Added instructions for re-applying automatic tags to corpus.

[notmuch-wiki] / howto.mdwn

diff --git a/howto.mdwn b/howto.mdwn
index 58868c6e474b546a33b43b95b8fda471f35b82ba..0e75acc82bdc4b2aee8f9e957c6e8047a90d07a7 100644 (file)
--- a/howto.mdwn
+++ b/howto.mdwn
@@ -1,18 +1,57 @@
 [[!img notmuch-logo.png alt="Notmuch logo" class="left"]]
 #How to...
 
 [[!img notmuch-logo.png alt="Notmuch logo" class="left"]]
 #How to...
 

-* <span id="print_filenames">.. print only filenames of a search</span>
+Some tips about how to do some useful things with notmuch, and the
+various "third party" notmuch utilities.

 
 

-Given you have the python bindings installed (or simply set your PYTHONPATH environment variable to point to the .../bindings/python directory), this script will print the filenames of a matching search:
+* <span id="receive_mail">**Receive mail**</span>

 
 

-                                #!/usr/bin/env python
-                                import sys
-                                import notmuch
-                                
-                                q = notmuch.Database().create_query(" ".join(sys.argv[1:]))
-                                for m in q.search_messages(): print m.get_filename()
+  Notmuch requires either [maildir
+  flag](http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html) or a "mh"-style
+  maildirectory to operate on.  Basically any setup in which each mail
+  is in a file of its own will work.  Here are some generally
+  well-regarded mail retrieval tools:

 
 

-* <span id="sync_maildir_flags">.. sync notmuch tags and maildir flags</span>
+  * [offlineimap](https://github.com/nicolas33/offlineimap/) -
+    quite useful and widely tested, it also offers a handy hook that
+    will come in useful a bit later in our setup.  Also supports
+    "presynchook" and "postsynchook" command that will get run
+    whenever you sync.  Point _postsynchook_ to a script that gets run
+    on every sync and that will do the automatic updating and tagging
+    of your notmuch database.
+
+  * [mbsync](http://isync.sourceforge.net/)
+
+  * [getmail](http://pyropus.ca/software/getmail/)
+
+  * [fetchmail](http://fetchmail.berlios.de/)
+
+  See the [[initial_tagging]] page for more info on intial tagging of messages.
+
+* <span id="print_filenames">**Print only filenames of a search (python bindings)**</span>
+
+  Notmuch includes [python bindings](http://pypi.python.org/pypi/notmuch)
+  to the notmuch shared library. Extensive API documentation
+  [is available](http://packages.python.org/notmuch).
+
+  The bindings are very simple to use.  As an example, given you have
+  the python bindings installed (or simply set your PYTHONPATH
+  environment variable to point to the .../bindings/python directory),
+  this script will print the filenames of a matching search:
+
+                             #!/usr/bin/env python
+                             import sys
+                             import notmuch
+                             search = " ".join(sys.argv[1:])
+                             q = notmuch.Database().create_query(search)
+                             for m in q.search_messages():
+                                 print m.get_filename()
+
+* <span id="sync_maildir_flags">**Sync notmuch tags and maildir flags**</span>
+
+  notmuch **since version 0.5** syncs maildir flags and respective
+  tags in both directions. This part applies only to notmuch prior to
+  version 0.5:

 
   Some IMAP users rely on maildir flags that convey the status "seen",
   "replied", "trashed", in order to synchronize the status of their
 
   Some IMAP users rely on maildir flags that convey the status "seen",
   "replied", "trashed", in order to synchronize the status of their


@@ -20,13 +59,13 @@ Given you have the python bindings installed (or simply set your PYTHONPATH envi
   flag](http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html) is simply a defined part
   of their filename).  Notmuch will by default happily ignore those
   flags and will never modify them either, as there is no built-in
   flag](http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html) is simply a defined part
   of their filename).  Notmuch will by default happily ignore those
   flags and will never modify them either, as there is no built-in

-  support for sunchronizing your notmuch tags with your imap maildir
+  support for synchronizing your notmuch tags with your imap maildir

   flags (seen, replied, trashed, etc). However there are currently 2
   ways in which you can achieve synchronization.
 
   [notmuchsync](http://spaetz.github.com/notmuchsync/) is a utility
   flags (seen, replied, trashed, etc). However there are currently 2
   ways in which you can achieve synchronization.
 
   [notmuchsync](http://spaetz.github.com/notmuchsync/) is a utility

-  that allows synchronization in either direction, as well as pruning
-  of deleted files.
+  (based on the cnotmuch python bindings) that allows synchronization
+  in either direction, as well as pruning of deleted files.

 
   The second solution allows for fast maildir flag to notmuch tag
   synchronization (and only in that direction) requires patching the
 
   The second solution allows for fast maildir flag to notmuch tag
   synchronization (and only in that direction) requires patching the


@@ -35,3 +74,43 @@ Given you have the python bindings installed (or simply set your PYTHONPATH envi
   be viewed as a [source diff in this git
   repository](http://github.com/spaetz/notmuch-all-feature/commit/df3b087cefb85e9d16fd17540e348bcb854dd7ee).
 
   be viewed as a [source diff in this git
   repository](http://github.com/spaetz/notmuch-all-feature/commit/df3b087cefb85e9d16fd17540e348bcb854dd7ee).
 

+* <span id="print_filenames">**Using notmuch with Mutt**</span>
+
+  Notmuch is a great mail indexing tool that can also be used *in conjunction*
+  with existing Mail User Agents (MUA) instead of replacing them. The advantage
+  of such mixed solutions is that users can benefit from notmuch features (such
+  as full-text search and thread reconstruction) without *having to* change
+  MUA.
+
+  A popular geek MUA is [the Mutt e-mail client](http://www.mutt.org);
+  integrating notmuch with Mutt is fairly straightforward. An
+  [**how to use Notmuch with Mutt**](http://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2011/01/how_to_use_Notmuch_with_Mutt/)
+  has been written by Stefano Zacchiroli, together with some glue code. Check
+  out the
+  [howto](http://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2011/01/how_to_use_Notmuch_with_Mutt/)
+  for more information.
+
+  <small>(Note by the howto author: I've linked the howto from this wiki rather
+  than splicing it in, in order to avoid duplication of information. If you
+  think it would be better to have it here, feel free to copy the text
+  here. The howto is
+  [available](http://git.upsilon.cc/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=zack-homepage.git;a=history;f=blog/posts/2011/01/how_to_use_Notmuch_with_Mutt.mdwn)
+  in markdown syntax from the Git repository of my homepage.)</small>
+
+* <span id="reapply_auto">**Automatically retagging the database (e.g., when upgrading versions)**</span>
+
+  Certain versions of notmuch include new automatic tags (for example, between
+  0.3 and 0.10, automatic tagging of signed and encrypted messages was added).
+  However, for users running with databases created in older versions of
+  notmuch, these tags are missing in pre-existing messages and need to be
+  added.  One way to do this is as follows:
+
+                           $ notmuch dump ~/out.nm
+                           $ mv ~/Mail/.notmuch ~/.notmuch.bak
+                           $ notmuch new
+                           $ notmuch tag -inbox -unread '*'
+                           $ notmuch restore --accumulate ~/out.nm
+
+  At this point, one should run a sanity check on the tags, and if everything
+  has merged correctly, the ~/.notmuch.bak directory is expendable, as is
+  ~/out.nm.