Synaptic does not have Quick filter search field despite apt-xapian-index is installed and functional

[N0rbert]

Steps to reproduce:

1. Install Ubuntu 25.04
2. Install Synaptic and by apt-xapian-index, update xapian index
3. Open Synaptic, try to find "Quick filter" on the toolbar

Expected results:

• Quick filter is shown on the toolbar (see screenshot from Debian 12 for reference)

  

Actual results:

• Quick filter is not shown on the toolbar

  

---

Additional info:

By itself apt-xapian-index is functional - see below console output:

$ sudo update-apt-xapian-index
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_plucky_multiverse_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/ppa.launchpad.net_nrbrtx_wnck_ubuntu_dists_jammy_main_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_plucky_restricted_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_plucky_universe_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Reading en translations from /var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_plucky_main_i18n_Translation-en: done.
Rebuilding Xapian index: done.

$ axi-cache search xapian
16 results found.
Results 1-16:
100% xapian-doc - Core Xapian documentation
96% xapian-examples - Xapian simple example programs
93% ruby-xapian - Xapian search engine interface for Ruby
93% xapian-tools - Basic tools for Xapian search engine library
92% python3-xapian - Xapian search engine interface for Python3
91% libsearch-xapian-perl - Perl bindings for the Xapian search library
91% python3-xapian-haystack - Xapian backend for Django-Haystack (Python3 version)
89% dovecot-fts-xapian - full-text search for dovecot using xapian
86% apt-xapian-index - maintenance and search tools for a Xapian index of Debian packages
81% xapian-omega - CGI search interface and indexers using Xapian
74% libkpim6akonadisearchxapian6 - Akonadi search xapian library
73% libxapian-java - Xapian search engine interface for Java
71% libxapian-java-doc - Xapian search engine interface for Java (documentation)
71% tclxapian - Xapian search engine interface for Tcl
69% libxapian-dev - Development files for Xapian search engine library
69% libxapian-jni - Xapian search engine interface for Java (JNI library)
More terms: search libxapian engine interface libkpim6akonadisearchxapian6 tclxapian haystack
More tags:

So technically the situation is better than on Debian 13 (trixie). On Debian 13 the apt-xapian-index was removed due to bug https://bugs.debian.org/1100760 . Synaptic does not have "Quick filter" on Debian due to bug https://bugs.debian.org/1103351 .

I'm using Synaptic with apt-xapian-index for about 15+ years.

On my systems I usually do the following

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install synaptic apt-xapian-index
sudo update-apt-xapian-index

to get fully functional Synaptic.

On the latest Ubuntu 25.04 the above commands do not enable "Quick filter" in the Synaptic toolbar.

Currently Synaptic is still the most powerful and lightweight GUI application for package management.
Without apt-xapian-index it will loose the essential part of its functionality.

Please patch Synaptic to allow getting info from apt-xapian-index as it was before.

---

Downstream bug-report: https://pad.lv/2107614 .

[Recydywa]

Thank you for reporting this issue.

I upgraded my Ubuntu installation from 24.04 LTS to 25.04 and ended up without this essential functionality of Synaptic. I tried rebuilding tha xapian index but even with the force option it wouldn't bring back the quick filter search.

[N0rbert]

I have done the backporting procedure for Ubuntu 25.04 in my PPA on https://launchpad.net/~nrbrtx/+archive/ubuntu/synaptic

Simply run

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:nrbrtx/synaptic
sudo apt-get install synaptic
sudo update-apt-xapian-index

and enjoy ;)

I hope there will be never such fails in the next LTS or which is more important - in Debian stable.

[Recydywa]

Thank you very much.

After the upgrade from your PPA I have the quick filter search.

[AtesComp]

See pull request #146 for a transition from libept to sqlite. IMHO, this looks like an ideal solution.

[ilu33]

Should be fixed with #153

[N0rbert]

Please merge this fix into upcoming Debian 13 Trixie before final release.

[ilu33]

I tried but not possible. Too late. Best possible solution would be trixie-backports @mvo5. If apt-xapian-index gets through the NEW queue that is.