DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=googlemail.com; s=gamma;
	h=subject:from:to:reply-to:date:message-id:user-agent
	:content-transfer-encoding:mime-version:content-type;
	b=GU47ajyedW5z8kuu4Uhv/JSLnwJDKEUbz1cVkHUpRSVVgYdkMNARXnMJJui14X6B+O
	Ra9ycymrZHq/a2eyjRjSXovHlUI8MC9qzC4+LFS0weTTnkkn9vtTPjPW7EpIZrpXHfKn
	ygGIl5RW4W2wsipTaHebfN/S81Nt776s3/c3E=
Subject: a python terminal gui?
From: Patrick Totzke <patricktotzke@googlemail.com>
To: notmuch-list <notmuch@notmuchmail.org>
Date: Fri, 20 May 2011 11:47:41 +0100
Message-Id: <1305888097-sup-2343@optimusprime>
User-Agent: Sup/git
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/signed; boundary="=-1305888461-517614-26690-4998-2-=";
	protocol="application/pgp-signature"
Precedence: list
Reply-To: Patrick Totzke <patricktotzke@gmail.com>


--=-1305888461-517614-26690-4998-2-=
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Hi all,

First of all, Thanks to everybody involved in the project. Using notmuch =
is
good fun and I totally agree that the spin-off/rewrite of sup is a great =
idea.
However, as a vim user I feel that the one thing that's truly missing is =
a =

maintainable, feature-rich commandline GUI. Let's change that.
I'm aware of existing proposed guis: vala-notmuch, notsomuch, I have also=
 seen =

a minimal non-oop python gui that doesn't use the python bindings and who=
se name =

I forgot.

This is a proposal for a terminal gui, written in python.
Currently, it is more a sketch of a framework, so let me explain the key =
ideas here:

* I use python because I personally am heavily biased in the python vs. r=
uby discussion:
  I've been working with python for a while and have never used ruby anyw=
here else than =

  for my sup-mail config. I find rubys syntax highly unintuitive, had (an=
d still have)
  problems to install/work with up-to-date ruby-gems on my ubuntu system.=

  Also, I read somewhere=E2=84=A2 that sup is based on a email library th=
at is no longer maintained.
  I know these are only my personal, non representative and maybe uninfor=
med impressions,
  but I have the feeling that I'm not alone here.
  On the other hand, cnotmuch and all other libs I (plan to) use in this =
project
  were easy_installed without any problems.

* I want a gui that looks and feels like sup, without the ugly parts.

* use libraries wherever possible. Therefore, instead of
  programming raw curses, I go for the urwid toolkit: It's a bit like gtk=
,
  you create a bunch of widgets and put them together in a tree-like stru=
cture
  and the library handles redrawing the screen and redirecting key presse=
s etc.
  I'm aware of some arguments against urwid (PEP8 compatibility, slow py3=
k awareness),
  but consider the advantages:
   - no boring and error-prone ncurses hacking
   - possibly multiple frontends (curses, web)
   - correct display of unicode chars
   - a lot of ready-made widgets are available (textboxes, selectable lis=
ts). There's even
     an additional widget-lib called urwid-sat that defines widgets for p=
assword inputs etc.
   - ready made colour theming for mono/16/256 colours.
   =

  one might also look around for a mutt/abook contact lib

You can find the code at here: https://github.com/pazz/notmuch-gui =

Obviously, there is a lot that's missing, but I think having this framewo=
rk makes it easier
for anyone to contribute. For example, to be able to display mails,
one could code a urwid.Widget that can display a given email.message.Mess=
age.
That widget will then be used in a widget that displays a whole notmuch.t=
hread
which we could put inside a new buffer class that extends my ng.buffer.Bu=
ffer
So far, there are only two modi (ng.buffer.Buffer subclasses):
a bufferlist and one to display thread search results.

I consider all of this to be a proof-of-concept, any part of this proposa=
l
is up for discussion. I'd be interested in any feedback whatsoever, and h=
appy
to delegate work to anybody willing to contribute. I'm aware that the cod=
e
is not pretty, probably not the sleekest oop design and non-conforming =

with a lot of conventions. Hit me :)

Cheers,
/pazz


--=-1305888461-517614-26690-4998-2-=
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="signature.asc"
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc"

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux)

iEYEARECAAYFAk3WRs0ACgkQlDQDZ9fWxaoVlQCcCE2Yibg1tiLZ5atytcJhsJHS
SRkAoL+1TBtrucv3YN9xyjllBIf0Hmc+
=B+xg
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--=-1305888461-517614-26690-4998-2-=--