howto: add suggestion that people upgrade notmuch.

[notmuch-wiki] / howto.mdwn

diff --git a/howto.mdwn b/howto.mdwn
index 1f6c51e32264078593b956491aa977d0ef9cc3b9..77ce9b6febf0384cb2a2ed189096296ecbbbf340 100644 (file)
--- a/howto.mdwn
+++ b/howto.mdwn
@@ -26,32 +26,33 @@ various "third party" notmuch utilities.
 
   * [fetchmail](http://fetchmail.berlios.de/)
 
 
   * [fetchmail](http://fetchmail.berlios.de/)
 

-  See the [[initial_tagging]] page for more info on intial tagging of messages.
+  See the [[initial_tagging]] page for more info on initial tagging of messages.

 
 

-* <span id="print_filenames">**Print only filenames of a search (python bindings)**</span>
+* <span id="python">**Use notmuch from python**</span>

 
 

-  Notmuch includes [python bindings](http://pypi.python.org/pypi/notmuch)
-  to the notmuch shared library. Extensive API documentation
-  [is available](http://notmuchmail.readthedocs.org/).
+  Notmuch includes python bindings to the notmuch shared
+  library. Extensive API documentation [is
+  available](http://notmuch.readthedocs.org/).

 
   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),
 
   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:
+  this snippet will produce a list of mails matching the given
+  expression:

 
 

-                             #!/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()
+          >>> import notmuch
+          >>> db = notmuch.Database()
+          >>> query = db.create_query('tag:inbox AND NOT tag:killed')
+          >>> list(query.search_messages()) # doctest:+ELLIPSIS
+          [...]

 
 * <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
 
 * <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:
+  version 0.5 (but please consider updating to a more recent version
+  of notmuch; in addition to maildir tag syncing, it contains many
+  useful new features, and several important bug fixes):

 
   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


@@ -83,19 +84,46 @@ various "third party" notmuch utilities.
   MUA.
 
   A popular geek MUA is [the Mutt e-mail client](http://www.mutt.org);
   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>
+  integrating notmuch with Mutt is not seamless, but fairly straightforward.
+  There are two principal possibilities, each with its own ups and downs:
+
+  * Using mutt-notmuch, which will create a "virtual" maildir folder with
+    search results whenever a search is made. The upside is that you can
+    search all your folders simultanously; the downside is that your
+    modifications in the results listing do not carry over, also having
+    to switch folders comes with some more annoyances.
+
+    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. 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>
+
+  * Using a simple macro that will emulate the "limit" mutt functionality
+    using notmuch.
+
+    See the [**alternative notmuch integration**](http://log.or.cz/?p=228)
+    blog post for instructions and details,
+    or simply put these two macros to your muttrc:
+
+                           # 'L' performs a notmuch query, showing only the results
+                           macro index L "<enter-command>unset wait_key<enter><shell-escape>read -p 'notmuch query: ' x; echo \$x >~/.cache/mutt_terms<enter><limit>~i \"\`notmuch search --output=messages \$(cat ~/.cache/mutt_terms) | head -n 600 | perl -le '@a=<>;chomp@a;s/\^id:// for@a;$,=\"|\";print@a'\`\"<enter>" "show only messages matching a notmuch pattern"
+                           # 'a' shows all messages again (supersedes default <alias> binding)
+                           macro index a "<limit>all\n" "show all messages (undo limit)"
+
+    The upside (if you are used to working in the context of a single folder)
+    is that this really does use the limit functionality of mutt
+    and you are still in your original folder.
+    The downside is that this approach has scaling problems
+    and works well only for reasonably specific queries.
+

 
 * <span id="reapply_auto">**Automatically retagging the database (e.g., when upgrading versions)**</span>
 
 
 * <span id="reapply_auto">**Automatically retagging the database (e.g., when upgrading versions)**</span>
 


@@ -139,3 +167,7 @@ various "third party" notmuch utilities.
   output.  Using the instructions from [Gmane's
   site](http://gmane.org/export.php), we can download an mbox file, which we
   can then convert to maildir using mb2md or other utility.
   output.  Using the instructions from [Gmane's
   site](http://gmane.org/export.php), we can download an mbox file, which we
   can then convert to maildir using mb2md or other utility.

+
+* <span id="special_tags">**Take advantage of tags that are special to notmuch**</span>
+
+  See [[tags special to notmuch|special-tags]].