X-Git-Url: https://git.cworth.org/git?a=blobdiff_plain;f=howto.mdwn;h=4d6c53e81988e034e75c21386a4765b6e2185ba6;hb=3530459a3412e917fee1e6dcb3f6a08b774551d4;hp=58868c6e474b546a33b43b95b8fda471f35b82ba;hpb=540b2879f1b505155b807bd6fcc23025b6e31297;p=notmuch-wiki

diff --git a/howto.mdwn b/howto.mdwn
index 58868c6..4d6c53e 100644
--- a/howto.mdwn
+++ b/howto.mdwn
@@ -1,18 +1,57 @@
 [[!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 it's 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/jgoerzen/offlineimap/wiki/) -
+    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 to the notmuch shared library,
+  called [cnotmuch](http://pypi.python.org/pypi/cnotmuch).  Extensive
+  API documentation available.
+
+  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 how to applies only to notmuch
+  prior 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
@@ -25,8 +64,8 @@ Given you have the python bindings installed (or simply set your PYTHONPATH envi
   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
@@ -35,3 +74,26 @@ 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).
 
+* <span id="print_filenames">**Using notmuch with Mutt**</span>
+
+  Notmuch is a great mail indexing tool than 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>
+