• Registered: 2004-11-19
  • Posts: 186

Topic: Rebuild search index - Why is it necessary?

Hey All,

The other day I was searching my forum for a bit of text that I KNEW was in my forum somewhere but I couldn't get it pulled up in the search results.   I did some digging and discovered the "Rebuild search index" in the Maintenance section.

I don't think I've ever "added, edited or removed posts manually in the database " or anything else that would have caused this to happen, so a few questions come to mind:

1)  Other than "added, edited or removed posts manually in the database " what can cause the search results to go wacky?
2)  How can one tell (other than the way I mentioned above) that it is time to rebuild the search DB?
3)  How often should this be done?

I really try to encourage my users to search the forum before posting.  This isn't much of a suggestion if the search results are often needing to be rebuilt. 

Thanks in advance!

BTW:  BEST FORUM SOFTWARE EVER!

Rob Ludlow 
www.Nifty-Stuff.com - Repository of all Stuff Nifty!
www.reviewum.com - Professor Ratings + Teacher Reviews

2 Reply by mat

  • mat
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2005-12-15
  • Posts: 40

Re: Rebuild search index - Why is it necessary?

reviewum.com wrote:

1)  Other than "added, edited or removed posts manually in the database " what can cause the search results to go wacky?

I think that's the only reason.

mat's Website

  • From: 127.0.0.1
  • Registered: 2001-11-02
  • Posts: 9,167

Re: Rebuild search index - Why is it necessary?

Well, there have been some updates to the search indexing code over time so it might be that the posts you were searching for were indexed in an older version of PunBB that had a bug. Other than that, and the fact that the migration tool requires you to rebuild the search index, I can't think of a scenario where it should be required.

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

Rickard's Website