# Install omega with Homebrew, MacPorts Packaged search engine for websites, built on top of Xapian. Version 2.0.0 via Homebrew; verified from local package data. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:omega ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install omega ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install Omega ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: lang/Omega/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:omega - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 2.0.0 - **Source summary:** Packaged search engine for websites, built on top of Xapian - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** GPL-2.0-or-later - **Source archive:** - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - dbi2omega (cli) - mbox2omega (cli) - omindex (cli) - omindex-list (cli) - scriptindex (cli) - dbi2omega (alias) - mbox2omega (alias) - omindex (alias) - omindex-list (alias) - scriptindex (alias) ## Dependencies - libmagic - pcre2 - xapian ## Build dependencies - pkgconf ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 2.0.0 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://xapian.org/ - info: No package-manager update timestamp was available. - info: Release/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories. ## Project history and usage Omega is Xapian's packaged website and intranet search application: indexers such as omindex and scriptindex build Xapian databases, and the omega CGI program provides a customizable search front end. It turns the Xapian library from an embeddable C++ search toolkit into something an operator can deploy on a web server. ### Project history Omega's history is bound to Xapian. The Xapian project traces its code lineage through Open Muscat, a GPL release derived from earlier Muscat information-retrieval work, and Xapian 0.5.0 was released on September 20, 2002. Omega 1.0.0 shipped on May 17, 2007 in the Xapian release family and included UTF-8 operation for Omega and its indexers. Later Omega releases continued to track Xapian's stable branches, with the download page grouping xapian-core, omega, and language bindings as the project's release trio. ### Adoption history Omega filled a practical niche: small sites, documentation collections, and intranets could get full-text search without writing an application directly against Xapian's API. A 2008 Linux.com walkthrough presented Xapian plus Omega as a quick way to index HTML, PDF, PHP, and other content for a website search interface. Distribution packaging reinforces that operational role. Debian's xapian-omega package description lists the omega CGI app, omindex, and scriptindex, while MacPorts and Homebrew expose the same package-family idea to macOS users. ### How it is used Operators create or update one or more Xapian databases with omindex or scriptindex, then point the omega CGI application at those databases. Omega can search multiple databases and use templates and CGI parameters to shape the web result page. scriptindex matters for package nerds because it turns arbitrary structured input into a Xapian database using an indexing script. That makes Omega useful beyond static website crawling: it can index mailboxes, generated metadata, and custom document streams. ### Why package nerds care Omega is interesting because it packages an information-retrieval library as Unix-style tools: indexers, converters, a CGI binary, configuration files, and documentation. It is search infrastructure in the classic distro sense, not a hosted search service or framework plugin. It also preserves the CGI-era deployment model in a maintained search stack. That makes it a useful artifact for understanding how full-text search was commonly bolted onto websites before every application framework grew its own search integration story. ### Timeline - September 20, 2002: Xapian 0.5.0 is released after earlier Open Muscat and OmSee lineage. - May 17, 2007: Omega 1.0.0 ships with UTF-8 support for Omega and the indexers. - October 3, 2008: Linux.com publishes a practical guide for adding website search with Xapian and Omega. - March 16, 2026: Omega 2.0.0 release notes add click logging and training-data support for xapian-letor and remove obsolete htdig2omega scripts. ### Related projects - Omega is one member of the Xapian family beside xapian-core and xapian-bindings. Related search packages in the same mental shelf include Recoll, Swish-e, Lucene/Solr, and Sphinx, but Omega's distinguishing shape is a CGI frontend plus Xapian-native indexing tools. ### Sources - - - - - - - - - - ## Security Notes narrow executable package without higher-risk signals. - **Geiger risk:** green / low - narrow executable package without higher-risk signals ## Configuration and credential file locations These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval. ## Configuration files - Unix: $OMEGA_CONFIG_FILE, omega.conf, ${sysconfdir}/omega.conf ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** omega - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - MacPorts - Omega: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: lang/Omega/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Related links - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Text processing packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/text-processing-tools/) - Matched text, document, or structured-data processing metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [Database and data packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/database-data-tools/) - Matched database, SQL, migration, or data-store metadata. - [pcre2](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/pcre2/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [xapian](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/xapian/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [pkgconf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/pkgconf/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [groonga](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/groonga/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, indexing, search, search-engine. - [hyperestraier](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/hyperestraier/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, indexing, search, search-engine. - [manticoresearch](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/manticoresearch/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, indexing, search, search-engine. - [ngt](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ngt/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, indexing, search. - [opensearch](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/opensearch/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, search, search-engine. - [solr](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/solr/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, indexing, search. - [sonic](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/sonic/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, data, indexing, search. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/omega.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/omega.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated configuration and credential file locations - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph