Re: How to make Emacs popular again.

[Gregory Heytings]

> > Yes, it has ability to access local servers, at my Hyperbola 
> > GNU/Linux-libre the package dictd was (probably) so configured to try 
> > localhost first.
>
> This design partly assuages the problem but does not eliminate it. With 
> this design, referrihg to someone else's server is the natural and easy 
> way, and referring to data on your own machine is the hard way.

On Debian at least, the default configuration is to try localhost first, 
and to try remote hosts (dict.org) if that fails.  The configuration file 
(/etc/dictd/dict.conf) indicates that it was last revised on 22 Nov 1998, 
so apparently it's a common default behavior.

> > On many other GNU/Linux systems, dictionaries can be easier downloaded 
> > and installed on local system.
>
> When you do that, can 'dict' refer directly to the local copies?

On Debian at least, yes:

# apt-get install dict dictd dict-wn
$ dict -v conflate
Configuration file:
   server localhost
   server dict.org
   server dict0.us.dict.org
   server alt0.dict.org
1 definition found

> From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:

  conflate
      v 1: mix together different elements; "The colors blend well"
           [syn: {blend}, {flux}, {mix}, {conflate}, {commingle},
           {immix}, {fuse}, {coalesce}, {meld}, {combine}, {merge}]