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GtkSpell provides word-processor-style highlighting and replacement of misspelled words in a GtkTextView widget. Right-clicking a misspelled word pops up a menu of suggested replacements.
GtkSpell depends on:
GtkSpell is a library and is mostly of interest to GTK programmers. There are also Python bindings availble in GnomePythonExtras.
Downloads
The latest version is 2.0.12, released on 2008-05-09 (README, ChangeLog).
2.0.12 Source Tarball
Debian unstable tracks GtkSpell very well: apt-get install libgtkspell0
RPMs for Fedora Core can be obtained from Fedora mirrors.
Documentation
A tutorial as well as API reference can be found in the GtkSpell Manual.
Development
You can browse the SourceForge project page, including the CVS repository. The CVS version can be obtained by following their instructions. There are two active modules in the CVS:
- gtkspell2 is the current 2.x version, and
- gtkspell3 is the start of a 3.x version that replaces ASpell/PSpell with Enchant as the underlying spelling provider.
Patents
There have been some concerns about patent violations. Let me address them individually:
- Patent US05576955: This mentions creating an "error unit" for each misspelled word. GtkSpell simply highlights the misspelled words in red. When you right click, it runs the word under the cursor through the spell checker again (and requesting suggestions this time).
- Patent US05787451: GtkSpell checks words as you type. There's no "background" processing.
- Patent US05940847: This seems to only apply to "multi-word" errors. GtkSpell splits the input on word separators and checks each word separately.
Thanks to Mattias From for the research on this.
Contact
- Join the gtkspell-devel mailing list to stay up-to-date on GtkSpell.
- Mail bug reports/comments to the list.
- Evan Martin is the original author (personal website).
- Nathan Fredrickson is the current mantainer (personal website).