Sample Header Ad - 728x90

Does /usr/share/dict/words contain personal information?

0 votes
1 answer
166 views
I am considering including a copy of my /usr/share/dict/words file in a public GitHub repository for a project that requires dictionaries. Is this a bad idea, and if so, why? I'm particularly interested in the privacy/security (or even legal?) aspects. Are there common programs that add words to this dictionary, for example if I choose "Add to Dictionary" in a spell checker? Is the file likely to contain any sensitive information, such as my username (I checked that, and it doesn't, but there could be similar things I didn't think to check). It'd be impractical to look through all 104,334 words. Perhaps it's just the usr in the path making me unnecessarily concerned. I've read over these questions about where the words come from. However, is it probable that any words have since been added or removed? I suppose if nothing has changed, I could just get the source. But if some programs added helpful (non-personal) words, I'd want to keep those. In case it's important, I am running Ubuntu 23.10. But I'd prefer a slightly more general answer, if possible. ### Note I am fully aware that - it would be possible to point to the file path in code rather than "hard coding" it into the repo, and - this may not be the best free English word list . However, I'm not interested in using a different list *instead* of this one (in such a case, I'd rather just use both). And if I use a list, it's necessary that I can include the actual file.
Asked by kviLL (103 rep)
Jun 3, 2024, 08:20 PM
Last activity: Jun 4, 2024, 09:14 AM