The first part of the article is for any distribution, the second part for Arch and derivatives.
Disable baloo in System Settings -> Search -> Uncheck Enable File Search
Then issue these commands:
balooctl stop
balooctl suspend
balooctl disable
edit the following file:
~/.config/baloofilerc
Add these lines:
[Basic Settings]
Indexing-Enabled=false
Remove all unneeded baloo index files if they weren’t deleted automatically when baloo was disabled.
They are stored at:
~/.local/share/baloo/
Removing baloo_file
Baloo_file uses a lot of resources and slows down computers. It also increases power consumption on laptops. While it cannot be removed due to dependencies issues, it is however possible to deactivate it until the next update. As root, type:
killall baloo_file ; mv /usr/bin/baloo_file /usr/bin/baloo_file.bak ; echo '#!/bin/sh' > /usr/bin/baloo_file
Add this line to a pacman hook file, to disable baloo after every update so it is not automatically re-enabled.
The baloo file search feature has been much improved in KDE. However, it is still not my favorite search engine and I would rather have it permanently disabled. According to the ArchWiki baloo cant be uninstalled, and it may be automatically re-enabled during a system upgrade.
I got a hook for pacman to automatically disable baloo again after every system update.
Here is the pacman hook:
/usr/share/libalpm/hooks/disable-baloo.hook
[Trigger]
Type = Package
Operation = Upgrade
Target = /usr/bin/baloo_file
[Action]
Description = Disable baloo file indexer after every upgrade operation
When = PostTransaction
Exec = /bin/sh -c 'killall baloo_file ; mv /usr/bin/baloo_file /usr/bin/baloo_file.bak ; echo '#!/bin/sh' > /usr/bin/baloo_file'
Install the recoll search engine (or any other suitable alternative) in place of baloo once baloo is fully disabled.
