Bottles is pretty great for easy setup and configuration of Wine prefixes, but it doesn't fix the underlying issues with Wine (or the various other available flavors). I have tried many different combinations of Wine, Proton, Caffe, Soda, etc. and various configurations to setup SwordSearcher. In my experience, nothing gets it working up to 100% on Linux. As Brandon has mentioned, until the underlying problems with MSHTML in Wine are cleared up, Windows is still the best option for full SwordSearcher functionality. Don't get me wrong, I am all in on Linux, but it isn't the answer for everything.
Guide to Running SwordSearcher on Linux Operating Systems (Updated June 2024)
- Thread starter Brandon Staggs
- Start date
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- Tags
- linux linux ubuntu wine
Arcanemuse
Active Member
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- 33
I concur. I use both Logos and Accordance as well and attempts to get both of those running on Linux have not been stellar to say the least. With those two, my choice has either been to suffer through using Windoze or go back to Mac. I no longer have any money left and can't afford to shell out 2000 for a new Mac to run those programs. My 5 year old PC with the updates I've done to it is still doing well enough and Swordsearcher needs Windoze to run. I am pretty much stuck with Windoze on my main machine. I've got a couple of laptops running 11 but everything else is running some flavor of Linux. Swordsearcher will run on a Linux machine but it has a few foibles. It will do if you have no other way handy of running it. Most everything works.
Ruthlyn
Beta Tester
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- 912
I'll have to try that... thank you
There is a potential solution to running SwordSearcher on a Linux computer that has already been mentioned, but I hadn't tried it before now. I decided to build a Windows 11 virtual machine with KVM/QEMU. Something I did not realize is that an unregistered (i.e. no paid license) Windows 11 Pro can be used indefinitely with minimal restrictions. On Windows 11 Pro You don't even need a Microsoft account during setup. Just click on the "Sign in options" link and select "Domain join instead" and it will set up the traditional local user. The only real restriction is that you cannot "Personalize" it, meaning you cannot set the wallpaper, dark/light theme, etc. You can install any programs you want. If buying a Windows license to run one program was a barrier, this bit of info should help get past it. It did for me.
Obviously this solution still comes with the intrusiveness that is built into Windows. If the barrier is based on principle, this solution may not be the answer. That said, there are a few Windows debloat tools out there now that mitigate most of the problems that come with installing Windows. Take a look at these:
Chris Titus' Ultimate Windows Utility https://christitus.com/windows-tool/
Raphire's Win11Debloat https://github.com/raphire/win11debloat
I presonally use Raphire's tool. There are many others out there and I must remind you to use any tools that execute scripts on your machine at your own risk.
This is a fairly technical solution, so it requires some research and patience, but in my experience, it works well. Keep in mind it also requires extra resources (disk space, CPU, RAM) that lower-end computers may not have to spare. If you have a decently powerful PC and the time to put into setting up Windows with KVM/QEMU, it may be worth taking a look.
Obviously this solution still comes with the intrusiveness that is built into Windows. If the barrier is based on principle, this solution may not be the answer. That said, there are a few Windows debloat tools out there now that mitigate most of the problems that come with installing Windows. Take a look at these:
Chris Titus' Ultimate Windows Utility https://christitus.com/windows-tool/
Raphire's Win11Debloat https://github.com/raphire/win11debloat
I presonally use Raphire's tool. There are many others out there and I must remind you to use any tools that execute scripts on your machine at your own risk.
This is a fairly technical solution, so it requires some research and patience, but in my experience, it works well. Keep in mind it also requires extra resources (disk space, CPU, RAM) that lower-end computers may not have to spare. If you have a decently powerful PC and the time to put into setting up Windows with KVM/QEMU, it may be worth taking a look.
Ruthlyn
Beta Tester
- Messages
- 912
Can this be used to set up windows 10?
Yes, but Windows 10 support ended in October 2025. That means no more security updates. It will work, but it will become increasingly risky to use for anything internet related as time goes by. It has been awhile since I have installed Windows 10. I don't remember if it requires internet access for installation. If it does, you could install it with network enabled and then disable network after running initial updates.
A Windows 10 (IoT) Enterprise LTSC has support Until 2032-01-13 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/w...whats-new/windows-10-iot-enterprise-ltsc-2021
Interesting idea. Have you actually installed this version and installed Swordsearcher on it? My understanding of this version of Windows 10 is that obtaining a legal license is not feasible for individuals. It is not free. It can only be legally purchased through volume licensing. The trial version allows full functionality but only lasts 90 days and then nags for a license key and regularly shuts down.
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If you're fortunate to have a Windows 10 Enterprise license you can certainly sit on it for a while. Most consumers don't have this kind of license from Microsoft.
rearmed up to 3 times, giving roughly 270 days of additional
slmgr /dlv
slmgr /rearm
shutdown /r /t 0
In the meantime, anyone who needs a license has plenty of time to put some money aside for it. With a 270-day period, there is ample opportunity to earn and save enough to cover the cost.
I use a GNU/Linux distro, and for me, the current setup is good enough.
Aside:
It would still be pretty cool if SwordSearcher had a true native GNU/Linux build.
The most practical approach would probably be to reuse as much of the existing codebase as possible, do some R&D with tools like Claude Code, build a 1:1 port as an initial draft, then refine it into a proper Linux-native product and eventually distribute/sell it through GNOME Software / Flathub.
TL;DR
Win32 → Qt Platform Abstraction
Delphi GUI → Qt Widgets
MSHTML → Qt WebEngine
Windows services → Qt/XDG
Domain core → pure C++20
Or: keep as much of the existing Delphi code as possible and replace only the Windows-specific parts with Linux-native equivalents.
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- 6,442
As an experiment I set up Omarchy Linux on an old laptop. It's an AI-first operating system. I opened an agent window, gave it the URL to this thread (for the WINE guide), and told it to adapt the guide for WINE 11 and to install SwordSearcher from the setup files I had on a USB stick.
It worked well and didn't require me to do any step-by-step work, and it resolved some key differences itself. In the end I had a mostly-functional SwordSearcher app on my Omarchy laptop.
I would still not recommend this for most people. The caveats all still apply. Some fonts just don't display correctly, dark mode doesn't work, and Omarchy in particular uses a tiled windowing system that does not mesh well with SwordSearcher.
But if you're experimenting and you have a Claude or OpenAI subscription, it's an interesting exercise and may even be adequate for some users. The interesting thing here is that having an AI agent in the OS basically lets you do anything with Linux using simple English prompts. It really works.
It worked well and didn't require me to do any step-by-step work, and it resolved some key differences itself. In the end I had a mostly-functional SwordSearcher app on my Omarchy laptop.
I would still not recommend this for most people. The caveats all still apply. Some fonts just don't display correctly, dark mode doesn't work, and Omarchy in particular uses a tiled windowing system that does not mesh well with SwordSearcher.
But if you're experimenting and you have a Claude or OpenAI subscription, it's an interesting exercise and may even be adequate for some users. The interesting thing here is that having an AI agent in the OS basically lets you do anything with Linux using simple English prompts. It really works.
- Messages
- 6,442
I have addressed this many times. There is no way for me to build the source code for SwordSearcher as a native Linux application. It is pure Windows API code. It has to be rewritten from the ground up.
So few people use Linux on the desktop, and those that do are fractured among many disparate distros with different package management systems. It's not an appealing development target, as much as I am frustrated with Windows.