Editing MySpell

{{Infobox software
| name = MySpell
| logo = 
| screenshot = 
| caption = 
| developer = 
| discontinued = yes
| latest release version = 3.0
| latest release date = 
| operating system = [[Cross-platform]]
| genre = [[Spell checker]]
| programming language = [[C++]]
| license = [[Open-source license|Open source]]
| website = {{URL|https://code.google.com/a/apache-extras.org/p/ooo-myspell/}}
}}
'''MySpell''' is a [[Free software|free]] [[spell checker]], written to explore how affix compression could be implemented.

It used to be included with the [[OpenOffice.org]] [[office suite]] and [[Mozilla#Software|Mozilla]] client software, and was replaced with the more powerful [[Hunspell]] library between 2006 and 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2.0.2 Release Candidate 4 - Release Notes |url=http://www.openoffice.org/development/releases/2.0.2.html |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=www.openoffice.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=319778 - Replace MySpell with HunSpell |url=https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=319778#c115 |access-date=2024-12-13 |website=bugzilla.mozilla.org |language=en}}</ref>

MySpell license is based on the [[BSD licenses#2-clause license ("Simplified BSD License" or "FreeBSD License")|2-clause BSD license]], but has an additional clause requiring to explicitly mark any modified versions.

==Background==
MySpell was started by [[Kevin Hendricks]] in an attempt to integrate various open-source spelling checkers into the [[OpenOffice.org]] build. With a little prodding from [[Kevin Atkinson (programmer)|Kevin Atkinson]], the author of [[Pspell]] and [[Aspell]], a new spelling checker (MySpell) was written in [[C++]] that supported affix compression, based on [[Ispell]].{{cn|date=January 2024}}

==Locale (language) files==
Every [[Locale (computer software)|locale]] (language for a specific territory) can have files for spelling, hyphenation and a thesaurus. These files will be all found together in one folder. The spell checking is done using the .aff file for the locale together with the .dic file. The .dic file is a list of words along with a group of letters which refer to the [[affixes]] found in the .aff file.  This saves space because instead of having to include all forms of a word, like jump (jumping, jumps, jumped), the .dic file will include the word once and the references to the affixes in the .aff file allow the construction of all the other forms.

It is not enough to copy the files for a locale into the folder.  As there are multiple locales, automatic loading of all dictionaries would cause a considerable overhead.  Hence, only those locales listed in dictionary.lst are accessible.  Dictionary.lst can be edited with a simple text editor, but front ends provide a more user-friendly way of adding new locales.

==MySpell with other programs==
MySpell also is or has been used by other programs:
*[[AbiWord]]{{cn|date=January 2024}}
*[[Aegisub]] 2.0 can use a dictionary created for MySpell by adding AFF and DIC files to the Dictionary folder.{{cn|date=January 2024}}
*{{ill|STAR Transit (translation tool)|lt=STAR Transit|fr||sv||display=y}} NXT, a [[Computer-assisted translation|CAT]] suite from the [[Switzerland|Swiss]] firm {{ill|STAR AG|de|Star AG}}, can optionally use MySpell dictionaries for spell-checking.{{cn|date=January 2024}}
Aspell and [[Vim (text editor)|Vim]] 7 can now use a dictionary created for MySpell.{{cn|date=January 2024}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}

* [[GNU Aspell]]
* [[Hunspell]]
* [[Ispell]]
* [[Pspell]]
* [[Enchant (software)|Enchant]]

== References ==
<references />

==External links==
* [http://packages.debian.org/src:myspell myspell] in the [[Debian]] repository

{{DEFAULTSORT:Myspell}}
[[Category:Free spelling checking programs]]
[[Category:Language software for Linux]]