Enchant (software)
Encyclopedia
Enchant is a free software
project developed as part of the AbiWord
word processor
with the aim of unifying access to the various existing spell-checker software. Enchant wraps a common set of functionality present in a variety of existing products/libraries, and exposes a stable API/ABI for doing so. Where a library doesn't implement some specific functionality, Enchant will emulate it.
Enchant is capable of having multiple backends loaded at once. As of May 2009 it has support for 8 backends:
Enchant is currently licensed under GNU Lesser General Public License
(LGPL), with an additional permission notice saying that any plugin backend can be loaded and used by Enchant. This ensures that it can use the native spell checkers on various platforms (Mac OS X, Microsoft Office
, ...), and users can use their favorite third-party product to do the job.
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
project developed as part of the AbiWord
AbiWord
AbiWord is a free and open source software word processor. It was originally started by SourceGear Corporation as the first part of a proposed AbiSuite. Development stopped when SourceGear changed their focus to Internet appliances. AbiWord was adopted by some open source developers and AbiWord...
word processor
Word processor
A word processor is a computer application used for the production of any sort of printable material....
with the aim of unifying access to the various existing spell-checker software. Enchant wraps a common set of functionality present in a variety of existing products/libraries, and exposes a stable API/ABI for doing so. Where a library doesn't implement some specific functionality, Enchant will emulate it.
Enchant is capable of having multiple backends loaded at once. As of May 2009 it has support for 8 backends:
- Aspell/PspellPspellThe purpose of Pspell was to provide a generic interface to the system spelling checking libraries. It was, and sometimes still is, used in computer programming such as C, and is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License.Pspell has not been updated since 2001, but is still available on...
(intends to replace Ispell) - IspellIspellIspell is a spelling checker for Unix that supports most Western languages. It offers several interfaces, including a programmatic interface for use by editors such as emacs...
(old, could be interpreted as de-facto standard) - HunspellHunspellHunspell is a spell checker and morphological analyzer designed for languages with rich morphology and complex word compounding and character encoding, originally designed for the Hungarian language....
/MySpellMySpellMySpell was the former spell checker included with OOo Writer of the free OpenOffice.org office suite.Since version 2.0.2 OpenOffice.org has replaced MySpell with Hunspell.-Background:...
(an OpenOffice.orgOpenOffice.orgOpenOffice.org, commonly known as OOo or OpenOffice, is an open-source application suite whose main components are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. OpenOffice is available for a number of different computer operating systems, is distributed as free software...
project, also used by MozillaMozillaMozilla is a term used in a number of ways in relation to the Mozilla.org project and the Mozilla Foundation, their defunct commercial predecessor Netscape Communications Corporation, and their related application software....
, ThunderbirdMozilla ThunderbirdMozilla Thunderbird is a free, open source, cross-platform e-mail and news client developed by the Mozilla Foundation. The project strategy is modeled after Mozilla Firefox, a project aimed at creating a web browser...
and FirefoxMozilla FirefoxMozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
) - Uspell (primarily Yiddish, Hebrew, and Eastern European languages – hosted in AbiWord's CVSConcurrent Versions SystemThe Concurrent Versions System , also known as the Concurrent Versioning System, is a client-server free software revision control system in the field of software development. Version control system software keeps track of all work and all changes in a set of files, and allows several developers ...
under the module "uspell") - Hspell (Hebrew)
- AppleSpell (Mac OS XMac OS XMac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
) - Voikko (Finnish)
- Zemberek (Turkish)
Enchant is currently licensed under GNU Lesser General Public License
GNU Lesser General Public License
The GNU Lesser General Public License or LGPL is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation . It was designed as a compromise between the strong-copyleft GNU General Public License or GPL and permissive licenses such as the BSD licenses and the MIT License...
(LGPL), with an additional permission notice saying that any plugin backend can be loaded and used by Enchant. This ensures that it can use the native spell checkers on various platforms (Mac OS X, Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
, ...), and users can use their favorite third-party product to do the job.
External links
- Project homepage
- PyEnchant - Python bindings for Enchant