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tassio

Member

Registered: 2015-04-12

Posts: 21

Troubleshooting dict(d)

Hello,

I am trying to get dictd to work on my local dictionaries.

Here's what I have

$ ls -lah /etc/dict/
total 36K
drwxr-xr-x   2 root 4.0K Nov  1 13:39 .
drwxr-xr-x 103 root  12K Oct  8 14:43 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 root  841 Dec 13  2024 colorit.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root   34 Nov  1 17:46 dict.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root  358 Mar 11  2025 dict.conf.old
-rw-r--r--   1 root 1.2K Nov  1 17:48 dictd.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 root  235 Dec 13  2024 site.info

If I leave only the online dictionary, all is fine

$ cat /etc/dict/dict.conf
server dict.org
$ cat /etc/dict/dictd.conf
# dictd configuration file.
# whipped up by michael conrad tilstra <michael@gentoo.org>

# Informational message

global {
    site site.info
}

# who's allowed.  You might want to change this.
access {
  allow *
}

# Dictionaries are listed below.
# The initrc script scans /usr/lib/dict and adds all of the dictionaries
# it finds here.
#
# The initrc script will delete everything after the the last line and
# replace it with what it finds.  So add all of your things above.
#
# If this is a problem for people, contact me and
# we can work out a different method.
#

database fr-fr {
	data fr-fr-file.dict.dz
	index fr-fr-file.idx.gz
}

#LASTLINE
$ sudo systemctl restart dictd
$ sudo systemctl status dictd
○ dictd.service - Dictd Dictionary Server Daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/dictd.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: inactive (dead) since Sat 2025-11-01 17:56:58 CET; 4s ago
   Duration: 1ms
 Invocation: bff38163f6a1472289e1158373059029
    Process: 2383761 ExecStart=/usr/bin/dictd $DICTD_ARGS -- $DICTD_EARGS (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Mem peak: 1.7M
        CPU: 8ms

Nov 01 17:56:58 loch systemd[1]: Starting Dictd Dictionary Server Daemon...
Nov 01 17:56:58 loch systemd[1]: dictd.service: Deactivated successfully.
Nov 01 17:56:58 loch systemd[1]: Started Dictd Dictionary Server Daemon.
$ dict pain
5 definitions found [. . .]

But when I try to force only a local dictionary

$ cat /etc/dict/dict.conf
server localhost
$ sudo systemctl restart dictd
$ sudo systemctl status dictd
× dictd.service - Dictd Dictionary Server Daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/dictd.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2025-11-01 18:03:11 CET; 3s ago
   Duration: 1ms
 Invocation: 5e00e7276a784bad952e8a74b762aa49
    Process: 2384807 ExecStart=/usr/bin/dictd $DICTD_ARGS -- $DICTD_EARGS (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 2384808 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
   Mem peak: 1.7M
        CPU: 10ms

Nov 01 18:03:10 loch systemd[1]: Starting Dictd Dictionary Server Daemon...
Nov 01 18:03:11 loch systemd[1]: Started Dictd Dictionary Server Daemon.
Nov 01 18:03:11 loch systemd[1]: dictd.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Nov 01 18:03:11 loch systemd[1]: dictd.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

My guess (from reading the wiki and a few blog posts) is that somehow access to localhost is being blocked). I am not very knowledgeable in this area, but running

$ sudo iptables -S
-P INPUT ACCEPT
-P FORWARD ACCEPT
-P OUTPUT ACCEPT

I get the impression that ports are not blocked, so it might be something else...? What am I missing?

Last edited by tassio (2025-11-01 17:14:43)

seth

Member

From: Don't DM me only for attention

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 70,964

Re: Troubleshooting dict(d)

skip the service, run dictd interactively and https://man.archlinux.org/man/dictd.8#v

---

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tassio

Member

Registered: 2015-04-12

Posts: 21

Re: Troubleshooting dict(d)

Thank you for the answer!

But I'm not sure what you mean by running dictd interactively.

Here's another attempt

$ sudo dictd
$ dict blave
Cannot connect to any servers (use -v to see why)
$ dict blave -v
Configuration file:
   server localhost
Cannot connect to any servers

In case it's useful:

$ sudo cat /etc/dict/dictd.conf
# dictd configuration file.
# whipped up by michael conrad tilstra <michael@gentoo.org>

# Informational message

global {
    site site.info
}

# who's allowed.  You might want to change this.
access {
  allow *
}

# Dictionaries are listed below.
# The initrc script scans /usr/lib/dict and adds all of the dictionaries
# it finds here.
#
# The initrc script will delete everything after the the last line and
# replace it with what it finds.  So add all of your things above.
#
# If this is a problem for people, contact me and
# we can work out a different method.
#

database fr-fr-petitrobert {
	data fr-fr_lepetitrobert_an_1_2.dict.dz
	index fr-fr_lepetitrobert_an_1_2.idx.gz
}

database fr-fr {
	data /usr/share/dictd/fr-fr_lepetitrobert_an_1_2.dict.dz
	index /usr/share/dictd/fr-fr_lepetitrobert_an_1_2.idx.gz
}

database eng {
	data /home/tassio/data/dic/stardict-Cambridge_Advanced_Learners_Dictionary_3th_Ed-2.4.2/Cambridge_Advanced_Learners_Dictionary_3th_Ed.dict.dz
	index /home/tassio/data/dic/stardict-Cambridge_Advanced_Learners_Dictionary_3th_Ed-2.4.2/Cambridge_Advanced_Learners_Dictionary_3th_Ed.dict.idx
}

#LASTLINE

and

$ sudo cat /etc/dict/dict.conf
server localhost

seth

Member

From: Don't DM me only for attention

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 70,964

Re: Troubleshooting dict(d)

sudo dictd -v

ps aux  | grep dict
ss -tulpen | grep -E 'dict|2628'
nmap localhost

---

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tassio

Member

Registered: 2015-04-12

Posts: 21

Re: Troubleshooting dict(d)

Thank you for helping!

The first couple of commands below I typed is just in case it might be causing interference...

$ sudo systemctl reset-failed

> 09:58 ~
$ systemctl status dictd
○ dictd.service - Dictd Dictionary Server Daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/dictd.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: inactive (dead) since Sat 2025-11-01 18:03:11 CET; 1 day 15h ago
   Duration: 1ms
 Invocation: 5e00e7276a784bad952e8a74b762aa49
    Process: 2384807 ExecStart=/usr/bin/dictd $DICTD_ARGS -- $DICTD_EARGS (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 2384808 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
   Mem peak: 1.7M
        CPU: 10ms

$ dictd -v
:E: cannot open pid file '/var/run/dictd.pid'
:E:    err msg: Permission denied
dictd (pid_file_create): :E: terminating due to errors. See log file

:E: terminating due to errors. See log file

> 09:58 ~
$ sudo dictd -v
$ ps aux  | grep dict
tassio   2512517  0.0  0.0   6472  2244 pts/18   S+   09:58   0:00 grep dict
$ ss -tulpen | grep -E 'dict|2628'
$ nmap localhost
Starting Nmap 7.97 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2025-11-03 09:59 +0100
Nmap scan report for localhost (127.0.0.1)
Host is up (0.000086s latency).
Other addresses for localhost (not scanned): ::1
All 1000 scanned ports on localhost (127.0.0.1) are in ignored states.
Not shown: 1000 closed tcp ports (conn-refused)

Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 0.07 seconds

seth

Member

From: Don't DM me only for attention

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 70,964

Re: Troubleshooting dict(d)

$ sudo dictd -v
$ ps aux  | grep dict
tassio   2512517  0.0  0.0   6472  2244 pts/18   S+   09:58   0:00 grep dict

dictd terminates w/o any error message?

sudo -i # you cannot sudo strace
strace -o /tmp/dictd.strace -f -tt dictd
chmod ugo+rw /tmp/dictd.strace
exit
cat /tmp/dictd.strace | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st

---

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tassio

Member

Registered: 2015-04-12

Posts: 21

Re: Troubleshooting dict(d)

Should I DM you the 0x0 link, or is it safe to share here?

tassio

Member

Registered: 2015-04-12

Posts: 21

Re: Troubleshooting dict(d)

Thank you very much seth!

Reading the strace I found some permission problems, which I addressed.

Here's the current state of affairs.

$ sudo cat /etc/dict/dictd.conf
[sudo] password for tassio:
# dictd configuration file.
# whipped up by michael conrad tilstra <michael@gentoo.org>

# Informational message

global {
    site site.info
}

# who's allowed.  You might want to change this.
access {
  allow *
}

# Dictionaries are listed below.
# The initrc script scans /usr/lib/dict and adds all of the dictionaries
# it finds here.
#
# The initrc script will delete everything after the the last line and
# replace it with what it finds.  So add all of your things above.
#
# If this is a problem for people, contact me and
# we can work out a different method.
#

database fr-fr {
	data /usr/share/dictd/fr-fr_lr.dict.dz
	index /usr/share/dictd/fr-fr_lr.idx
}

database eng {
	data /usr/share/dictd/CALD.dict.dz
	index /usr/share/dictd/CALD.idx
}

#LASTLINE

$ \ls -lah /usr/share/dictd/
total 99M
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root 4.0K Nov  3 10:32  .
drwxr-xr-x 326 root root  12K Nov  1 13:42  ..
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  19M Nov  3 10:28  CALD.dict.dz
-rw-r--r--   1 root root 1.4M Nov  3 10:28  CALD.idx
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  12M Nov  3 10:32  fr-fr_lr.dict.dz
-rw-r--r--   1 root root 999K Nov  3 10:32  fr-fr_lr.idx

$ sudo dictd -v
$ ps aux  | grep dict
nobody   2518670  0.0  0.1  24696 21804 ?        Ss   10:30   0:00 dictd 1.13.3: 1/7
tassio   2521722  0.0  0.0   6472  2244 pts/22   S+   10:45   0:00 grep dict

And, finally

$ dict door
No definitions found for "door"

This seems really promising!
I'm puzzled as to why no definition is found though.

Also, I still get

$ sudo systemctl reset-failed
$ systemctl status dictd
○ dictd.service - Dictd Dictionary Server Daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/dictd.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: inactive (dead) since Sat 2025-11-01 18:03:11 CET; 1 day 16h ago
   Duration: 1ms
 Invocation: 5e00e7276a784bad952e8a74b762aa49
    Process: 2384807 ExecStart=/usr/bin/dictd $DICTD_ARGS -- $DICTD_EARGS (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 2384808 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
   Mem peak: 1.7M
        CPU: 10ms

seth

Member

From: Don't DM me only for attention

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 70,964

Re: Troubleshooting dict(d)

dict par
dict -d eng door

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