>.exe. It adds a
Start-menu entry, an uninstaller, PATH, and Open with for dictionary
files. See the Windows installer.
ren wudict-windows-amd64-cgo.exe wudict.exe
# show help
wudict.exe --help
# run it
wudict.exe
Any folder works. On Arm-based Windows PCs take
wudict-windows-arm64-purego.exe instead.
Windows Defender stops an unsigned program on its first run. Choose More info, then Run anyway, once.
One executable, two behaviours
There is one wudict.exe, and how you start it decides what it does.
Started from PowerShell or cmd, it is an ordinary command-line
program: it prints, it pipes, it returns an exit code.
Double-clicked, started from a shortcut, or started by opening a
dictionary file, it detaches from the console and adds a tray icon
in the notification area. In this scenario instead of the stdout it logs to
%LOCALAPPDATA%\wudict\wudict.log.
Download wudict-android-arm64.apk and install it with your file
manager. Android asks you to allow install unknown apps once.
The app then asks for storage access, and reads your dictionaries from Internal storage ▸ Dictionaries. It can also look up a word you selected in any other app.
Command line help¶
Verify¶
wudict prints the address it listens on and opens your browser at
localhost:6888.
Windows users who double-click the file see the tray icon instead of the printed lines. Android users see the app window.
Which flavour to download¶
Most downloads come as a -cgo file and a -purego file. Both are
complete products. They differ in two internals only.
-cgo |
-purego |
|
|---|---|---|
| SQLite driver | mattn, written in C, fastest | modernc, pure Go |
.spx audio |
built-in native decoding | needs the external speexdec program |
Take -cgo where it exists: macOS, Linux on amd64 and arm64, and Windows
on x64. Take -purego for the rest — 32-bit Raspberry Pi boards, and
Windows on Arm. -purego searches slightly slower and needs speexdec
installed for Speex audio (brew install speex, or apt install speex).
A C compiler is only needed to
build the -cgo flavour yourself.
Update¶
Download the new file and put it over the old one. Stop the server first on Windows, which refuses to replace a running program.
Nothing else changes: your config file, your prepared library and your dictionary files stay where they are, and the new binary reads them.
The packaged apps update themselves the same way — a new
installer over the old install, a new
wuDict.app over the old app, a new
APK over the old app.
Uninstall¶
Delete the executable. To remove all the data and configurations delete
~/.wudict — the config file, the state file and the indexed library.
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