Howto: Reference alternative mutt integration

[notmuch-wiki] / howto.mdwn

diff --git a/howto.mdwn b/howto.mdwn
index 76405431282172106b605eb8d8f91a173dab9793..fea9e522424c7356be1b048e56f3447213ae6ec0 100644 (file)
--- a/howto.mdwn
+++ b/howto.mdwn
@@ -26,13 +26,13 @@ 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 to the notmuch shared
   library. Extensive API documentation [is
 
   Notmuch includes python bindings to the notmuch shared
   library. Extensive API documentation [is

-  available](http://notmuchmail.readthedocs.org/).
+  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
 
   The bindings are very simple to use.  As an example, given you have
   the python bindings installed (or simply set your PYTHONPATH


@@ -82,19 +82,46 @@ 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>
 


@@ -138,3 +165,7 @@ 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]].